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Published on Monday, September 27, 2010 by CommonDreams.org
Nonviolent Resistance or Climate Hell
Climate and Mountaintop Activists Must Unite for a Better World
"The world's top climate scientists are now ringing the alarm bell at a deafening volume because the time to act has virtually passed, yet it is as if the frequency of the chime is beyond the threshold of human hearing". - Clive Hamilton (Professor of Public Ethics, Australian National University)"Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the State becomes lawless or, which is the same thing, corrupt.... Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of humankind." - Mohandes Gandhi
As courageous activists from Appalachia prepare to confront a government seemingly held hostage by the inordinate wealth and influence of fossil fuel based corporations, there is a unique opportunity for alliances to be formed that can build a stronger and more empowered movement. Those same forces engaged in a military style bombing assault on the beautiful and biodiverse mountains of Appalachia now threaten the very foundation of life on earth through an assault on the atmosphere and climate systems that sustain us all. The same corporations rendered blind by their greed to the "collateral damage" known as mountaintop removal are equally oblivious to the climate Hell they are bringing to our planet.
Mountaintop Movement Shows the Way
Those who have travelled to Washington DC to take part in "Appalachia Rising" - the largest protest in history calling for the abolition of this abomination - represent a tremendous breath of fresh air. After years of trying to appeal to policy makers through lawful means, they understand the extent to which government has yielded to the power of the coal industry and have gained the clarity of vision to know that the struggle must now be taken to a higher level. Along with Gandhi and Martin Luther King, they recognize a time has come to put bodies on the line and engage in nonviolent resistance.
Co-opted and Pushed Off the Radar
Those who are working to prevent a climate catastrophe have much to learn from the gut level passion on display at this action. Mountaintop activists are to be praised for not becoming entangled with the mainstream "environmental" groups inside the Beltway that have been seduced into a cynical and disastrous culture of endless compromise and appeasement. With treasuries expanded by a willingness to refrain from confronting corporate power and adopt only the most mild and politically "safe" stances, groups like Environmental Defense Fund have stolen the limelight from genuine grassroots activists and presented themselves to the public as the "voice of environmental protection". With their much larger budgets, such groups have pushed the grassroots activists off of the media radar screen.
The Unique Challenge of Climate Activism
Although both grassroots movements fight a common foe, climate activists are also dealing with another significant challenge not faced by their mountaintop counterparts. The monumental planet-wide devastation that awaits humanity if these corporations are allowed to press the climate system beyond its tipping point is much more difficult to convey to the public. Although the signs of climate breakdown are already appearing, they are not as immediately tangible as images of explosions or moonscapes in West Virginia. What makes the climate threat so uniquely dangerous is that by the time the impacts are in full swing, the tipping point will already have been crossed and the breakdown of life support systems will escalate out of human control.
Already Approaching the Tipping Point -
Scientists warn that tipping points are already rapidly approaching. Loss of reflective ice is causing more heat to be absorbed by open water. Ocean acidification is threatening critical organisms in the food chain. Evidence is mounting that an ominous "methane time bomb" is being triggered.
Methane is a greenhouse gas 30 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. In seabeds off the Siberian coast, recent findings confirm that a substantial amount of formerly frozen methane is thawing and entering the atmosphere. According to a press release by the National Science Foundation: "Methane is leaking from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf into the atmosphere at an alarming rate ...... Release of even a fraction of the methane stored in the shelf could trigger abrupt climate warming."
Compounding this danger are two other factors. As it has already been established that the Arctic area is warming more quickly than the rest of the planet, this thawing is on track to only increase. Secondly, the release of frozen methane sets off a self-perpetuating cycle. The more the Arctic warms, the more methane that is released - which in turn accelerates the warming. A nightmare scenario feared by many tracking the climate emergency appears to be manifesting. (Two recent postings on Common Dreams provide further detail: here and here)
A "Doomsday Machine" That Cannot Be Stopped
What is clear for those brave enough to not stick their heads in the sand is that we are truly in an emergency. We are heading toward a level of suffering comparable to the worst plagues, mass starvation, and acts of genocide in human history. Though the level of devastation would be comparable to nuclear war, the prognosis for climate breakdown is actually worse. In the case of the former, there is always a hope that sane human leaders will refuse to launch the missiles. When climate tipping points are crossed, there is no such hope. The laws of physics take over and the process of ecosystem breakdown cannot be stopped. In essence, a climate "doomsday machine" is being launched that will operate on its own autonomous and inexorable timeline.
