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McKibben’s Divestment Tour – Brought to You by Wall Street [Part VI of an Investigative Report] [A Glimpse of Truth in a Sea of Liars]

The Art of Annihilation

September 9, 2014

Part six of an investigative series by Cory Morningstar

Divestment Investigative Report Series [Further Reading]: Part IPart IIPart IIIPart IVPart VPart VIPart VIIPart VIIIPart IXPart XPart XIPart XIIPart XIII

 

“Of all our studies, it is history that is best qualified to reward our research.” — Malcolm X

 

Prologue: A Coup d’état of Nature – Led by the Non-Profit Industrial Complex

It is somewhat ironic that anti-REDD climate activists, faux green organizations (in contrast to legitimate grassroots organizations that do exist, although few and far between) and self-proclaimed environmentalists, who consider themselves progressive will speak out against the commodification of nature’s natural resources while simultaneously promoting the toothless divestment campaign promoted by the useless mainstream groups allegedly on the left. It’s ironic because the divestment campaign will result (succeed) in a colossal injection of money shifting over to the very portfolios heavily invested in, thus dependent upon, the intense commodification and privatization of Earth’s last remaining forests, (via REDD, environmental “markets” and the like). This tour de force will be executed with cunning precision under the guise of environmental stewardship and “internalizing negative externalities through appropriate pricing.” Thus, ironically (if in appearances only), the greatest surge in the ultimate corporate capture of Earth’s final remaining resources is being led, and will be accomplished, by the very environmentalists and environmental groups that claim to oppose such corporate domination and capture.

Beyond shelling out billions of tax-exempt dollars (i.e., investments) to those institutions most accommodating in the non-profit industrial complex (otherwise known as foundations), the corporations need not lift a finger to sell this pseudo green agenda to the people in the environmental movement; the feat is being carried out by a tag team comprised of the legitimate and the faux environmentalists. As the public is wholly ignorant and gullible, it almost has no comprehension of the following:

  1. the magnitude of our ecological crisis
  2. the root causes of the planetary crisis, or
  3. the non-profit industrial complex as an instrument of hegemony.

The commodification of the commons will represent the greatest, and most cunning, coup d’état in the history of corporate dominance – an extraordinary fait accompli of unparalleled scale, with unimaginable repercussions for humanity and all life.

Further, it matters little whether or not the money is moved from direct investments in fossil fuel corporations to so-called “socially responsible investments.” The fact of the matter is that all corporations on the planet (and therefore by extension, all investments on the planet) are dependent upon and will continue to require massive amounts of fossil fuels to continue to grow and expand ad infinitum – as required by the industrialized capitalist economic system.

The windmills and solar panels serve as beautiful (marketing) imagery as a panacea for our energy issues, yet they are illusory – the fake veneer for the commodification of the commons, which is the fundamental objective of Wall Street, the very advisers of the divestment campaign.

Thus we find ourselves unwilling to acknowledge the necessity to dismantle the industrialized capitalist economic system, choosing instead to embrace an illusion designed by corporate power.

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Revolving Doors | Interlocking Directorate

Prior to her role of Ceres President, Mindy Lubber held various high level positions in government, financial services and the not-for-profit sector. In 1995 Lubber worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a senior policy advisor. In 2000 Lubber was named regional administrator under President Bill Clinton. Lubber was the founder, president and CEO of Green Century Capital Management and served as president of the National Environmental Law Center.

The Ceres well-oiled revolving doors glide seamlessly and effortlessly. Green “progressives” who share the Ceres climbing ladder include Betsy Taylor of 1Sky/350.org, Nina Berger of 350.org and many more on the Ceres Board of Directors (as discussed prior, within this report).

Betsy Taylor (Ceres Board Member 2002-2009) is president of Breakthrough Strategies and Solutions. Taylor was a key player in the creation of Rockefeller’s incubator project, 1Sky, which officially merged with 350.org in 2011. Taylor continues to serve on the Board of Directors of 1Sky/350.org. As president of the Center for a New American Dream from 2002-2007, Taylor was present on the Ceres board of directors from 2002-2009, serving as chair in 2005 and 2006.

