Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben write:
Our lives are under threat from some of the most powerful and richest entities ? Here's how we can fight back and win. ?[T]he full power of the fossil fuel industry?the most profitable business in the planet's history?has been brought to bear on the fight, and they play hard and dirty. The Koch Brothers spend huge sums to underwrite the network of global warming skeptics; the US Chamber of Commerce emerged as the biggest campaign funder of them all, shuttling 94% of its donations to climate deniers. This kind of clout carried the day: the biggest dream of DC Washington groups was the so-called 'cap-and-trade' bill, behind which they mustered every insider technique they'd spent the last four decades perfecting. But in the end they didn't come close: Harry Reid refused to even schedule a floor vote, knowing that he was far short of the votes needed to pass the bill. The White House stayed on the sidelines.
To us, the lesson is pretty clear. Since we're never going to have as much money as the fossil fuel industry, we need to rebuild the kind of mass movement that marked 1970: bodies, passion, and creativity are the currencies we can compete in. It's not impossible.
Working with next to no money, the fledgling campaign at 350.org managed over the last three years to coordinate 15,000 rallies in 189 countries--every nation on earth save North Korea. It's been active in every US state and Congressional district. And this week, it combined forces with another important American grass roots climate campaign, 1Sky, for extra reach.
1Sky was founded in the same spirit, and at the same time, as 350.org, and has worked to develop leaders around the country and help build a base of hundreds allies. Together, we'll be smarter, bolder, faster, and more creative than we were before.
This new and expanded 350.org will mobilize on a large scale?circle Sept. 24 on your calendar for a worldwide day of bike-based action. But it's also going aggressively after the backroom money, with a far-reaching new campaign that tackles the US Chamber of Commerce for its climate stance.
This youth-based campaign is linking up with labor, with faith communities, with frontline communities who have the most experience trying to shut down dirty power plants in their backyards. Most of all it's actually out in the streets, organizing new blood. The idea is not to supplant the Washington green groups, but instead to give the whole movement new clout--enough clout to withstand the crushing power of oil money. And enough energy to let us get off defense and back on the attack.
We don't know if we'll win in the end: the science of climate change grows darker by the day, and the window for effective action is swiftly closing. But any chance requires people power replacing corporate power. In the year of Tunisia and Egypt and Wisconsin, it's worth a try.
The Green Diary Rescue appears every Saturday afternoon. Inclusion of a particular diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement with it.
GrumpyOldGeek turned us on to a wonderful bird's eye view in Iowa Eagle Cam: American Bald Eagle Eggs Hatching Live - Two Eaglets So Far and inDecorah IA Eagle Cam: 3rd Egg Hatching Now.
But heed his warning. The video below can be addictive: "The female is larger than the male (in this case). The male is the one with the dark ring around his eyes. This pair of eagles has been together since 2007. They have successfully hatched and fledged eight eaglets in the previous three years. The nest is located about 80 feet up in a cottonwood tree located near Decorah, Iowa on private property near the Decorah Fish Hatchery operated by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources."
[Update: video embed moved below the fold due to audio autoplay issues —rs]
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