Humanity at a Crossroad
As the hourglass of humanity runs out, the people of the world have failed to mobilize on the level necessary to prevent catastrophe. While scientists remind us of the mass extinction of life already caused by previous climate disruptions, the great bulk of humanity appears to be deaf and proceeding with "business as usual". We stand at a crossroad. We must either recognize and confront the forces in our society driving the destruction and holding us in bondage, or the great experiment known as human civilization may well pass away from the earth.
Reclaiming the Moral High Ground
Three environmental networks that have not been captured by the appeasement culture of DC are Greenpeace, 350.org, and RAN. Recently, their leaders issued a joint statement calling for a strong increase in direct action in response to the collapse of climate legislation. They ask for ideas on how to facilitate this.
History is replete with inspiring examples of movements based on nonviolent resistance. Gandhi used the term "satyagraha" to describe the spiritual power that is emanated when people cling tenaciously to the truth and refuse to let go. Any study of the movements led by Gandhi and Martin Luther King will yield innumerable ways to apply this power.
Rousing examples are already being provided by grassroots activists in places like the UK and Australia. On the very day preceding the Appalachia Rising action, 45 activists associated with Rising Tide in Australia closed down the largest coal-loading port in the world. In England, large numbers have massed together in "climate camps" to become empowered by group camaraderie and a culture that supports activism, learn how to live sustainably, and nonviolently disrupt climate exchanges, banks, and "business as usual". A 10 minute video documents a climate camp "convergence" nonviolently blockading a street outside the European Climate Exchange in downtown London. This successful strategy begs to be imported into the U.S. A climate camp should be set up outside Washington DC in order to support a whole series of creative nonviolent actions next spring in the nation's capitol.
The public figure most associated with the climate issue - Al Gore - has already called for young people to commit civil disobedience in opposition to coal power plants. It would be only fair to challenge him to personally take part in that which he encourages others to do. If there was ever a time for Gore to break away from the failed attempt to "reason" and "reach a compromise" with the fossil fuel industry, it is now. It is way past time for him to truly provide leadership in responding to what he calls the "moral imperative" to act.
The Crucible Through Which Humanity Must Pass
The truth is that those of us living within industrial society have become seduced by the power which accrues from the burning of fossil fuels, and entrapped by the destructive consequences. We have created an entire social structure which bows at the altar of fossil fuel and have in essence entered into a massive "Faustian bargain" with the gods of oil and coal.
The truth is that those of us living within industrial society have become seduced by the power which accrues from the burning of fossil fuels, and entrapped by the destructive consequences. We have created an entire social structure which bows at the altar of fossil fuel and have in essence entered into a massive "Faustian bargain" with the gods of oil and coal.
It is a time of testing, when our moral character must evolve and mature to a higher level, when we must pass through a spiritual crucible and emerge intact on the other side. It is a passing that will find us more whole and more healed as a result, and constitute a great advance for the human species. But if we fail to confront those forces that hold us in bondage, the doomsday clock already set into motion will run out and the destruction we have unleashed will overwhelm us.
Without a Vision, the People Will Perish
At a point when human survival itself is at stake, time rapidly running out, and powerful entrenched forces actively assisting the disintegration, there is an overwhelming need for clarity of vision in the formation of any movement capable of turning back such a juggernaut. Those entities that have positioned themselves to make enormous profit from our addiction will not yield their economic dominance voluntarily. There is a profound and urgent need for spiritual battle, and the most powerful tool we have is nonviolent resistance.
