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EcoUnionist News #99

Submitted by x344543 on Mon, 04/11/2016 - 18:01

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, April 12, 2016

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists*:

Lead Stories:

Ongoing Mobilizations:

The Thin Green Line:

Just Transition:

Bread and Roses:

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Eco Unionist News
green unionism
just transition
agricultural workers and peasants
Berta Cáceres
Thin Green Line
health and safety
whistleblowers
greenwashing
disaster capitalism
capital blight
Flint
labor and environment
privatization

Capital Blight: Pop go the Weasels

Submitted by x344543 on Tue, 04/05/2016 - 18:09

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, April 7, 2016

On March, 29, 2016, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, and CoalSwarm released Boom and Bust 2016: Tracking The Global Coal Plant Pipeline, the second annual report examining the precarious global coal plant pipeline. New investigations detailed in the report revealed that while the coal industry continues to push for the construction of more coal-fired power plants, in reality, coal plants are increasingly sitting idle in all of the world’s four largest markets, and global coal consumption is declining drastically. This is particularly evident in China where the government recently took the first step to curb runaway coal plant investment, after the country’s coal use plunged by nearly 6.4 percent in two years.

The report’s unprecedentedly detailed mapping of new coal-fired power plants indicates the reported suspension of new permits and new construction starting in half of China’s provinces could affect 60 percent of the 460 new coal-fired units that have been permitted or are in the permitting process.

With coal use on the decline worldwide, the estimated $981 billion needed to construct the proposed coal plant pipeline represents a massive investment in potentially stranded assets — resulting in an even further downward spiral for the global coal industry. In fact, this number is more than one-and-a-half times the amount that the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates is needed to end energy poverty for the 1.2 billion people currently living without reliable energy access. On top of this staggering revelation, the report found that the additional new proposed coal capacity would result in over 130,000 more premature deaths worldwide each year from air pollution and finds that existing coal-fired power plants are responsible for a total of nearly one million premature deaths annually from coal-fired power generation.

In spite of the coal barons' continued insistence on beating a dead horse, hundreds of thousands of coal mine workers have lost their jobs anyway, (for which the capitalists have shed not a single tear--and yet the instant environmental activists oppose even the most insignificant coal facility or propose the meekest upgrade to a clean air regulation, these same capitalists screech and howl about how these "unwashed-out-of-town-jobless-hippies-on-drugs" are "threatening jobs!" (meaning profits). Meanwhile, in the wake of the continuing decline in oil prices (from a high of $114 US on the Brent index in October 2014 to as low as $27 US in the early months of 2016), more than 250,000 oil workers have also lost their jobs. Likewise, many railroad workers have been furloughed as the carriers' insistance on putting all of their eggs in the fossil fuel basket has broken far more than warranted by any omlette. Across the supply chain, steel workers, pipefitters, office workers, and just about any craft related to fossil fuel extractivism are experiencing increasingly precarious job status.

Clearly the carbon bubble has burst. It's long past time to organize a workers' led movement to seize control of the means of production and initiate a rapid and just transition to a post carbon economy that puts an end to wage slavery and brings humanity back into harmony with the Earth!

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x344543
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Railroad Workers United calls for Just Transition

Submitted by x344543 on Mon, 04/04/2016 - 16:12

Press Release - Railroad Workers United, April 1, 2016

Whereas, the continued extraction and combustion of fossil fuels such as coal and oil has been scientifically proven to represent a threat to the environment and the future of the planet; and

Whereas, there is a mass movement domestically and globally to radically reduce the continued use of such fuels to power economic development; and

Whereas, other alternative energy sources – wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric–are developing rapidly and appear to be the wave of the future; and

Whereas, railroad corporations have traditionally hauled large amounts of fossil fuel–especially coal–but the future of this traffic appears uncertain or possibly even non-existent within a few decades; and

Whereas, the burden of shifting from an economy based on fossil fuels to one based upon renewal energy should not be unfairly born by workers, including railroad workers; and

Whereas, to ensure that such a transition to alternative energy does not create an economy of low paid jobs for working people-including railroad workers-whose jobs could conceivably be threatened by such a transition;

Therefore, Be it Resolved that RWU supports a “Just Transition” to an economy based upon renewal and clean energy; and

Be it further Resolved that RWU demand workers who are displaced from environmentally destructive industries be provided living wage income and benefits through public sector jobs or a universal basic income; and