Nina Birger (Ceres Associate, Foundations, Development) interned with 350.org Massachusetts. Birger joined Ceres in 2012 as an Associate in Development. Somewhat ironically, in this role, Birger writes foundation reports and proposals, manages grants, and oversees foundation relationships.

The Earth Day Network global advisory committee is an excellent example of how America’s disturbing preoccupation and obsession with celebrity worship can easily cloud and make irrelevant what constitutes legitimate environmentalism. This particular global advisory committee includes individuals such as Bill McKibben, Ceres Mindy Lubber, Shaquille O’Neal, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese and many other US-manufactured and falsely glorified “celebrities.”

The professional “activists” are mostly all one big clique going back decades. For example, Taylor was doling out foundation funding decades ago. Obedient foot soldiers like Taylor rise to a level where they both receive funding and distribute it. They are the “strategists” trusted by funders to chart a course, to spend money and to anoint others to receive it. As a second example, McKibben has long had a deep friendship and camaraderie with Harriet Barlow, who doles out money for Adam Hochschild (HKH Foundation) and has done so for the last four decades. HKH Foundation grants funds to 1Sky/350.org. As a third example, Donald K. Ross started the PIRGs for Ralph Nader. Since the 1960’s, Nader has fought harder for consumer advocacy/protection than perhaps any other single person in America. Today, Ross has his own businesses in PR and online organizing. He was the chair of Greenpeace when the organization was under the direction of John Passacantando. During this time, Ross distributed many, many millions in Rockefeller money, etc.

One can best describe the liberal funding and professional activist circles as interlocking social and business circles. Those found within this circuit go back decades, working together in a myriad of ways. It’s very similar to a country club. The concept is known as an interlocking directorate, defined as the linkages among corporations created by individuals who sit on two or more corporate boards.

Obama Throws McKibben a Bone for Good Behaviour & Obedience

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Christopher Gregory/The New York Times

On July 8, 2013, the New York Times published an article titled Old Tactic in New Climate Campaign. The article centred on a lecture by President Obama who had spoken about climate change at Georgetown University on June 25, 2013. Within this advertisement article, the New York Time’s intent of highlighting the divestment campaign is no more subtle than a Marlboro cigarette ad promoting the commodified essence of cool. The portrayal of Obama as a noble president and leader delivering “crypto-radical” covert messages is beyond nauseating:

“It was a single word tucked into a presidential speech. It went by so fast that most Americans probably never heard it, much less took the time to wonder what it meant. But to certain young ears, the word had the shock value of a rifle shot. The reference occurred late in President Obama‘s climate speech at Georgetown University two weeks ago, in the middle of this peroration: “Convince those in power to reduce our carbon pollution. Push your own communities to adopt smarter practices. Invest. Divest. Remind folks there’s no contradiction between a sound environment and strong economic growth.” That injunction to “divest” was, pretty clearly, a signal to the thousands of college students who have been manning the barricades for nearly a year now, urging their colleges to rid their endowments of stock in fossil-fuel companies as a way of forcing climate change higher on the national political agenda.

“‘The president of the United States knows we exist, and he likes what we’re doing,’ Marissa Solomon of the University of Michigan wrote soon after. Other students recounted leaping to their feet or nearly falling off their chairs when the president uttered the word. Chris Hayes, the host of a program on MSNBC who is young enough and smart enough to have caught the reference instantly, said on Twitter that “‘invest, divest’ is the most crypto-radical line the president has ever uttered.”

“Maybe it should come as no great surprise, though. Divestment as a tactic for social change holds a fond place in Barack Obama’s memory. Mr. Obama’s first foray into politics, as a student at Occidental College in the early 1980s, was in support of demands that the trustees divest from the stocks of companies doing business in South Africa under apartheid. In what he later called a piece of street theater, he was dragged off stage by two white students dressed up as oppressive Afrikaners. (He transferred to Columbia in 1981.) The White House is not elaborating on what the president meant at Georgetown by “divest,” but the smoke signals seem to suggest that he sees direct parallels between the movement of the 1980s and the one today…. Indeed, one way to read Mr. Obama’s speech is as a plea for help. He knows that if he is to get serious climate policies on the books before his term ends in 2017, he needs a mass political movement pushing for stronger action. No broad movement has materialized in the United States; 350.org and its student activists are the closest thing so far, which may be why Mr. Obama gazes fondly in their direction.”