The leadership for this battle will not come from the mainstream supposedly "green" organizations. It will come from those in the grassroots who see the catastrophe approaching and who maintain a clear vision about what will be required to stop it. We must reach out and establish common ground with all whose eyes are open to this need. We must build a united movement that will earn the blessing of future generations rather than their curse.
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20 Comments so far
Show AllFood Not Bombs is supporting the call for Nonviolent Direct Action to disrupt corporate and government actions causing the climate crisis and introducing the public to ways that they can also move from exploitive activities such as going passive solar, bike transportation and an end to buying stuff.
Life style change is important but not enough. We have been reading Gene Sharps books on nonviolent direct action. I urge all Commondream readers to visit: www.aeinstein.org
One great way to help is to eat less or no meat and dairy. Help us share free vegan meals to people taking nonviolent direct action. Ask us to facilitate a nonviolence training for your community. We can do it.
www.foodnotbombs.net
Excellent ideas. Thanks for sharing them.
Yes the lessons taught by Gandhi are lessons of mass non participaton in markets.
The lessons taught by King is boycots which is a form of non participation in markets.
Both men had the ability to inspire others to have the strength to kick off oppression. So the question becomes what "markets" are the lynch pin to the capitalist system that
uses sequestered carbon as fuel putting it into the air and disrupting the carbon cycle sending us back to the acid ocean period which i guess would be the carboniferous period in earths history.
The answer is that the problem is not capitalism as many people have said but rather idustrialization. manufacturing and machine technology. So how do we not participate in industrialization ? What market do we boycot to stop climate change. The only answer i can come up with is non participation in the labor market. If we got about 60% of Americans to just stop going to work and figure out non industrial, susistence ways of surviving then the planet could survive as well.
anything short of returning to bare simple 100% non industrial subsistence is just useless window dressing and pretense.
Capitalism eventually leads to industrialization. Always.
How to develop a movement to prepare for mass CD.....?
Well, we're starting small. The internet has proven to be oddly 'pacifying' and it is a false sense of accomplishment to send a message to the corporate state or media. In the end, it's not very effective at getting people off their computers.
The problem is isolation through 'internet networking.' It is a bogus unity that clearly has achieved almost NOTHING over the last 10 years. The results are stunning. As a person who experienced activism in the 70's, 80's--and then watched its decline until the WTO protests in Seattle (and then the emergence of police violence & the consolidation of the corporate/state media), I've seen a lot of changes.
I suggest your group(s) facilitate action by small groups, even individuals. How? You could print up banners, posters, and bumper stickers cheaply. Distribute them to those who promise to use them (free or at a discount) and SEND YOU A PICTURE/VIDEO of that use. Then, if they don't send you a picture/VIDEO, they don't get free or discounted stuff next time but have to pay for it. Post the best pictures/videos on a web site. Groups interested in building or facilitating a grassroots movement could also send out a few traveling 'trainers' who help organize initial events in promising areas, getting groups started. Very few people have any free time these days and finding a few of those people is very important. Don't burn out anyone. Don't let someone burn themselves out by taking on too much... Better to do less more frequently and establish a modest ROUTINE. Perseverance, growth, and creativity is the way to win on any issue.
One person with a banner can stand with it above the local freeway! (Tie one end to the chainlink fence.) Hand out flyers at the same time, ideally with a friend or two. Generic flyers should be available as pdf files ASAP from groups working on various issues--especially climate change because the corporations are spreading misinformation constantly. I've done this one many issues and it has been very satisfying. All of my time is well spent--not a wasted moment. From there, those who are passing out flyers, holding up banners MUST ALSO HAVE A SIGN UP/CONTACT SHEET for passerby foot traffic. When a 'solitary' activist has 20 names, that's real. That's when a meeting can be held and you find out if one has 5 people with some free time. With five people, they can take it to the next level--local access TV, a bigger presence on a campus, etc. At all future events, the CONTACT sheet is always there, always being passed around. Then, it is critical to do something creative, and try to get the contacts up to several hundred people that can then be on a local LISTSERV that is moderated and sends out information about local/national actions. Attending enviro-friendly festivals to solicit contacts is easy once you've got a small, active, local group.