Be it Further Resolved that RWU demand that workers who are displaced from environmentally destructive industries be provided with commensurate rates of pay and benefits while retraining; and

Be it Further Resolved that RWU demands that fossil fuel extraction dependent regions such as Appalachia be locations where investments of alternative energy are made to offset the economic dislocations that workers and communities would face from such a transition; and

Be it Finally Resolved that RWU call upon the rail industry and the rail unions to work together to move away from unsustainable practices - specifically the hauling of environmentally destructive commodities--and work towards expanding the railroads’ business prospects in areas such as mail, passengers, trailers and containers, renewal energy components, etc.

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Railroad Workers United (RWU)
green unionism
just transition
coal
crude-by-rail

Amid Price Plunge, North American Oil and Gas Workers Seek Transition to Renewable Sector

Submitted by x344543 on Sun, 04/03/2016 - 20:42

By Candice Bernd - Truthout, April 3, 2016, ©Truthout; reprinted with permission.

Lliam Hildebrand says he had a moment of clarity during an apprenticeship at a steel-fabricating shop in Victoria, Canada. He was learning the metal-working skills he would need to become a boilermaker, to eventually move on to work on the many steel vessels -- including furnaces, pipelines, "cokers" and "exchangers" -- that make up the oil industry's vast infrastructure in Alberta, Canada's oil sands fields.

During that apprenticeship, Hildebrand would come into the fabricating shop and see a pressure vessel on one side of the shop being made for the oil sands, and at the same time, on the other side of the shop, his own project -- a wind farm weather station. Hildebrand says he walked into the shop one morning, and the contrast between the two ventures struck him sharply. That was the moment when he realized, "We are the trade -- the building trade -- that's really going to help address [climate change]."

From then on he has felt as though he's been living two lives. Coming out of his apprenticeship, he started looking for jobs in the renewable sector, but was unable to find work. Six years ago, he reluctantly decided to apply his skills where there were plenty of jobs: the Canadian oil sands fields.

But after years of working in an industry that one top climate scientist has called "the biggest carbon bomb on the planet," Hildebrand came to realize that he was not the only oil worker in Alberta who felt "guilty about developing the infrastructure that is creating climate change."

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green unionism
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Iron and Earth
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United Steelworkers of America (USW)
renewable energy workers

EcoUnionist News #98

Submitted by x344543 on Sun, 04/03/2016 - 20:18

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, April 4, 2016

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists*:

Lead Stories:

Ongoing Mobilizations:

The Thin Green Line:

Just Transition:

Bread and Roses:

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

Tags: 
Eco Unionist News
green unionism
just transition
agricultural workers and peasants
Berta Cáceres
health and safety
privatization
disaster capitalism
capital blight
greenwashing
whistleblowers
Thin Green Line
labor and environment

Energy Democracy: Inside Californians' Game-Changing Plan for Community-Owned Power

Submitted by x344543 on Thu, 03/31/2016 - 19:07

Al Weinrub - Yes! Magazine, November 12, 2015

On September 21, Pa Dwe, a 16-year-old student at Oakland’s Street Academy, spoke out against the export of coal through the Port of Oakland to City Council members: “I’m opposed to this coal export because it will make my community in West Oakland sick. I support jobs, but not the kind of jobs that make us sick. There are clean job alternatives, like Community Choice energy, and this will be good for the health of my community. This is my generation; I want to have a healthy life.” 

Pa’s comments exemplify a growing awareness that the people of California can only successfully address climate change by breaking with fossil fuels and the state’s investor-owned utility companies.

These utilities, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), and San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E), control about 75 percent of the electricity market in California, with the other 25 percent being supplied by public (municipal) utilities.

By creating slick, misleading ad campaigns about how green they are, the monopoly utilities have done their best to fight renewable energy programs. This often happens behind the scenes, and with the willing assistance of the scandal-ridden California Public Utilities Commission—the agency that is supposed to regulate these behemoth energy enterprises.

Back in 2002, in the wake of the Enron-induced crash of California's electricity system—which to this day has left rate-payers bailing out the utility companies— California passed AB 117, the Community Choice Aggregation law. This law allows a city, county, or any grouping of cities and counties, to “aggregate” electricity customers in their jurisdictions for the purpose of procuring electricity on their behalf. Under this arrangement, a public agency—the newly formed Community Choice program—decides where electricity will come from, while the incumbent utility delivers the electricity, maintains the electric lines, and bills customers.

