The Global Climate Summit held in San Francisco from Sept.
11 – 14th, 2018, showcased Jerry Brown who had just signed the bill
which mandates that California’s becomes a carbon free economy by 2045. Outside, a gathering of nearly a
thousand activists, some locked down to barricade the main entrance to Moscone
Center, connected to each other by mock ups of oil barrels. They, and their
fellow demonstrators, were drawing global attention to the governor’s hands,
because while his right may have signed the bill, his left continues to grant
leases and otherwise support fracking and drilling for oil in the State of
California, the world seventh greatest economy.
The two-faced Janus game played by this governor does not
reflect that time is running short. With California plagued by mega fires
reducing whole towns to moonscapes, with mega storms affecting the coast of the
Carolinas, waiting is no longer an option. More than 4,000 people. businesses,
activists and officials convened at the Global Climate Action to step up
climate action for Mother Earth. At last, it seems that the do-it-yourself movement of
climate change may be reaching critical mass. For example, Mayor Garcetti
proposed a program of discounts for electric cars; a fleet of hydro-buses, and
scaled up public transportation, setting the benchmark for cities nation- and
world-wide. The French group, Charbon 14 and EcoVia dissected corporate
behavior, emphasizing shareholder and political pressure tactics. Indigenous
people and folks from Polynesia streamed live, many of them deeply concerned by
sea-level rise. Nordstroms top floor housed
an exhibit by Dutch designers displaying solutions including roadway solar
panels. Other groups addressed agricology, carbon sequestration, ocean carbon
sink, and agroforestry, framing their discussions around eco-friendly
approaches to soil, forest, and water remediation.
Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji and COP23
president, and Jerry Brown hosted a high-level Talanoa Dialogue on the rapid
transition to net-zero emission societies. Fiji has sold a substantial area of
its lands to Kiribati, (the Gilbert Islands) in some places a mere 2 feet above
sea level, which are preparing for the necessary evacuation of their home as
sea levels obliterate their islands. Twenty-nine
philanthropists pledged $4 billion, including $600 million by the William and Flora
Hewlett Foundation, over the next five years to combat climate change, their giving primarily
directed to cities and states propounding new initiatives, and with the
anticipation that their movement will inspire on-going action toward climate
mitigation.
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| Road-based solar panels |
Powering Past Coal Alliance announced 10 new members, among
them New York State, Minnesota, Connecticut, and the cities of Honolulu, and
Los Angeles, as well as whole
territories in 4 foreign countries. UN climate change presented a revamped
version of its Climate Action Portal. For example, some studies indicate that
already by 2030, global greenhouse gas emissions can be lowered by as much as
1.5. to 2.2 gigatons of CO2 every year.
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| Agricology |
Continued global leadership includes:
Over 100 mayors, state and regional leaders and CEOs committing
to becoming emissions neutral by 2050 at the outside and in line with the 1.2
degree goal of the Paris Agreement;
488 businesses setting science-based targets to ensure they
are part of the climate solution;
More than 60 CEOs state and regional leaders and mayors committing
to delivering a 100% zero-emission transport future by 2030, putting us on an
irreversible road towards decarbonization;
38 cities, major businesses, state and regional governments committing
to net-zero carbon buildings, cutting emissions equivalent to more than 50 coal-fired power stations;
More than 100 indigenous groups, state and local
governments, and businesses launching a forest, food, and land-focused
coalition to deliver 30% of climate solutions needed by 2030; and
Nearly 400 investors, with $32 trillion under management, working
to ensure a low-carbon transformation of the global economy with the urgency
required to meet the challenge.
The top solutions heard at the Global Climate Action Summit:
Empowering young people to fight for their future.
Respecting indigenous rights.
Many U.S. States stepping up commitments to the Paris Agreement.
Pushing businesses to go green.
Accelerating momentum for electric vehicles.
Harnessing forests and lands to meet the Paris Agreement.
Record-breaking investing for climate action.
Inside, both at the Moscone Center venue, and at the
affiliate event venues about town, notably those in the Mission District where Soil Not Oil held its
two-day events, we heard another story. It was the narrative of people
belonging to associations and groups which seem finally to have realized
Governments weren’t going to lift much weight other than adjusting their
microphones, and that despite all the fine talk at Doha, and other venues as
the years of climate devastation continue to take their toll, waiting for them
to take decisive steps is not an option.
Sign the petition to #seizethegrid for 100% clean energy by
2030.
Make sure you are on the voter rolls in time for the 2018
election.