Another thing to look into is dedicated local broadcast radio ... legal, relatively cheap to set up and could be networked via the internet to disseminate the best ideas.
Forget it. It is already too late, and nothing is going to be done. It is time to plan for how you individually are going to handle global warming.
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
Amy Goodman, Free Speech Radio News, Counterspin and a few other indie/alt media broadcasters and online “print” news clearinghouse sites do heroic work trying to inform the relatively few Americans who know about these news sources about as many important issues as possible. But the decline of the journalistic, ethical and moral standards of the corporate “mainstream” media in the US over the last 30 years has meant that many stories of crucial importance that Americans need to understand to even begin to make sense of their rapidly changing world never reach a mass audience. News junkies like me have to pick and peck them out of very scattered print media sources, often from Britain or other countries. I archive as many of these “missing link” stories as I can but my news archive isn’t as organized as it used to be and I have to scan hundreds of stories per month to locate one or two about which I want to write. At least I have somewhere to begin to look for them so long as I can recall generally what part of what year they were published.
One of those keystone articles was published on September 23, 2010 by Peter Boaz and Matthew O. Berger of Inter Press Service and titled,
Rising Energy Demand Hits Water Scarcity 'Choke Point.'
I regard Inter Press Service as a trustworthy news source, but I am still looking for sources to confirm much of what I read in this article because, if true, it has very profound global ramifications. The trouble is that fewer and fewer news outfits these days devote enough time and money to science-related reporting, and fewer and fewer editors and reporters know how to formulate the right scientific questions AND know where to dig for the right government and scientific data to get at the answers to those questions. Sometimes I can find only one source for a “missing link” story, which greatly aggravates me.
The U.S. at its current population of slightly over 300 million people withdraws approximately 149,650 Billion gallons of water a year for various purposes. About half of it is used to cool mostly coal-fired power plants and some nuclear power plants. But I already knew this from other sources.
I also knew that large solar power arrays also required some water-cooling but I had previously thought they were much more efficient than coal or nuclear in terms of how much water they required. It turns out that large solar arrays using conventional water- cooling technology require two to three times as much water as coal fired power plants per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated. I’m now looking into alternative cooling technologies for large solar arrays.
Energy vs. water demand is directly tied to climate, human population level, degree of technological & electrical infrastructure development, and economic scale & activity level on a per country basis. The over-population, over-heating, resource plundering (including reckless exploitation of fresh water supplies) and degeneration of the planet’s environment is accelerating. In the current neo-liberal global milieu this reality is swiftly piling up and intensifying the difficulty of related domestic and international policy problems with long-term national and global ramifications. The consequences of allowing corporate greed and political, economic and “journalistic” career self-interest to be the overriding decision making factors with regard to proposed solutions to these problems will be very needless, chaotic and ugly.
As Jon Jarvis, former head of the National Park Service’s Pacific West Region said in a February 2009 internal memo cited in the article, "In arid settings, the increased water demand from concentrating solar energy systems employing water-cooled technology could strain limited water resources already under development pressure from urbanization, irrigation expansion, commercial interests and mining.” This observation applies to numerous arid regions around the world, not just those in the U.S.
Given the present levels and worldwide distribution of technology and anti-regulatory capitalist economic globalism, the big drivers of the energy demand vs. water supply equation are human over-populations and over-consumption of energy derived from dirty fossil fuel and nuclear sources in wealthier First World countries like the U.S. and EU. As demand in over-populated, globalized China and India grows for a middle-class lifestyle comparable to those of the middle-classes in the U.S. and EU, the economic and environmental unsustainability of that demand will be swiftly hammered home in those countries and around the world.
