Radical media, politics and culture.

Ecology

The Sick Planet

Guy Debord (1971)

Today "pollution" is in fashion, exactly in the same manner that revolution is:
it takes hold of the entire life of society, and it is illusorily represented in
the spectacle. It is boring chatter in a plethora of erroneous and mystifying
writings and discourses, and in reality [dans les faits] it gets everyone in the
throat. It reveals itself everywhere as ideology and it gains on the ground as
real process. These two [mutually] antagonistic movements — the supreme stage
of commodity production and the project of its total negation, equally rich in
internal contradictions — grow together. They are the two sides through which a
single historical moment (long-awaited and often foreseen in inadequate partial
figures) manifests itself: the impossibility of the continuation of the
functioning of capitalism.

Kevin Smith writes:

"The Carbon Neutral Myth:
Offset Indulgences for your Climate Sins"

Carbon Trade Watch


Carbon offsets are the modern day indulgences, sold to an increasingly carbon conscious public to absolve their climate sins. Scratch the surface, however, and a disturbing picture emerges, where creative accountancy and elaborate shell games cover up the impossibility of verifying genuine climate change benefits, and where communities in the South often have little choice as offset projects are inflicted on them.


This report from Carbon Trade Watch, a project of the Transnational Institute, argues that offsets place disproportionate emphasis on individual lifestyles and carbon footprints, distracting attention from the wider, systemic changes and collective political action that needs to be taken to tackle climate change. Promoting more effective and empowering approaches involves moving away from the marketing gimmicks, celebrity endorsements, technological quick fixes, and the North/South exploitation that the carbon offsets industry embodies.

Solve et Coagula writes: "It seems 'their' silly, poisonous and useless chemtrails didnt work out neatly, hmm!?!?! When do human beings realize/accept that we're part of Nature itself, to see the entire Cosmos as a lovely, caring Being where everything is in its perfect place for good reason, and when are we humble enough to start benefiting from these eternal forces..."

US Urges Scientists To Block Out Sun

David Adam and Liz Minchin

The US wants the world's scientists to develop technology to block sunlight as a last-ditch way to halt global warming.

It says research into techniques such as giant mirrors in space or reflective dust pumped into the atmosphere would be "important insurance" against rising emissions, and has lobbied for such a strategy to be recommended by a UN report on climate change, the first part of which is due out on Friday).

The US has also attempted to steer the UN report, prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), away from conclusions that would support a new worldwide climate treaty based on binding targets to reduce emissions. It has demanded a draft of the report be changed to emphasise the benefits of voluntary agreements and to include criticisms of the Kyoto Protocol, which the US opposes.

Eye on ELF: Were Eco-Radicals Illegally Wire-tapped?

Kera Abraham

On Aug. 22, federal judge Ann Aiken demanded to know whether the government used National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance to indict three eco-sabotage defendants. Just a week earlier, a federal judge in Detroit had ruled NSA surveillance illegal on the grounds that it violates the Fourth Amendment freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. If it's found that warrantless wiretapping was used to indict the eco-tage defendants, the entire case could be thrown out.


With the high-profile prosecution of 14 radical environmentalists for a slew of eco-sabotage acts across the West between 1996 and 2001, the federal government broadened the definition of "terrorist" to include members of the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front, monkeywrenchers who like to set wild horses free and burn SUVs in defense of the planet. Although the eco-tage defendants haven't been charged with terrorism per se, prosecutors' frequent use of the label has given them access to counter-terrorism tools such as the Joint Terrorism Task Force, "enhanced" sentences and gobs of taxpayer money.

Signs of the Times

Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

Using a statistical lens, two just-released books shed light on the
ravages of corporate globalization.


Vital Signs 2006–2007 from the Washington, D.C.-based WorldWatch
Institute contends that "the health of the global economy and the
stability of nations will be shaped by our ability to address the huge
imbalances in natural resource systems."


The Least Developed Countries Report 2006, issued by the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), argues that while there
have been relatively higher rates of economic growth in the Least
Developed Countries (LDCs, a UN-designated group of the world's poorest
50 countries), it is "not translating into poverty reduction and
improved human well-being."


Here are 20 factoids from the reports, the first 10 from Vital Signs,
the second 10 from The Least Developed Countries Report:

Apocalypse No!

