The Case For Direct Action

 In case you haven't noticed, trains of late are becoming stuck in the most unusual places. Trains loaded with coal have been brought to a standstill by environmental activists in both England and Australia. In the case of Australia, the action brought activity at the world's largest (read very BIG) coal terminal to an abrupt halt. They accomplished this by disguising as workers and then chaining themselves to the trains. Well done!

Although the mainstream media in the US has as a matter of course virtually ignored these stories, in both of the aforementioned countries these enterprising activists brought dramatic peaceful attention to the critical issue of coal fired power generation and the urgent need to curtail their emissions and not build additional coal power plants and exacerbate the problem even more. There are encouraging signs that this specific form of protest continues to spread and (hopefully) will arrive here in the States any day. Falling under the broad heading of "Direct Action" these and similar efforts to dramatically bring attention to the worst forms of industrial pollution, promise to continue focusing the public's attention on the critical problem of carbon emmisions. As feedback mechanisms continue to accelerate and the projected level of "safe" CO2 PPM is continually lowered, any and all peaceful means to focus attention and force government level responses are essential. See Climatecamp in the UK for more info. We hope to have a information for interested parties in the US soon.

More on CO2 levels next...

The continuing (harrowing) reign of King George

It is now being widely reported overseas that in closing a private meeting at the conclusion of this week's G-8 meeting the beloved (despised) leader of the free world George W. Bush, gleefully punched the air after exclaiming "goodbye from the world's biggest polluter." As we have come to expect, he has once again managed to stall (as in enclose like livestock) any possible action to address global carbon emissions. It is now certain that in a short period of time, his administration will be viewed as wasting the critical period of time when anthropogenic climate change was proven to both real and serious threat to the short and long term viability of life support systems on the planet. At the same time the EPA announced that the agency would be taking no action to address carbon emissions during the remainder of the Bush/Cheney Presidency but would proceed with all possible haste to gather in additional reports and elicit public opinion instead. This in answer to the Supreme Court's ruling that it is the legal responsibility of the EPA to respond.

At a moment in history in which not only has it become clear that the level of CO2 in the atmosphere is rising faster than anticipated, it has become equally clear that the undesirable consequences of global warming are accelerating at a much faster pace and feedback mechanisms are becoming active sooner than forecast. For a world leader, or indeed anyone in a position of responsibility to ignore the facts is unconscionable. To undermine any and all efforts to make changes in an effort to control and reduce greenhouse gas emissions is nothing short of criminal.