Money simply can’t buy this type of false advertising and false hope that preys upon and manipulates the naïve. It is critical to understand that the divestment campaign is not a grassroots campaign. Rather, it is a choice vehicle to usher in and make palatable the illusory green economy (now being marketed/branded as the “new economy”), at a global scale: designed by Wall Street, made in the USA.

Illusory Green Economy = Guilt Free Consumerism

Over and over again we can observe Ceres member organizations and Ceres Board of Directors members working together in united cohesiveness to “normalize” and promote the illusory green economy with “progressive” media echoing the repetitive messaging through the chambers. Consider the following:

“Consider this post a love letter of sorts. Last week I was at the Ceres conference where environmentalists, investors and corporations meet to discuss ways to work together to protect the environment…But before all that, back to my new love … Step It Up 2007 which was all the talk at Ceres.” — May 4, 2007

“Credit Card Charges Include Carbon Offset ‘Reward’ For $1,000 Spent, About 1 Ton of Carbon…Brighter Planet touts its environmental credibility. Its advisory board includes Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres; Bill McKibben, prominent environmental author and activist; and Gus Speth, dean of the Yale Forestry School and co-founder of the World Resources Institute and the National Resources Defense Council.” — Nov 29, 2007 [Note that all the aforementioned orgs are represented on Ceres Board of Directors with both McKibben and Speth affiliated with 350.org (founder of 350.org and US advisory council respectively).]

 

“British news website BusinessGreen reports the group, which includes high profile campaigners such as 350.org’s Bill McKibben, Mindy Lubber of sustainable investment group Ceres, and Friends of the Earth’s Erich Pica, praises Mr Obama’s assertion during the election campaign that ‘climate change is not a hoax.'” – Jan 9, 2013 [Note that Friends of the Earth has also been a key org. and are represented on Ceres Board of Directors]

Round and round we go. On the “Distinguished Advisory Board” of the Better Future Project, we can again find both McKibben and Massie with other “prestigious progressives” such as Junko Yoda, Managing Director, Shellingford Ltd.; former Asia Regional Treasurer, Deutsche Bank; former Vice President, Goldman Sachs.

Ceres “Principles”

“Corporate social responsibility remains businessmen’s preferred response to threats to corporate power.” — Neil Mitchell, The Generous Corporation: A Political Analysis of Economic Power (Yale University Press, 1989), pp.143-4

Ceres created a high-gloss veneer of legitimacy by creating “principles” to establish a said environmental ethic with criteria by which investors and others can assess the environmental performance of corporations. Corporations that endorse the Ceres principles pledge to go voluntarily beyond existing legislation. The small print, that the general populace is not meant to read, is as follows:

“The terms may and might in Principles one and eight are not meant to encompass every imaginable consequence, no matter how remote. Rather, these Principles obligate endorsers to behave as prudent persons who are not governed by conflicting interests and who possess a strong commitment to environmental excellence and to human health and safety. These Principles are not intended to create new legal liabilities, expand existing rights or obligations, waive legal defenses, or otherwise affect the legal position of any endorsing company, and are not intended to be used against an endorser in any legal proceeding for any purpose.”

Yet, in reality, the endorsers are “governed by conflicting interests” and any set of principles, no matter how much better, moral or safer they allow us to feel, will not make this fact any less so.