Juan Santos


From the beginning, this culture—civilization—
has been a culture of occupation. -
Derrick Jensen

It's scripted: a tragedy whose end is embedded in its beginnings, an
unfolding logic whose conclusion is the inevitable result of its premises.

It's simple. And obvious. We find ourselves in the midst of the most
rapid mass extinction in Earth's history; we have the power to all-but
end life on Earth. We can do so with nuclear weapons, today, in Iran,
or simply by turning the ignition switch on our automobiles and
gliding over paved surfaces where nothing can live. A little more
carbon dioxide, just a little, will tip the scale - unleashing our
potential for matching the greatest mass extinction ever – the one
called The Great Dying.

Science has given us until roughly 2012 to take radical action to
change the course we're on. In the next six years, they tell us, we
will determine the fate of the Earth.
With the US and its white colonial puppet Israel on a nuclear
collision course with Iran and Syria, we may have less time than that.

250 million years ago 95% of all species died. Only one large land
animal was left. Carbon dioxide and methane – the two most deadly of
the greenhouse gases – were responsible. We can do it again. We've
followed the script, we know our lines, and we've reached the final scene.

For that reason, this is a most exciting juncture for the Armageddon
mongers among us.

That's most of who believe in the colonizer's religion, in the Beast,
the Great Tribulation, the Four Horsemen, the Seven Seals, and the
other visions of St. John the Apocalyptic, whose hallucinogenic
fantasies penetrated clearly into the essence, unveiling the
inevitable end, the direction this civilization must head and the end
it must reach.

Bike Warrior writes:

Activists Promote Alternative Transportation Through Cross Country Bike Ride

Student activists from two universities will be bicycling cross-country from New York City to Portland, Oregon this summer as part of the Bikes Against Big Oil campaign, to express concern over rising gas prices as oil companies continue to show windfall profits.

Lauren Giaccone, a student at Pace University in New York City, said this about the campaign:

We are riding to spread awareness of alternatives to cars as a primary means of transportation, and to encourage people, especially those living in major cities, not to sit back and let the big oil companies shaft them in this way. People are disillusioned that a solution can be reached in the near future, because the government has done nothing to help them. The government could easily step in to regulate gas prices if it wanted to, and without sacrificing environmental safety standards.

Peak Opportunity!

Earth Liberation and the Oil Endgame

Acornista, Peak Oil Anarchy

[Also published in Earth First! Journal,
Eostar (March–April) 2006.]

By now, all radical environmentalists—if not all humans—should be aware of the fatal ecological effects of civilization’s unsustainable energy binge. Yet many of us have been slow to grasp the true gravity of what our rapid depletion of non-renewable fossil fuels portends.


We must recognize three essential points about civilization’s imminent energy future: First, the unfolding “energy crisis” is real and will soon manifest as chronic oil scarcity. Second, industry is seeking to quickly and quietly implement a nightmarish swarm of ultra-dirty oil “substitutes,” ranging from coal-to-oil “liquefaction” in Appalachia to nuclear-powered “heavy oil” mining in northern Canada and biofuel plantations in South America. Rather than presenting feasible solutions, these “alternatives” are unsustainable and ecologically destructive. Third, we cannot cling to the hope that scientists will unveil a magical cocktail of clean, oil-free “alternative” technologies that will power a benign “new civilization.”

Anonymous Comrade writes:

The Drop

New York City, April, 2006


"The Drop," an exhibition about water quality and rights, is taking place at Exit Art in NYC. It opens April 8th. On Saturday, April 29th, a conference considers the question:


"Water Challenges Facing New York City:
Finding Visionary Solutions"

Saturday, April 29, 2006

THE DROP public programs will include two panel discussions and an artist-led walking tour of New York's waterways & water resources, organized by Amy Lipton of ecoartspace, a curator who has been engaged with art and the environment for ten years. In the spirit of promoting discussion and analysis, Exit Art has organized a flexible presentation of panels and speakers.

Former ELF Spokesperson Subpeonaed to Grand Jury; Protest Set

Anonymous

EUGENE, OR – Former spokesperson for the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), Craig Rosebraugh, has been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in Eugene, Oregon investigating ELF activity throughout the Pacific Northwest. Rosebraugh has been commanded to appear at 9:00am on March 16 at the Federal Building in Eugene, 211 E. 7th Avenue. A protest against the grand jury system and in support of Rosebraugh is planned for the same day beginning at 8:30am outside the building.

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