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
The article recognizes that “saving energy saves water.” True enough. But how this article should be understood by contemporary human beings is that by developing globally democratic, scientific (non-eugenics based) plans for gradually and humanely reducing human populations to within economically & environmentally sustainable limits on a regional habitat-by-habitat basis, we could preserve for future generations sufficient natural resources, fresh water supplies and energy sources for them to survive under decent conditions. We would also spare ourselves and our progeny the proliferation of more bloody and unaffordable resource wars, including looming wars over water supplies.
To quote from the article,
“The first part of a report commissioned by the U.S. Congress in 2005 laid out the consequences of not paying enough attention to water supply issues in increasing energy production. The second part, which would have laid out a research agenda and begun developing solutions, has yet to be made public, says [Keith] Schneider [spokesperson for Circle of Blue, a network of journalists and scientists dedicated to water sustainability—Will]
“He says the U.S. Department of Energy has declined repeated requests to explain why the report has not been published.
“Energy demand in the U.S. is expected to increase by 40 percent as the U.S. population rises above 440 million by 2050. The water supply will not be able to support that growth, Schneider says.”
Earlier this year there was a report issued by the World Bank (hardly a liberal bastion) that said that global demand for fresh water was expected to surpass available supplies by 2030.
[Source: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/09/14-2]
[Source: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64193027&piPK=64187937&theSitePK=523679&menuPK=64187510&searchMenuPK=64187283&theSitePK=523679&entityID=000334955_20100920041157&searchMenuPK=64187283&theSitePK=523679]
This means that on the present globally over-populated, corporatist, militarist course, we are just twenty years out from a global water supply catastrophe of unprecedented proportions. The populations of First World nations remain in ignorance of these issues because the economists, politicians and “mainstream” corporatist “journalists” in these countries have their heads stuck in anti-regulatory neo-liberal capitalist sand. They refuse to recognize the externalized costs to the human habitability of the biosphere of their failed economic system (basically a degenerate plutonomy moving inexorably towards totalitarian rule by corporations who already have “legal personhood” in the U.S.) and its wanton natural resource pillaging that is now operating on a fiercely global scale, pitting over-consumptive First World nations against over-populated Third World nations in lifestyle/resources conflicts in a planet-wide race to environmental nowhere.
Related article:
World Wildlife Fund's Living Planet Report - We Need 5 Planets' Resources To Live As in U.S. [http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0116-04.htm]
metal, I use just over one gallon of water a day, not counting one side-load a week at the laundromat. My fear is that the toxic petro-chemicals will slowly leach into ALL the ground water rendering it un-potable. Even precipitation is questionable.
The whole Israeli-Palestinian travesty is all about water.
Some day, maybe, people (western culturalites) will understand the gift of life and the life giving water. Maybe when the power goes off.
Peace and goodwill, Buck
maybe when the power goes off...
yes...
maybe...if not too late...
chemicals, chemicals everywhere, and not a drop to drink!
Note: my patent-pending nonphotovoltaic solar electricity generation plan typically uses no water at all.
Workable solutions might be out there, but as far as I'm concerned they're right here.
The government is huge oil's friend and big coal's buddy because they always spend enough to buy congressional seats. Really effective solar/wind products will be pried from our government's dead hands, probably after heat stroke so the hands won't be cold. We might as well start prying.
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
Is there a site you can point me to to read up on this alternative version of solar?
Wow, Gary "Eladiah" Houser, a longtime practitioner of Gandhian nonviolence didn't mention the driving force behind global warming once: capitalism.
Maybe that makes sense. What did Ghandi do for India? With the help of millions of poor Indians he was able to kick the imperial British capitalists out of India. To what end? So the Indian capitalists could exploit their poor instead of the English Crown.
Environmental justice must be linked to economic justice if you want any real movement to mitigate the damage of climate change. Otherwise, it will be nothing more than feel-good window dressing for wealthy liberals.
"...Al Gore ..... has already called for young people to commit civil disobedience in opposition to coal power plants. It would be only fair to challenge him to personally take part in that which he encourages others to do..."
Al Gore smells money (and power) in all this, and that's it. Period. He's not going to be rocking any boat, unless it's his yacht. Doesn't anyone else see this?