The “Ceres Principles” are comprised of the following: 1) PROTECTION OF THE BIOSPHERE, 2) SUSTAINABLE USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES, 3) REDUCTION AND DISPOSAL OF WASTES, 4) ENERGY CONSERVATION, 5) RISK REDUCTION, 6) SAFE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, 7) ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION, 8) INFORMING THE PUBLIC, 9) MANAGEMENT COMMITMENT and 10) AUDITS AND REPORTS. [1]

Twenty-six Years Later: How to Measure the “Success” of the Valdez/Ceres Principles

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co2_trend_mlo

Above graphs: Monthly mean atmospheric carbon dioxide at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii [2] The red line represents the summer (lower, because all the greenery of the Northern Hemisphere’s summer takes up/absorbs so much CO2) and winter (higher, because the leaves are gone in the NH’s winter) CO2 levels. The black line represents the mean between the two. Note that even in such a short timeframe, one can observe the trend of exponential growth in CO2 concentrations (note: not emissions).

It is a bitter irony that the year 1987 would be the last time industrial civilization witnessed CO2 concentrations below 350 ppm (at Mauna Loa Observatory). The irony arises from the fact that Ceres was founded in 1989. Only in a world gone mad could an organization continue to boast success, voluntarily led by the world’s most powerful and destructive corporations, while simultaneously, emissions have been increasing faster than ever witnessed before. The fact is, the more “successful” Ceres has become, the more emissions and concentrations have continued to soar.

Global emissions have skyrocketed to an increase of approximately 40% since 1992. The BP oil spill has decimated the Gulf of Mexico. The Fukushima disaster (of which the media black-out continues) has contaminated the oceans with radiation. One could spend years citing incidents and facts that tell us unequivocally that these “principles,” launched 24 years ago, have not done a damn thing to protect Earth or life. As we sit on the precipice of complete ecological collapse and the probable eradication of our species, one can safely say in no uncertain terms that these principles have been an unprecedented EPIC FAIL. The “promise” to reduce, and where possible, eliminate the use, manufacture or sale of products and services that cause environmental damage or health or safety hazards and promised disclosure of “potential environmental, health or safety hazards posed by our operations” is enough to make one put a gun to their own temple.

The only area where “success” has been achieved is in risk reduction – risk reduction for the corporation, that is. Exemption of liability is expanding for the corporate model with the pharmaceutical industry leading the way. In stark contrast, the environmental, health and safety risks to communities and the families within them have never been greater. The corporatocracy ensures that the corporation, defined by law as a legal person, is fully protected, as the living and breathing citizen and all other life forms/living systems are further exploited and decimated. All the “sustainability” reporting in the world will not make this fact any less so.

In the 1992 William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review, Why Corporations Should Adopt the Valdez Principles, the many corporate advantages are outlined with refreshing clarity:

“There are four main advantages to a corporation that agrees to adopt the Valdez Principles. First is the positive publicity that substantially could help a corporation’s image in the eyes of its shareholders and consumers in this age of ‘green consumerism.’

 

“Second, corporations will experience reduced costs associated with waste hauling fees, coupled with potential revenues generated by recycling in accordance with the Principles.

 

“Third, corporations that voluntarily strengthen their environmental standards may avoid financially devastating environmental disasters.

 

“The fourth advantage to corporations adopting the Valdez Principles is favorable investment in that corporation by CERES members.

 

“Another factor that may encourage corporations to sign on to the Valdez Principles is the political, economic and media clout of the sponsor. Among CERES members are some of the country’s most influential environmental groups such as the National Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club, and the National Audubon Society, which collectively claim ten million members. [Emphasis added]

 

“Potential lost profits from boycotts, possible loss of investment money, and the public relations nightmare of dealing with negative publicity generated by CERES are problems that a company could avoid by voluntarily signing on to the Valdez Principles.

 

“Consumers often use the projected environmental image of a company to make decisions on what products to buy. This is the concept of ‘green consumerism.’ While some downplay this phenomenon as merely an attempt by the marketing industry to use a novel approach to sell the same products found on store shelves for years, a recent survey discovered that a large majority of consumers polled would be willing to pay more for products they viewed as environmentally responsible.”

