Archive for the ‘The Story of Cap & Trade’ Category

LA TIMES: “It’s a cartoon, but she’s serious”
July 13th, 2010, posted by Christina M. Samala

By Margot Roosevelt:

“Annie Leonard used to spout jargon. She reveled in the sort of geek-speak that glazes your eyeballs.

Externalized costs, paradigm shifts, the precautionary principle, extended producer responsibility.

That was before she discovered cartoons.

Today the 45-year-old Berkeley activist is America’s pitchperson for a new style of environmental message. Out with boring PowerPoints and turgid reports; in with witty videos that explain complex issues in digestible terms…”

Click here to read the full story!

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Email from Rising Tide North America and Carbon Trade Watch – Please share!
June 21st, 2010, posted by Annie Leonard

US Social Forum – 2nd Edition of Hoodwinked in the Hothouse available in Detroit!

Rising Tide North America and Carbon Trade Watch are pleased to announce the release of the 2nd edition of Hoodwinked in the Hothouse: False Solutions to Climate Change.

The publication is a close-to-comprehensive guidebook to bogus climate change solutions, covering more than 20 technologies and policy approaches pushed by corporations and industry. It includes contributions from the Energy Justice Network, The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, ETC Group, the Indigenous Environmental Network, Movement Generation, and International Rivers.

A more formal announcement and press release, along with details for ordering the booklet by mail, and a link to the online version of the booklet in both English and Spanish will be forthcoming in July, but for now we wanted to send a special announcement to everyone attending the US Social Forum that you can pick up a copy of the booklet here in Detroit.

Here’s how you can get the booklet in Detroit:

Stopping by our table at the USSF in the Cobo Hall.
At the “Direct Action Strategies for Climate Justice and Community Resilience” workshop we are co-sponsoring with Movement Generation, the Ruckus Society, Zero Waste Detroit, and the Mobilization for Climate Justice West (Thursday, Jun 24, 10:00am Cobo Hall DO-7A).
At the EcoJustice PMA (Friday, June 25, 1-5:30pm in Cobo Hall D3-28).
At the Tar Sands PMA (Wednesday, Jun 23 2010, 1:00pm  Cobo Hall: W2-70)

We’ll probably have them at many other climate justice oriented workshops as well.

We are actively seeking individuals who would be able to take several hundred copies or more for distribution outside the US and Canada; please let me know if you might be able to help.

We also intend to have a limited number of the Spanish language version of Hoodwinked available; please contact me for more details.

Lastly, if you are interested in taking a bunch of booklets (ie, more than 25) please let me know in advance if possible (or visit our table in Cobo Hall) so we can make arrangements.

Many thanks!
~Brian, on behalf of Rising Tide North America
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Rising Tide North America
Confronting the root causes of climate change
www.risingtidenorthamerica.org

“If we hold up banners saying climate change kills and we want more government action, the very power groups driving the destruction will cheer and might give us even more carbon finance or agrofuels. Instead, we need to mobilise against the false solutions and for real, meaningful actions that will actually cut emissions and deliver climate justice.”

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Cap & Trade: A Critical Look at Carbon Trading from Democracy Now!
December 16th, 2009, posted by Christina M. Samala

Filmed live in Copenhagen on Dec 15, a segment on cap and trade from Democracy Now! Featuring clips from The Story of Cap & Trade and a debate with Larry Lohmann and Fracnk Ackerman.

Larry Lohmann is author of the book “Carbon Trading: A Critical Conversation on Climate Change, Privatization and Power”.  He works at the British NGO The Corner House.

Frank Ackerman is an economist at the Stockholm Environment Institute and author of “Can We Afford the Future?: The Economics of a Warming World”.

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A Defining Moment
December 2nd, 2009, posted by Annie Leonard

Now that’s a discussion!

On blogs and listserves, in living rooms and classrooms around the country today, people are talking about, debating, and yes, critiquing our new short film.

We made The Story of Cap & Trade to encourage a real discussion about how to solve the enormous climate challenges we face. If there was ever an issue that merited broad, even heated public debate, this is it. I’d far rather people argue about cap and trade and other policy options than ignore them or silently go along with the crowd, even when our guts tell us the solution on the table is inadequate.

We’re at a defining moment here. Defining in terms of planetary survival. Defining in terms of the kind of democratic governance we have in this country.

In doing my research for The Story of Cap & Trade, I heard many longtime trusted friends tell me “I know cap and trade isn’t enough, but it is the best we can get in this political climate” or “we can’t get something stronger past business.”