Loud and clear.
All you liberals out there ( I used to be one) need to realize that the Democrats are NOT on our side. All representation is false. We only have ourselves. Don't count on any party to represent you. We have to take matters into our own unsponserd, noncorporate, RADICAL hands. Forget politicians. What have they done for you? How have they made your life better? The only people that can make our own lives better is us.
"Three environmental networks that have not been captured by the appeasement culture of DC are Greenpeace, 350.org, and RAN"
Greenpeace? Even the co-founder of this once great organization has explained how this is no longer a grassroots organization. They are a corporation whose CEOs go on to other CEO jobs in the mining and logging industries. They are more interested in the industrial economy and making money than saving the Earth. PLEASE watch this video. Its only part of a documentary that is still in production but I think its good. The part that really focuses in on Greenpeace is toward the end. (Its only about 8 min long).
http://submedia.tv/endciv/2010/07/08/green-is-the-color-of-money/
I look forward to the day when the climate "activists" recognize that fossil fuels are much more energy dense than renewables, that is why we (all) use them. A renewable energy society would be a much smaller, steady state economy, without long distance transport of food or money based on exponential growth. This is a reason why the "climate movement" was not a success.
A reason the coal industry has so much power is that half of the electrical grid is run by coal and as nice as solar and wind power are (I use both) they are not going to be able to neatly replace all of that coal.
It's worth studying the movements led by MLK and also how the government managed to neutralize those movements, particularly by assassinating King. When has Common Dreams mentioned the JFK and MLK assassinations were done with your tax dollars?
It's also worth studying the physics of net energy, it's not politically correct but the laws of physics are not subject to politics.
Oil consumption in the US since 2007 has dropped almost a tenth, not because of concern about climate or environmentalism but due to economic contraction. On the downslopes of oil, natural gas and coal production this will have more impact than anything else. The mantra of "reduce greenhouse gases by 2050" is partly a sly way for the powers that be to admit resource depletion without having to acknowledge it.
Involuntary simplicity.
We need to integrate concerns about climate change AND peak resources in order to be effective.
The Pentagon has been studying both for decades and they are far ahead of the "activists," who isolate themselves from the rest of the society with silly rhetoric.
http://www.futurescenarios.org
Future Scenarios by David Holmgren, co founder of permaculture
best analysis of how Climate and Peak are intertwined
http://www.postcarbon.org/new-site-files/Reports/Searching_for_a_Miracle_web10nov09.pdf
SEARCHING FOR A MIRACLE
Net Energy Limits and the Fate of Industrial Society
by Richard Heinberg Foreword by Jerry Mander
A Joint Project of the International Forum on Globalization and the Post Carbon Institute. [ False Solution Series #4 ]
September 2009
how much energy can we get with "alternatives"
(not as much as we get from fossil fuels)
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
You completely ignore the gargantuan externalized costs to the biosphere (particularly those aspects of it that must be sustained for decent human habitability) exacted by our failing to move as far and fast as we can away from dependence on fossil fuels that create greenhouse gasses and helped create equally unaffordable resource wars with price tags in the Trillions of dollars. I don't think you fossil fuel cheerleaders fully grasp all the consequences of global warming. It isn't just more warm days of summer for better baseball weather. It affects habitat and species survival throughout the global species chain and across all climatic regions: Species territory shifts and species clashes, disease vectors, soil moisture and arability (food production), species reproduction rates (including food species), desertification, decimation of the sessile marine food chain especially in polar and near polar regions from phytoplankton all the way up to cetaceans, acceleration of the 6th major extinction event, human mass migrations, human resource consumption shifts and rates, proliferation of human resource wars, etc.
The US is number two in the world in terms of amount of potential use of wind energy and number 3 in terms of potential use of solar energy. Every penny we can spend to develop that potential is far better money spent than on continued unsustainable fossil fuel reliance and we now spend only a pittance on renewables. Our major oil companies spend less than one percent of their profits on R&D on renewables. That is an infantile, asinine global disgrace.