As an example of how these principles created a discourse that allowed corporations to continue to “sustainably” plunder and “ethically” exploit, under a luminous green patina, we need to look no further than the second advantage as outlined above: “corporations will experience reduced costs associated with waste hauling fees, coupled with potential revenues generated by recycling in accordance with the Principles.” It is not by accident that for decades the global citizenry, with a focus on children via the standard educational curriculum, has focused on the “three R’s.” We all know them by heart: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The obvious word, which one can safely assume was purposely excluded, was/is “Rethink.”

The fact is, to nourish critical thinking in our youth would be to severely jeopardize today’s corporate capture in the future. Conditioned to accept a status quo “solution” like recycling, almost everyone has neglected to critically examine the root cause – which is the production of the waste in the first place. Not spoken of are real solutions such as cradle to cradle life cycle analysis and zero waste/zero emissions (ZERI) concept principles, coupled with legislation, principled and radical conservation, and ethical intelligence that would demand that we achieve zero waste. Rather, we are told to recycle. If we comply, we are as celebrated eco-citizens. Yet, even if 100% of all private households in the US recycled 100% of their solid waste, this would add up to a mere 1% of all the solid waste produced in the US. [3]

It is worth repeating this last fact: Even if 100% of all private households in the US recycled 100% of their solid waste, this would add up to only 1% of all the solid waste produced in the US. This is what happens when you have the world’s largest waste management system (Waste Management, Inc) financing and partnering with big greens, such as big oil’s WWF (which was founded by Shell and Rockefeller), and with organizations (and benefactors of the profit from waste) such as Ceres to highlight such societal failure as “success.” Of course, only if we evolve to a level of enlightenment where we are able to separate our wants from our needs while flat out rejecting consumerism and all forms of industrialized capitalism, even meticulously critiqued production will fail us.

The “Ceres 20•20” is the nonprofit vision for achieving a sustainable global economy by 2020. The plan has four key pillars: honest accounting, higher standards, scalable solutions and new policies. To suggest these voluntary pleasantries could possibly achieve a “sustainable global economy” by 2020 as the Earth continues to cross planetary tipping points is beyond delusional. It is madness.

Lumumba Di-Aping, the Sudanese chief negotiator of the G77, represented a glimpse of truth in a sea of liars when he stated the following at COP15: “… and I will say this to our colleagues from Western civil society – you have definitely sided with a small group of industrialists and their representatives and your representative branches. Nothing more than that. You have become an instrument of your governments…. Many of you equally, and I will say this, and I would have never thought that one day I will accuse a civil society of such a thing. Dividing the G77, or helping divide the G77, is simply something that should be left to the CIAs, the KGBs and the rest [not the NGOs].” [Further reading: The Most Important COP Briefing That No One Ever Heard | Truth, Lies, Racism & Omnicide]

Whitism

Pension funds benefit only a tiny minority of the world’s people. Consider that Canada’s first Old Age Pensions Act was not passed until 1927. Now consider that 90% of the world is excluded from old age pension schemes. Coverage and effectiveness of existing social protection schemes for retirement, invalidity and death in Africa – the richest continent in terms of natural resources – is weak in general, with few exceptions, due to imperialism and colonialism, which continue to destroy Africa and her people to this day.

But rather than dismantle the systems that keep such disparities and horrific conflicts intact, we instead ask our youth to focus on ensuring we keep the wealth in the hands of the few at the expense of others, many who live unbearably. Now consider on top of these gross injustices and inequalities the fact that this same minority (those who own the investments and pension funds) are the very ones creating the climate crisis. How many 350.org supporters understand that 50% of emissions come from 1% of the world’s population? [Source: page 77, Kevin Anderson, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research)]

One could legitimately argue that with over 7 billion people on the planet, only this 1-25% of global populace has the capacity to slow down global warming – as they are the very ones creating it. This is true. And yet a critical distinction must be made: to simply move money from direct ownership of fossil fuel investments over to a “green” Wall Street portfolio is to essentially do nothing. It’s merely another empty gesture to be glorified by media in tandem with the non-profit industrial complex. One that can easily be compared to the false solution of offsets – essentially little more than a green-sanctioned licence to continue polluting and destroying ecosystems, while simultaneously exploiting the world’s most vulnerable, in the rapid race to convert all natural resources, blood and sweat into capital. Far from calling these what they are – crimes against humanity and cultural acquiescence to global-scale progenycide – our society recognizes this as just another day on the New York Stock Exchange.

