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Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
As world leaders start gathering next week in Copenhagen,
the people hit hardest by the climate change crisis -- the global poor
-- will continue to be systematically excluded from formal discussions
of how to address problems like water shortages and crop failures
stemming from global warming.
Meanwhile, the world's major corporations have been dominating
international and domestic climate policy -- as they did in the
international trade policy arena. Carbon-trading and carbon offset
projects have already allowed these polluters to avoid cutting
emissions and to expand their markets into poor countries, accelerating
corporate take-over of the world's resources at the expense of local
and indigenous communities.
Whatever happens among the officials gathered in Copenhagen, where 192
nations will come together to try to negotiate a new international
climate treaty, climate activists are using the occasion to explore new directions.
Expected to be one of the largest international gatherings ever, with
about 15,000 delegates and diplomats working behind the prime ministers
and presidents who will make the final decisions, the Copenhagen talks
will also be met by a counter-summit featuring tens of thousands of activists, scores of planned protests and talks by people like author and Nation columnist Naomi Klein, author and climate campaigner George Monbiot and the Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva.
Leading up to the Klimaforum09, the alternative "people's summit", is today's Global Day of Action on Climate Crisis.
Organized by the Mobilization for Climate Justice, the day's actions
include demonstrations, teach-ins and civil disobedience in nine US
cities one week before the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen open,
and on the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Organization protest in Seattle.
Check out a map of today's actions and a list of ways you can help support future activism at www.actforclimatejustice.org, read and forward Grist's Top 25 reasons to give a damn about climate change, and watch TheNation.com for a special "Cop15" blog featuring running dispatches from Copenhagen during the duration of the talks.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
As world leaders start gathering next week in Copenhagen,
the people hit hardest by the climate change crisis -- the global poor
-- will continue to be systematically excluded from formal discussions
of how to address problems like water shortages and crop failures
stemming from global warming.
Meanwhile, the world's major corporations have been dominating
international and domestic climate policy -- as they did in the
international trade policy arena. Carbon-trading and carbon offset
projects have already allowed these polluters to avoid cutting
emissions and to expand their markets into poor countries, accelerating
corporate take-over of the world's resources at the expense of local
and indigenous communities.
Whatever happens among the officials gathered in Copenhagen, where 192
nations will come together to try to negotiate a new international
climate treaty, climate activists are using the occasion to explore new directions.
Expected to be one of the largest international gatherings ever, with
about 15,000 delegates and diplomats working behind the prime ministers
and presidents who will make the final decisions, the Copenhagen talks
will also be met by a counter-summit featuring tens of thousands of activists, scores of planned protests and talks by people like author and Nation columnist Naomi Klein, author and climate campaigner George Monbiot and the Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva.
Leading up to the Klimaforum09, the alternative "people's summit", is today's Global Day of Action on Climate Crisis.
Organized by the Mobilization for Climate Justice, the day's actions
include demonstrations, teach-ins and civil disobedience in nine US
cities one week before the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen open,
and on the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Organization protest in Seattle.
Check out a map of today's actions and a list of ways you can help support future activism at www.actforclimatejustice.org, read and forward Grist's Top 25 reasons to give a damn about climate change, and watch TheNation.com for a special "Cop15" blog featuring running dispatches from Copenhagen during the duration of the talks.
As world leaders start gathering next week in Copenhagen,
the people hit hardest by the climate change crisis -- the global poor
-- will continue to be systematically excluded from formal discussions
of how to address problems like water shortages and crop failures
stemming from global warming.
Meanwhile, the world's major corporations have been dominating
international and domestic climate policy -- as they did in the
international trade policy arena. Carbon-trading and carbon offset
projects have already allowed these polluters to avoid cutting
emissions and to expand their markets into poor countries, accelerating
corporate take-over of the world's resources at the expense of local
and indigenous communities.
Whatever happens among the officials gathered in Copenhagen, where 192
nations will come together to try to negotiate a new international
climate treaty, climate activists are using the occasion to explore new directions.
Expected to be one of the largest international gatherings ever, with
about 15,000 delegates and diplomats working behind the prime ministers
and presidents who will make the final decisions, the Copenhagen talks
will also be met by a counter-summit featuring tens of thousands of activists, scores of planned protests and talks by people like author and Nation columnist Naomi Klein, author and climate campaigner George Monbiot and the Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva.
Leading up to the Klimaforum09, the alternative "people's summit", is today's Global Day of Action on Climate Crisis.
Organized by the Mobilization for Climate Justice, the day's actions
include demonstrations, teach-ins and civil disobedience in nine US
cities one week before the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen open,
and on the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Organization protest in Seattle.
Check out a map of today's actions and a list of ways you can help support future activism at www.actforclimatejustice.org, read and forward Grist's Top 25 reasons to give a damn about climate change, and watch TheNation.com for a special "Cop15" blog featuring running dispatches from Copenhagen during the duration of the talks.