As you may recall, a lively protest took place on the streets of Chicago’s financial district last November 30, on the 10th anniversary of the “Battle of Seattle” and a week ahead of the big UN climate summit in Copenhagen.  Several groups from across the city had come together to demand just, equitable, and effective solutions to the climate crisis, starting with the shut-down of the Crawford and Fisk coal plants in Chicago’s Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods.  The November 30th (N30) event also targeted “false solutions” to climate change like carbon trading, nukes and agrofuels, and was part of a national day of action for climate justice.

Now, the city has decided to charge these folks $8,340, with a deadline of mid-August to pay the fines.

Please help us raise the funds we need by donating what you can!

Following visits to several local “climate criminals,” including JP Morgan Chase (one of the leading funders of mountain top removal coal mining), Midwest Generation (the owner of Chicago’s two coal-fired power plants), and the Board of Trade (which trades in palm oil, one of the leading drivers of rainforest destruction), the N30 march arrived at the main target, the Chicago Climate Exchange.

The Chicago Climate Exchange is the first and largest carbon trading institution in North America.  Carbon Trading is a system of trading in carbon that intensifies social injustice, does not reduce emissions in a meaningful way, results in more pollution and more displacement for communities on the ground, and acts as a dangerous distraction from the real climate solutions we urgently need.  (It does succeed in making a bunch of money for big polluters and their cohorts.)  Unfortunately, participation in this fraudulent market has become the primary way that governments, corporations, and mainstream environmental groups have attempted to “solve” the climate crisis.

To draw attention to carbon trading as a false solution, 12 people locked their arms together in lockboxes, formed a large circle, and took over the intersection of Adams and LaSalle, outside the offices of the Chicago Climate Exchange, for several hours, encircling a banner that read, “Chicago Climate Exchange – the Air is Not for Sale!”  (Check out photos and video from the action at http://howgreenischicago.org.)

Now, the city has decided to charge these folks $8,340, with a deadline of mid-August to pay the fines.  We need your support!!  Please consider donating whatever you can to support the N30 defendants.  Throw a benefit party, pass a hat, sell some cupcakes — it all adds up!

You can donate online below,  or send a check payable to LVEJO with “N30 Legal Defense” in the memo line to:

LVEJO – Little Village Environmental Justice Organization

2856 S. Millard Ave.

Chicago, IL 60623

Thank you!  All donations are much appreciated!!!

Love,

The Climate Exchange 12

Please help us raise the funds we need by donating what you can!

*More details and photos coming soon!*

Chicago climate activists returned to the streets today – this time in the financial district in downtown  Chicago – in a colorful demonstration against cap and trade, carbon offsets and other “false solutions” to climate change.  Building on the long-term campaign to shut down the Crawford and Fisk coal-fired power plants in the city, community and environmental groups from across Chicago and beyond have come together to demand just, equitable, and effective solutions to the climate crisis.

The main target of today’s action is the Chicago Climate Exchange, the first and largest carbon market in North America.  Several other “climate criminals” were visited during a march, including JP Morgan Chase, one of the leading funders of mountain top removal coal mining; Midwest Generation, the owner of Chicago’s two coal-fired power plants; and the Board of Trade, which trades in palm oil, one of the leading drivers of rainforest destruction.

The event kicked off at 11a.m. at Federal Plaza (Adams and Dearborn Street), and is part of a national day of action called for by the Mobilization for Climate Justice in the lead-up to the UN climate summit in Copenhagen and on the 10-year anniversary of the successful shutdown of the WTO in Seattle in 1999.

“From Chicago to Copenhagen, powerful companies are cashing in on the climate crisis, taking advantage of public concern over climate change in order to make a buck.  Carbon trading institutions like the Chicago Climate Exchange are privatizing the air we breathe and handing over rights to the atmosphere to the biggest polluters,” stated Angie Viands, of Rainforest Action Network (RAN) Chicago.  “Carbon Trading is a fraudulent market that intensifies social injustice, does not reduce emissions in a meaningful way, and acts as a dangerous distraction from the real climate solutions we urgently need.”

Event organizers seek to highlight the connections between the global drivers of climate change and local struggles for environmental justice and climate stability.

“The solution to climate change isn’t carbon trading; it is a just, rapid transition away from the industries that are poisoning our communities and the planet.  We can begin by shutting down the Crawford and Fisk coal plants right here in Chicago,” said Dorian Breuer of the Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization (PERRO).

While carbon trading is the centerpiece of plans to deal with the climate crisis both in the UN, and in the US Congress and Obama Administration, many civil society organizations consider this market-based approach to be ineffective and unacceptable from a climate justice perspective.  “The air is not for sale!” declared Abigail Singer of the Mobilization for Climate Justice.  “Cap and trade plans are an unprecedented and opportunistic attempt to privatize the atmosphere; in reality, many offset projects embody a new form of colonialism in the developing nations that are most heavily impacted by climate change.  We reject these plans as inherently unjust as well as ineffective at reducing emissions.”