Nuclear
Oyster Creek, nation’s oldest decaying NPP shuts down
permanently.
San Clemente City demands answers to “serious near miss” at
San Onofre.
National Environmental Coalition files legal challenge against
Holtec/ELEA mega-dump for irradiated nuclear fuel and its proposal to transport
high-level radioactive waste by truck, train and barge through most states.
Feds agree to a $925.000 safety settlement, improving
Hanford worker safety as they clean up the polluted Hanford Nuclear
Reservation.
Resistance
Following a public outcry, ACLU stops a $1 billion dollar
funding increase for ICE to expand immigrant detention and enforcement.
Pressured by activists, California defeats A.B. 813, a bill
that would have given up California’s control over its energy grid to outside
states and to the administration.
German citizens squat in Hambacher Forest to protest the
mining of coal which destroys whole villages and the health of human beings.
Immigrant rights advocates, some holding their children’s
hands, others carrying babies in their arms, walked out of a Senate Homeland
“Security” and Government Affairs Committee hearing in protest of the
Administration’s effort to keep migrant children detained indefinitely.
Judge blocks Monsanto subpoena to collect activists’
personal information.
Landowners file constitutional challenge to Bay Bridge’s
claim to eminent domain in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin.
Austin, TX becomes the latest major city to declare itself a
freedom city, protecting undocumented immigrants and people guilty of
minor misdemeanors.
Verizon cuts its ties with ALEC.
For the third time, community activists and indigenous leaders install solar
panels in the path of Keystone XL pipeline.
Harvard students, arguing that his tenure is prejudicial to women
law students, demand that the school investigate Kavanaugh before allowing his
return.
A million press for independence, demanding the release of
political prisoners and the return of exiles and demanding a free Catalonia.
Energy
First hydrogen trains begin rolling in Germany.
Carbon fee makes Washington State ballot.
Global Fossil divestment movement reaches $6.24 trillion in
assets under management. Up from $53 billion four years ago, nearly 1000 institutional investors including insurers,
pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds, commit to divest from
fossil fuels, .
The 2 MG prototype turbine off Orkney generates more
electricity in its first 12 months than Scotland’s entire wave and tidal
sector.
Ecology
Musim Mas, one of the world’s largest palm oil traders, cuts
ties with Conflict Palm Oil producer, Indofood.
In the mountains of the Dominican Republic, the farming
village of Los Martinez creates an innovative model for the global transition
to regenerative organic agriculture.
Peace
The Canadian Peace Congress, the U.S. Peace Council, and the
Mexican Movement for Peace and Development at their fourth meeting declare
their opposition to foreign interference, use of economic blackmail, threats of
aggression, conspiring to carry out “regime change” and direct military
intervention.
Tucson, AZ, protests for peace against Raytheon Missile
Systems.
Thanks to grassroots activists, the heads of government of
both North and South Korea agree that the era of ‘no war’ has started, including
the end of military drills, missile sites closing down, mines dug up, road and
rail lines link both Koreas, and they will jointly propose hosting the 2032
Summer Olympics.
The European Parliament passes resolution calling for ban on
lethal autonomous weapons.
Civil, Human and
Voting Rights
Supreme Court rules that groups that have been able to hide
the source of their funding for issue-based campaign ads before and during and
after campaigns will have to make that information available before voters go
to the polls.
Prisoners’ Legal Advocacy Network mounts legal responses to
widespread and nationally coordinated prisoner
abuses in aftermath of 2018 national prison strike.
Ossining’s Emergency Tenant Protection Act is the largest
expansion of rent stabilization in New York State in over three decades.
A DC District Court judge orders the FCC to disclose
previously unreleased information to assist the public in understanding how
millions of fake comments were submitted to the FCC using stolen names and
addresses during the 2017 proceedings to repeal net neutrality.
Prompted by activists, the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART)
System unanimously adopts a surveillance transparency ordinance, the first
transit agency to do so in the nation.
California is on the cusp of the nation’s strongest
statewide Net Neutrality bill, requiring only the signature of Governor Brown.
Texas prosecutor targets Border Patrol Agent, Isidro Alaniz
for shooting four women in the head.
In major development, as many as 1,000 migrant parents may
get a second chance at asylum.
A select group of House and Senate lawmakers agreed to a
spending package that includes funding for all of public media programs which
the Senate subsequently approved.
Legislation in support of employee ownership names worker
cooperatives as a priority for the Small Business Bureau.