The new program is a hybrid between a public agency and a private utility. The utility owns the distribution infrastructure, but the public is in the driver’s seat regarding energy decisions.

“It puts our community in control of the most important part of our electricity system,” explains Woody Hastings of the Center for Climate Protection in Sonoma County, one of the jurisdictions that has opted for a Community Choice energy program. “That means we can purchase more renewable and greenhouse-gas-free energy on the market than PG&E offered us. But more importantly, we can build renewable energy assets right here in the County. We not only get the benefits of low carbon electricity, but we get the economic benefits—the business opportunities and clean energy jobs—that come from investing in our own community.”

Sonoma County’s Community Choice customers get power that is 30 percent lower in greenhouse gases than PG&E. They also pay up to 9 percent less on average than PG&E customers. In addition, electricity net revenues go back into the community rather than into the pockets of PG&E shareholders and overpaid executives.

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Al Weinrub
just transition
green jobs
green unionism
community choice aggregation (CCA)

EcoUnionist News #97

Submitted by x344543 on Mon, 03/28/2016 - 19:32

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, March 29, 2016

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists*:

Lead Stories:

Ongoing Mobilizations:

The Thin Green Line:

Just Transition:

Bread and Roses:

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

Tags: 
Eco Unionist News
green unionism
just transition
agricultural workers and peasants
Berta Cáceres
health and safety
privatization
capital blight
greenwashing
whistleblowers
disaster capitalism
Flint
Thin Green Line
labor and environment

EcoUnionist News #96

Submitted by x344543 on Mon, 03/21/2016 - 18:42

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, March 22, 2016

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists*:

Lead Stories:

Ongoing Mobilizations:

The Thin Green Line:

Just Transition:

Bread and Roses:

Tags: 
Eco Unionist News
green unionism
just transition
agricultural workers and peasants
Iron and Earth
Berta Cáceres
health and safety
privatization
capital blight
greenwashing
whistleblowers
disaster capitalism
Thin Green Line
labor and environment

Labor in the Age of Climate Change: Any just transition to a green economy must take place on labor’s terms — not capital’s.

Submitted by x344543 on Mon, 03/21/2016 - 14:23

By Stefania Barca - Jacobin, March 18, 2016

Climate change must be stopped. But who will do the stopping? Who, in other words, could be the political subject of an anticapitalist climate revolution?

I am convinced this social agent could be, and indeed must be, the global working class. Yet to play this role, the working class must develop an emancipatory ecological class consciousness.

Fortunately, history is rife with examples of this kind of green-red synthesis — labor environmentalism is as old as the trade union movement.

For much of its existence, labor environmentalism focused on the workplace and the living environment of working-class communities, linking occupational health and safety with the protection of public and environmental health.

In the 1990s, labor environmentalism began embracing the concepts of “sustainable development” and the “green economy.” More recently, as climate change has intensified, “just transition” (JT) has become the idea du jour. JT is based on the notion that workers shouldn’t bear the brunt of the shift to a low-carbon economy, whether in the form of job losses or destabilized local communities.

To this end, blue-collar unions — particularly those in heavy industry, transport, and energy — have forged so-called blue-green alliances with environmental groups across the globe. These convergences demonstrate a growing consensus around the need to tackle climate change, advancing union involvement and sustainability as the means to that end.

Yet important cleavages exist within this consensus, especially when it comes to the just transition. Some groups simply push for job creation in a greened economy. Others, refusing to abide market solutions, have adopted a radical critique of capitalism.

How this schism shakes out will decide whether labor unwittingly bolsters capital — or confronts capital and climate change.