Excuse me, but who is running this country? The people or the coal companies? You and me or Goldman Sachs? Remember 1 person, 1 vote?

The entire planetary ecosystem and the lives of billions of people are at stake, and we’re accepting the conventional wisdom that we can’t get a real solution past big business? That it’s too late? That the train has left the station?

Interestingly, the U.S. Climate Task Force and Future 500 just released the results of a new poll by Hart Research that found Americans favor a carbon tax over cap and trade by a margin of two to one. The poll found support for a tax over cap and trade in all age and income brackets. It also found support for cap and trade was lower among those who paid the most attention to climate issues.

Dr. Elaine Kamarck, a former senior policy advisor to Al Gore and current Co-chair of the Climate Task Force explained that:

“This poll reveals that only two percent of voters hold very positive view of cap and trade – the system at the core of the current Senate bill. But it’s not too late to salvage the situation. With both the U.N. and the Senate delaying major climate debates until next year, policymakers now have time to make a serious course correction in the emissions debate.”

If there is public support for a strong law to cap and tax carbon pollution, why are our leaders advancing weaker and riskier schemes that rely on the market to solve the problem?

It’s business as usual.

Now, I’m not against business. In fact, I am thrilled by the environmental and social innovations of many businesses today and I am a firm believer that businesses have to be part of the solution as we transition to a sustainable and just economy.

But let’s admit it, some companies just aren’t hip to that program. Some are more about protecting the bottom line than then planet.

If there was ever a time to draw a line in the sand, to say we’re not compromising our future and the planet to protect business as usual, this is that moment.

Enough of accepting ‘better than terrible.’

The stronger the demands for real solutions – solutions that achieve ecological sustainability and do so fairly – the easier it will be for those in the political process to inch in that direction too. Let’s continue this discussion, welcome the voices of those most impacted by climate change, invite in businesses that are serious about sustainability and encourage our leaders to lead.

This is a defining moment.

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Climate & Consumption
November 30th, 2009, posted by Annie Leonard

If you’re like me, an increasing amount of your worries these days focus on the rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere and the resulting potential for devastating climate chaos.

Years ago, when I first heard about climate change, I figured someone else would work all that out while I kept plodding away with my work on consumption, pollution and waste. Well, guess what? They didn’t work it out; in fact, the climate situation is far worse today than even recent scientific predictions. And guess what else? It turns out that climate and consumption are actually the same issue.

You see, most of the greenhouse gases countries emit come from our materials economy: the way we make, use, transport, and throw away all the stuff in our lives. As Boston College professor (and one of my favorite authors) Juliet Schor said “Global consumerism devours resources like there’s no tomorrow. And unless we address how much we consume, we won’t succeed in averting disastrous climate change.”

A majority of scientists now say we need to significantly reduce carbon levels in the atmosphere if we want the planet to resemble something close to what it is like today, supporting the kind of life that it does today. To do this, we simply have to use less Stuff – especially oil and coal. We have to rethink, redesign and rebuild a lot of things. We have to figure out different modes of transportation, growing food, building buildings, and having fun that don’t require endless new Stuff. It’s very possible to make these changes, but they won’t happen on their own. We need to get started.

Unfortunately, most of the world’s leaders and big businesses are instead promoting policy approaches that don’t bring us anywhere near the level of change that climate scientists say is needed—let’s call these “false solutions.” And there’s another problem with these policy approaches: the details are so technical and policy wonkish that it’s often hard to figure out what they are even talking about.

I wondered if it would be possible to explain the leading false solution, Cap and Trade, in a clear compelling way so that more of us are inspired to join the conversation. Working with Climate Justice Now!, the Durban Group for Climate Justice and Free Range Studios, we produced our new short film, The Story of Cap and Trade, to do just that.

We hope you like it. And more importantly, we hope it inspires you to get involved in the most important conversation of our lives.

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The Story of Cap & Trade: Coming DECEMBER 1st!
November 24th, 2009, posted by Annie Leonard

Greetings everyone! The Story of Stuff Project and I are thrilled to announce the upcoming release of our first in a series of mini-films.  The Story of Cap & Trade will premiere on the internet at storyofcapandtrade.org.  The new film will be available for viewing on December 1, 2009 at 12:01am PST.

Until then, you can view the teaser film.  Please feel free to pass on the word and the link!  Thanks always.

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