Books

Klima Kollektivet has gathered a very nice collection of interesting reading! Check it out at www.climatecollective.org.

New book uncovers carbon trading flaws ahead of UN climate talks

At a time when Copenhagen talks and the Kyoto Protocol seem likely to end in failure, calling for an entirely different framework for addressing the climate crisis may seem like madness. Carbon Trading: How it works and why it fails, produced by the Transnational Institute’s Carbon Trade Watch Project, is sure to change your mind.

The accessible, well-researched book provides a devastating critique of both the theory and practice of carbon trading, which lie at the heart of global climate policy. It shows how the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, the world’s largest carbon market, has consistently failed to ‘cap’ emissions, while the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) routinely favours environmentally ineffective and socially unjust projects.

The book includes original research with compelling case studies of CDM projects in Brazil, Indonesia, India and Thailand that have proved to be fraudulent, based on dispossession and human rights abuses, and led to strong resistance from communities in the Global South.

The book reveals how carbon trading is only a very recent invention by business and political elites that undermines existing environmental legislation and diverts from planning a rapid transition away from current fossil fuel expansion. It points to a plethora of ways forward without carbon trading – from subsidy shifting to regulation – based on local knowledge and political organising if climate change is to be addressed in a just manner.

The authors, Tamra Gilbertson and Oscar Reyes, are both researchers with Carbon Trade Watch. The project combines high quality research and integration with social movements worldwide which has made it a respected commentator on global climate policy since 2002. The new book is published by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation (www.dhf.uu.se) as part of its Critical Currents series.

Download: http://www.carbontradewatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=322&Itemid=292

Rising Tide North America releases Hoodwinked in the Hothouse

a primer on False Solutions to Climate Change

false-solutions_booklet

Only a few years ago, some companies were saying climate change wasn’t a problem. Now, as its impacts become apparent, many of the same corporations are suddenly scrambling to claim leadership on the issue. Desperate to avoid regulation that may hit their profits, they present a dizzying array of “false solutions,” quick fixes that perpetuate inequalities in our society while they can cash in on the crisis. Upon closer examination, many of these technologies and policies are merely dangerous detours on the road to a just, livable planet, distracting us from the root causes of the crisis.

Rising Tide North America is pleased to announce the release of the first short yet comprehensive survey of these bogus climate change solutions.

The 20 page pamphlet — “Hoodwinked in the Hothouse” — covers topics as diverse as Clean Coal, Agrofuels, Geoengineering, Carbon Offsets and over a dozen other non-solutions to the climate crisis, all in concise, colorfully illustrated and information packed essays.Download it now ( PDF)!

You can order these booklets *FREE* from Rising Tide by contacting FalseSolutions-AT-RisingTideNorthAmerica-DOT-org. (If you cover shipping costs that’s great, and of course donations to our 100% volunteer run organization are greatly appreciated!).

You can also download the booklet in it’s entirety athttp://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/special/fsbooklet.pdf

The book includes contributions from the World Development Movement, Corporate Watch, the World Rainforest Movement, Rachel Smolker, Rory Cox, the Transnational Institute, Oscar Reyes, and Alter Eco, as well as photography and artwork from Ben Powless, Tamra Gilbertson, Mike Wells, Appalachian Voices, Jorge Alcoreza, Andy Singer and the Beehive Design Collective.

We are currently seeking funding for an expanded version of the booklet for release during the 2009 UN climate meetings in Copenhagen that would include information on several additional false solutions including waste incineration and hydrogen fuel cells as well as an expanded section on genuine climate solutions and much more.

If you are interested in supporting this endeavor, want to order copies of the book, or have other questions please contact FalseSolutions-AT-RisingTideNorthAmerica-DOT-org.

Indigenous Peoples’ Guide

Our planet is heating up at an alarming rate, threatening our very survival. What needs to be done is simple: Thepollution and destruction of Earth must be stopped immediately. But instead,there is a lot of greed, false solutions and lies about how to save our future.It seems that leaders of the world are more concerned about making money thansolving the climate crisis.

This is a quick guide to the truth about false solutions to climate change. These market-basedscams allow polluters to avoid reducing their pollution, continue to destroynature and make millions while they are at it. The United Nations, the WorldBank, industry, multinationals, governments and even some NGOs promote thisclimate fraud. Could it be that crimes against humanity and the planet arebeing committed and nobody knows?

But what does all this have to do with Indigenous Peoples?

Unfortunately, most of these falsesolutions are violating not only the law of nature but also Indigenous Peoples’rights. Many of these so-called “solutions” to Climate Change are grabbing Indigenous Peoples’ land and devastating our planet. Indigenous Peoples need to know what’s going on so that they fight back.

“Capitalism is in deep crisis, but it still has a green card to play. Rather than takingeffective action against climate change – which would mean a radical reductionof industrialized countries’ emissions and questioning the forced growthof the capitalist system itself – they are reaping mega profits from biofuels and carbon trading. These market mechanisms and techno fixes will be a disaster for the poor, and will result in a new form of colonialism. They are already privatizing the atmosphere and subsidizing enormous corporate land grabs ofpeoples’ lands and forests in the Global South. Instead of business asusual, emissions must be drasticallyreduced, which means that fossil fuels must stay in the ground.” Oliver Demarcellus, Youth Climate Advocate

Three Types of False Solutions:

The Carbon Market buys and sells permits to pollute called “carbon credits”. It claims to solve the climate crisis but really just allowspolluters to buy their way out of reducing their emissions. This multibillion-dollar pollution trading mechanism privatizes the air andcommodifies the atmosphere. The International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change opposes the carbon market. “We cannot condone activities that defile the sacredness of Mother Earth. Carbon trade-induced conflicts.endanger our survival.” Northern polluters can also get permits to pollute through projects in the South like a dam or a tree plantation under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change calls the CDM “a new form of colonialism.” Permits to pollute could also soon be generated by promising not to cutdown forests and plantations that absorb pollution. This is called Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). The International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change says “REDD will not benefit Indigenous Peoples, but in fact, will result inmore violations of Indigenous Peoples‘ Rights.UnderREDD, States and Carbon Traders will take more control over our forests.

Dirty “Clean” Energy (NuclearEnergy, “Clean” Coal, Natural Gas, Dams, Agrofuels and Hydrogen) – What got us into this mess inthe first place is certainly not what’s going to get us out! Fossil fuels andother energy sources that cause environmental devastation and violate human rightsare being green-washed, labeled “clean” and wrongly called solutions to climate change. Indigenous Peoples worldwide have suffered from nuclear energy and nuclear testing, fossil fuel extraction, big dams and plantations. Now comes more destruction in the name of saving the climate.

Playing God - Let’s dump tons of iron filings in the ocean, spraythe stratosphere with banned sulfates, genetically modify trees and wrap thedeserts in white plastic! Is that a way to save your children’s future? Crazyschemes that sound like comic book science fiction are being implemented tosell permits to pollute and to try to modify the weather. Needless to say, these climate change mitigation strategies corrupt the sacred.

Deal Or No Deal

Deal or no deal newspaper

Deal or no deal news paper – download it here