Radical media, politics and culture.

Ecology

July 20, 2012 - 5:36am -- stevphen
Analysis & Polemic
Ecology

On Any Sunday
Martin Hardie

Last weekend my old friend, Timorese ‘boss’ in the days of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) and the current Secretary of State for Energy Policy (SEPE), Avelino Maria Coelho da Silva, invited me to his traditional land outside of Ossu on the southern slopes of the great mountain range that runs the length of the island of Timor. I had spent the best part of the previous three weeks with Avelino, first travelling with him to remote villages as he campaigned for the Timorese Socialist party (PST) in the Parliamentary elections, and then in his office at the Palacio do Governo, in Dili, working on a draft of a law on renewable energy.

May 21, 2012 - 3:39am -- stevphen
Analysis & Polemic
Ecology

New issue of ephemera on 'the atmosphere business' released

The contributions collected in this special issue of ephemera question the underlying ideologies and assumptions of carbon markets, and bring to light many of the contradictions and antagonisms that are currently at the heart of ‘climate capitalism’. They offer a critical assessment of the political economy of carbon trading, and a detailed understanding of how these newly created markets are designed, how they (don’t) work, the various actors that are involved, and how these actors function together to create and contest the ‘atmosphere business’. In 5 notes, 6 articles, 1 interview and 3 book reviews, some of the most prominent critical voices in debates about the atmosphere business are brought together in this special issue.

November 3, 2011 - 8:25am -- jim
News
Ecology

Tepco Detects Nuclear Fission at Fukushima Dai-Ichi Station
Bloomberg News

Tokyo Electric Power Co. detected signs of nuclear fission at its crippled Fukushima atomic power plant, raising the risk of increased radiation emissions. No increase in radiation was found at the site and the situation is under control, officials said.

The company, known as Tepco, began spraying boric acid on the No. 2 reactor at 2:48 a.m. Japan time to prevent accidental chain reactions, according to an e-mailed statement today. The detection of xenon, which is associated with nuclear fission, was confirmed today by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, the country's atomic regulator said.

October 17, 2011 - 1:53pm -- jim
Announcements
Ecology

"The World After Fukushima" Event Series
New York City, October 21-26, 2011

A 4-day event series in NYC, October 21-26, 2011

The Center for Place, Culture and Politics at CUNY and Todos Somos Japon present:

1) Symposium – “The World After Fukushima 3/11”
Friday Oct. 21 6pm
@ CUNY Graduate Center (Skylight Room: #9100)
365 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Although information has been coming in from Japan since 3/11, there is a huge gap between what the people in Japan are actually experiencing, doing and thinking after the Fukushima nuclear accident, and what the people in the US know and think about it. We are inviting three intellectuals/activists from Japan to share their first hand experiences and thoughts with us here in the US, and to discuss together the significance of the situation, the question of our human survival and the global struggles for it.

October 14, 2011 - 10:55am -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
Ecology

The Peak Oil Initiation
John Michael Greer

I sometimes wonder what historians of the far future will think as they
pore over what's left of the records of our own time. It's unlikely that
they'll have a great deal more to go on than, say, Renaissance scholars
had when they started to piece together the story of Rome's decline and
fall; our civilization produces a much greater volume of records than
Rome did, to be sure, but most of them are in much more transitory
forms; parchment lasts for many centuries if it's kept dry and not
handled much, while a few decades at most - and in the case of the
internet, a few seconds of power loss - is enough to silence most of our
current information media forever.

July 6, 2011 - 8:39pm -- stevphen
Analysis & Polemic
Ecology

Life and Labor in the Era of Climate Justice
Andrew Ross

As radicals, it is our job to respond to the very newest political formations, and few have presented themselves with the urgency of the tendencies that have sprung up to address and combat the climate crisis. For the purposes of this talk, let me outline four of these tendencies

1) The first is the emergence of the carbon calculus as an overriding measure of our ability to meet the crisis. If we cannot afford to allow atmospheric carbon levels to rise to 450ppm, should we hold the threshold at 400ppm or demand a reduction to 350ppm? For some climate activists, this is the only important question, and, for those who favor the quickest form of emissions reduction, we must proceed by any means necessary, even if it involves following pathways that are undemocratic. But the most everyday manifestation of this new calculus is the growing habit of assessing the carbon footprint of every product and every personal movement, including acts of labor. Indeed, quantifying the world’s energy throughput on the microlevel of personal conduct is becoming a pseudopolitical obsession. In some ways, it is a perverse spin on the statistical tyranny of the GDP, reducing our actions and our use of material things to a data-set––the outcome of which is a moral assessment of our thermodynamic performance. Carbon-Neutral Man is the goal, a model of ascetic behavior that is the obverse of the wasteful hyperconsumer.

December 6, 2010 - 6:03pm -- stevphen
Analysis & Polemic
Ecology

What does Resistance Look Like? The Niger Delta Model by Ray Boudreaux

October 19, 2010 - 4:26am -- jim
News
Ecology

Massive Chevron Ad Campaign Derailed, Media Slapstick Follows Yes Men

News outlets, citizens duped by web of deceit - but whose?

A day-long comedy of errors began Monday morning when the Yes Men, supported by Rainforest Action Network and Amazon Watch, pre-empted Chevron's enormous new “We Agree” ad campaign with a satirical version of their own. The activists' version highlights Chevron's environmental and social abuses - the same abuses they say Chevron is attempting to “greenwash.”

October 18, 2010 - 5:45am -- jim
News
Ecology

Hundreds of UK Climate Activists Blockade Oil Refineries

Today hundreds of climate activists taking part in the Crude Awakening day of action have successfully blockaded the Coryton and Shell Haven oil refineries in Essex, including the UK's busiest oil refinery and distribution centre.

December 19, 2009 - 6:34am -- Anonymous Comrade (not verified)
Analysis & Polemic
Ecology

Capitalism The 'Real Culprit Behind Climate Change' Faranaaz Parker

“The best thing about Copenhagen is its failure. What I most dread about Copenhagen is that the public relations apparatus will manage to patch together propoganda or some sort of token agreement,” says Joel Kovel, a proponent of eco-socialism.

For Kovel and others, including top climatologist James Hansen, who referred to Copenhagen as a “disaster track”, the negotiations – which stalled primarily over emission reduction targets and financing for developing countries -- are a forgone conclusion.

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