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Wendell Berry and Bill McKibben Call for Mass Civil Disobedience Against Coal
Bill McKibben and Wendell Berry, YES! magazine
Dear Friends,
There are moments in a nation’s—and a planet’s—history when it may be necessary for some to break the law in order to bear witness to an evil, bring it to wider attention, and push for its correction. We think such a time has arrived, and we are writing to say that we hope some of you will join us in Washington D.C. on Monday March 2 in order to take part in a civil act of civil disobedience outside a coal-fired power plant near Capitol Hill.
We will be there to make several points:
- Coal-fired power is driving climate change. Our foremost climatologist, NASA’s James Hansen, has demonstrated that our only hope of getting our atmosphere back to a safe level—below 350 parts per million co2—lies in stopping the use of coal to generate electricity.
- Even if climate change were not the urgent crisis that it is, we would still be burning our fossil fuels too fast, wasting too much energy and releasing too much poison into the air and water. We would still need to slow down, and to restore thrift to its old place as an economic virtue.
- Coal is filthy at its source. Much of the coal used in this country comes from West Virginia and Kentucky, where companies engage in “mountaintop removal” to get at the stuff; they leave behind a leveled wasteland, and impoverished human communities. No technology better exemplifies the out-of-control relationship between humans and the rest of creation.
- Coal smoke makes children sick. Asthma rates in urban areas near coal-fired power plants are high. Air pollution from burning coal is harmful to the health of grown-ups too, and to the health of everything that breathes, including forests.
… With any luck, this will be the largest such protest yet, large enough that it may provide a real spark. If you want to participate with us, you need to go through a short course of non-violence training. This will be, to the extent it depends on us, an entirely peaceful demonstration, carried out in a spirit of hope and not rancor. We will be there in our dress clothes, and ask the same of you. There will be young people, people from faith communities, people from the coal fields of Appalachia, and from the neighborhoods in Washington that get to breathe the smoke from the plant.
We will cross the legal boundary of the power plant, and we expect to be arrested. After that we have no certainty what will happen, but lawyers and such will be on hand. Our goal is not to shut the plant down for the day—it is but one of many, and anyway its operation for a day is not the point. The worldwide daily reliance on coal is the danger; this is one small step to raise awareness of that ruinous habit and hence help to break it.
Needless to say, we’re not handling the logistics of this day. All the credit goes to a variety of groups, especially EnergyAction (which is bringing thousands of young people to Washington that weekend), Greenpeace, the Ruckus Society, and Rainforest Action Network. For more information: www.capitolclimateaction.org
Thank you,
Wendell Berry, Bill McKibben
Bill McKibben is the author of many books, including his latest: Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future . McKibben is a scholar in residence at Middlebury College, and cofounder of 350.org. Wendell Berry, poet, philosopher, and conservationist, farms in Kentucky.
(27 February 2009)
Also at Common Dreams.
A Global Green Deal
Mark Hertsgaard, The Nation
If human civilization is to have a realistic chance of surviving global climate change, President Barack Obama and mobilized citizens will have to lead a virtual revolution in America’s approach to the issue. Because the hour is so late and America’s role so central, Obama must lead, and be pressed to lead, on three fronts at once.
First, the United States must commit itself to serious reductions in its greenhouse gas emissions and begin achieving them without delay.
This will restore US credibility on the issue, paving the way for step two: encouraging the rest of the world, especially China, to cut its emissions dramatically. The United States and China together account for 40 percent of global emissions, making them climate superpowers: if they do not cut emissions, it won’t matter how much other nations reduce.
Finally, Obama must urge the United States and all nations to begin preparing for the sea-level rise, water shortages and other impacts of climate change that are inevitable, with special emphasis on assisting the poor, who stand to suffer first and worst despite having done nothing to cause the problem.
(25 February 2009)
These fossil fools
Catherine Mitchell, The Guardian,
Labour’s preference for market principles and big companies betrays its low-carbon rhetoric
—
Nothing illuminates an issue better than a row; and on the issue of how Britain is powered, the row is about coal. On one side, we understand, Ed Miliband’s energy and climate department wants to accelerate the development of technology that captures climate-warming gases from power stations and buries them. On the other is the Treasury, which is being asked to foot a large bill.
As with Heathrow, the outcome will reveal how serious the government is about a low-carbon system. The contest also sets a liberalised energy policy – where the government fashions a framework for regulators and companies to work in – against the need to reduce emissions; without a decision in favour of the environment, the country will know the government has balked at the difficult choices we expect our leaders to make, as well as showing a blinkered refusal to learn from evidence.
(27 February 2009)