Criticism of carbon trading has been mounting, most recently from sources like top NASA climate scientist Dr. James Hansen and EPA attorneys Laurie Williams and Allan Zabel, who between them represent over 40 years of experience analyzing cap and trade and offset programs.  Both were recently muzzled by the EPA for their outspoken criticism of Administration plans to pursue cap and trade and offsets which appeared as a Washington Post editorial.

Activists will also confront Midwest Generation LLC, owner of the Fisk and Crawford coal-fired power plants in Pilsen and Little Village, Chicago. Local residents attribute numerous adverse health effects to the continued operation of the plants, prompting community groups LVEJO and PERRO to actively campaign for their closure.  This demand has been heard by Ald. Joe Moore (49^th Ward), who announced plans on October 24^th to introduce an ordinance which would effectively shut the plants down. The Fisk plant was the target of a large community demonstration in October on the 350 International Day of Climate Action.  Together, Fisk and Crawford’s emissions represent one-fifth of Chicago’s carbon footprint.

“We are here today as a community demanding a transparent and truly renewable clean energy future.  Our environment’s future should not be dependant on a market based system, it should be reliable to save our future. We demand our voice be heard!” said Kim Wasserman, Coordinator for the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO)

“We have lived in the shadows of these coal plants for far too long.  The recent lawsuits against the plants for health violations show that government is willing to move, but we need them to move faster and stronger,” Wasserman said.

“To bring atmospheric carbon into the safe zone of 350 parts per million (ppm), we must phase out dirty coal, invest in clean, decentralized, renewable energy, and adopt agriculture and forestry practices that sequester CO2. False solutions like carbon trading, so-called “clean coal” and nuclear power are not going to solve the climate crisis,” states Debra Michaud of Rainforest Action Network Chicago.

Organizers express opposition to currently proposed U.S. climate legislation which relies heavily on can and trade and carbon offsets.

“The current climate legislation is fatally flawed, setting weak targets and creating inappropriate tools,” remarks David Kraft of Nuclear Energy Information Service. “It should be modified to exclude false climate solutions, or else rejected; and certainly should NOT in its current form serve as the blueprint for the U.S. negotiating position in Copenhagen,” insists Kraft.  A co-signed letter in opposition will be delivered to the offices of Sens. Richard Durbin and Roland Burris before the rally, and formal meetings requested of the Senators before they vote on the Senate version of the climate bill.

Some participants will take part in nonviolent direct action and civil disobedience at one of the sites along the march route.

Photos and updates from the event will be available at:http://howgreenischicago.org and http://www.actforclimatejustice.org.  The procession will include a marching band and many colorful banners, props and signs.

Today’s action is one of nine major protests taking place across the US organized by the Mobilization for Climate Justice, Rising Tide North America, and the Climate Pledge of Resistance.   Locally, five organizations that helped organize the October 24^th protest rally at the Fisk coal-fired power plant in Chicago are endorsing today’s action and are participating in the march and rally: Rainforest Action Network Chicago, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Nuclear Energy Information Service, Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization, and Eco-Justice Collaborative.

Rising Tide North America, with Carbon Trade Watch and the Camp for Climate Action would like you to join us on the October 24th day of global climate action to spread the word about the biggest financial scam in history – Carbon Trading.

In order to stabilize the climate before billions of people around the world suffer the consequences, it is imperative that carbon-trading schemes are stopped and real, democratically determined solutions are implemented.

http://www.350reasons.org/

Climate Activists Expose Carbon Trading Scam for “350” Global Day of Action

Tens of thousands of people gathered at 300 simultaneous events in more than 170 countries around the world today, for the 350 international day pf climate action. One of the leading concerns raised this day was that corporate-driven “Carbon Trading” schemes have been blocking efforts to solve the climate crisis and prevent the devastating impacts of climate chaos on the poor.

www.350Reasons.org

“In order to stabilize the climate before billions of people around the world suffer the consequences, it is imperative that carbon-trading schemes are stopped and real, democratically determined solutions are implemented,” said Hilary Moore of the Mobilization for Climate Justice, “that’s why we have compiled an international list of well-documented reasons showing how carbon trading is failing to deliver.”

Led by Rising Tide North America, Carbon Trade Watch, the Camp for Climate Action and the Mobilization for Climate Justice, activists from around the world helped compile hundreds of reasons exposing the fallacies and failures of carbon-derivatives markets and offsetting programs – such as the displacement of food crops, the burning of valuable resources and massive subsidies given to oil, coal and other major climate polluters.

“We cannot afford to waste any more time and resources on such trading scams when so many lives and livelihoods are at stake,” said David Nishizaki of Rising Tide North America, “ We are hopeful this information will serve to dispel the many myths of carbon marketeering, encourage an outright rejection of such false corporate solutions, and move us towards democratic, scientific and affordable strategies that show tangible, local benefits.”

Many Domestic and international climate policy arenas, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, are prioritizing protection for corporate profits and carbon-intensive industrial growth – through the marketing and offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions. This is not only restricting resources for popular, climate justice solutions, but actually serving to increase current levels of climate pollution.

An online video report showing 350 such reasons why “carbon trading” is failing to work, as well as printed materials are available for download at: www.350reasons.org.

Press Release, 24 October 2009
Contact: Brian Frank: tel 971.533.7483
falsesolutions@RisingTideNorthAmerica.org