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Stefania Barca
energy democracy
just transition
green syndicalism
ecosocialism
green unionism
green capitalism
trade unions
reformism
labor and environment

Fairbanks Rally Demands Climate Justice and Clean Energy

Submitted by x344543 on Sun, 03/20/2016 - 15:16

By Tristan Glowa and Enei Begaye Peter - Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition, March 15, 2016

Fairbanks, Alaska—On Tuesday, March 15, the Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition (FCAC) hosted a testimonial rally calling for a transition to a clean energy economy. Around 100 people convened in Constitution Park on the UAF Campus to hear a diverse array of speakers from Fairbanks and other parts of Alaska, who stood in front a banner proclaiming, “ALASKANS DEMAND CLIMATE JUSTICE AND CLEAN ENERGY.” The rally was held during the 2016 Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW), an international gathering of Arctic scientists and policymakers, held at UAF, to coordinate and collaborate in all areas of Arctic science and policy. The rally, which was held at the center of the ASSW conference area, communicated the diversity of Alaskan voices appealing to citizens, political leaders, and researchers for action on climate change. Speakers specifically called on Alaska’selected leaders, both statewide and nationally, to transition Alaska to a clean energy economy.

According to organizers, the rally was catalyzed by the growing urgency of climate change impacts to Alaskan communities as the state warms at nearly twice the rate of the lower 48 states. “In Alaska and throughout the Arctic, we know that our communities are disproportionately on the front lines of climate change with worsening fires and permafrost melt,” said Tristan Glowa, an event organizer, UAF student and Fairbanks resident. “We have a stake in solving the climate crisis and we know that we can do our part by investing in a transition towards renewable energy and a sustainable economy.”

Esau Sinnok, a young man from Shishmaref, told the crowd about the impacts of climate­ driven coastal erosion threatening his home. “Our community’s voice needs to be heard so that we can move as a community instead of relocating individually,” he said, “because once we lose our land, we will lose our culture and we will lose our identity as Iñupiaq Eskimo people.”

Bessie Odom, Vice President of the NAACP Youth Council in Anchorage, emphasized the connection of all Alaskans with people and communities who are on the front lines of climate change: “What happens to one individual, one family, one community, happens to us all. Where one is suffering, it is only natural to be sympathetic but we must take this response much further and put action with it.”

Speakers Jan Bronson and Ritchie Musick cast climate change as a moral issue in addition to its social and ecological dimensions. “Faith communities in Alaska are coming together to protect the climate,” said Bronson. “We recognize the moral and spiritual imperative to stand with vulnerable communities and protect the great Earth systems which sustain us all. “Climate change is illuminating the injustices and the disparities that we face as indigenous people,” noted Princess Johnson, Netsaii Gwich’in and resident of Fairbanks. “We need to restore balance, and climate change is the catalyst that can bring us together.”

Throughout the rally, speakers and organizers pointed to the need for a transition to a clean energy economy as a solution to climate change. “A ‘Just Transition’ means shifting our state towards a clean energy economy through a fair and equitable plan for everyone, especially our workforce,” Johnson said. “As scientists, tribal members, as mothers and fathers, as citizens of the North, we have a responsibility to act on climate change now. We have an opportunity to lead the world in making a Just Transition.” Johnson underscored the importance of popular pressure in demanding that leaders rise to this occasion: “We need to challenge our elected leaders to push for the shift to clean energy. This is how we will move to diversify our economy and protect critical ecosystems.”

Jessica Girard, FCAC Organizer and Program Director for the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, stressed the need to speak up against offshore drilling in Alaska’s Arctic in order to keep climate change in line with what science says is required for a habitable planet: “We need to leave fossil fuel energy in the past and invest in the future with renewable energies like wind and solar,” she said. Echoing Girard’s call, event emcees Enei Begaye and Cathy Walling led the crowd in chants of “Circumpolar Wind and Solar!”

The rally sounded these local calls for a Just Transition to the officials gathered for the conference. UA Regent and Borough Assembly member John Davies spoke at the rally and gave his support to the movement, describing a variety of tools Alaska can use to address the climate crisis. More than 10 UAF researchers and scientists signed an open letter urging ASSW leaders and policymakers enact policies reflecting what climate science says is necessary. “Scientists understand better than anyone that we must adjust our policies to the Earth­­atmospheric physics aren’t going to adjust to us humans,” said FCAC organizer Odin Miller, who coordinated and helped draft the letter. FCAC and its allies renewed their commitment to work for climate justice and a fair and equitable transition to a clean energy economy.

The Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition represents a broad constituency of local grassroots groups and concerned citizens. The group currently includes members from trade unions, Alaska Natives, conservationists, students, scientists, farmers, and multiple faith groups. The coalition formed out of the need to amplify voices throughout Fairbanks who demand a fair and equitable transition to a clean energy economy.

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just transition
green unionism
Alaska
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