There is one message that the divestment campaign will never encourage: that all global citizens must sell all their shares in the corporations of the elites, redirecting the funds into simple collectives/co-operatives, with the intention of starving corporate power and domination into submission, with the ultimate goal being the dismantling of the existing power structures in their entirety. While it is true that powerful banks will be delighted to acquire these shares (only as long as consumer demand ensures continued growth), as author Jay Taber suggests, banks too can be brought to their knees and destroyed when citizens are united in their efforts in a global context. The system is not invincible. Yet, who would fund such a campaign/movement when it promises the most severe consequences and harsh repercussions for the victors (particularly harsh for the 1% creating 50% of the world’s emissions), even if the shared goal is a livable planet for tomorrow. Furthermore, why would citizens embrace a disciplined minimalist existence when the non-profit industrial complex promises everything and more via more energy (indeed “green” energy and biofuels), electric cars and “clean” aviation? (Promises targeting only those with privilege please note.) Such a movement is obviously of no use whatsoever to global elites who invest billions in the non-profit industrial complex. Rather, such a movement with lofty yet essential aspirations would represent a very real and direct threat to the hegemony that exists, which explains why such desperately needed aspirations, which inspire legitimate movements, will never be funded.

“There must be radical reductions of emissions starting from now. In our view, by 2017 we should cut, developed countries must cut by 52%, 65% by 2020, 80% by 2030, well above 100 [percent] by 2050. And this is very important because the more you defer action the more you condemn millions of people to immeasurable suffering. So the idea that you start from 4% today and you achieve 80 or 50 in 2050 simply means that you do not care about the lives of those who will be devastated in this period…” — Lumumba Di-Aping, chief negotiator of the G77, COP15, Source

We refrain from looking at our reflection in the mirror to confront the truth in all its ugliness. Collectively, we throw our own children onto the altar, sacrificing them to the gods of Apathy, Gluttony and Consumption. In return, we are “blessed” with cell phones, electronics and air mile rewards. The ideology of heaven is replaced with grandeur delusions of renewable energy (for the privileged) in magnificent abundance, yet another industry full of promise for infinite growth and refinement – now presented under the auspices of a much kinder, so-called “green economy” or “new economy” (as our ecosystems continue to collapse). The fact that high tech business finances genocide, displaces Indigenous Peoples, and decimates the very life systems upon which we depend is simply unfortunate collateral damage for the things we deserve and must have. “After the Holocaust, the world united behind two simple words: Never Again. These words represent a promise to past and future generations that we will do everything we can to ensure the horrors of the Holocaust are not repeated.” Yet when it comes to Euro-American privilege, it has been clearly demonstrated that, collectively, we are more than willing to walk over and ignore the bodies of the dead in order to have what we want – especially when those dead bodies happen to be black.

 

Next: Part VII

 

[Cory Morningstar is an independent investigative journalist, writer and environmental activist, focusing on global ecological collapse and political analysis of the non-profit industrial complex. She resides in Canada. Her recent writings can be found on Wrong Kind of Green, The Art of Annihilation, Counterpunch, Political Context, Canadians for Action on Climate Change and Countercurrents. Her writing has also been published by Bolivia Rising and Cambio, the official newspaper of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. You can follow her on twitter @elleprovocateur]

 

 

EndNotes:

[1] Ceres Principles:

1. PROTECTION OF THE BIOSPHERE: We will reduce and make continual progress toward eliminating the release of any substance that may cause environmental damage to the air, water, or the earth or its inhabitants. We will safeguard all habitats affected by our operations and will protect open spaces and wilderness, while preserving biodiversity.

2. SUSTAINABLE USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES: We will make sustainable use of renewable natural resources, such as water, soils and forests. We will conserve non-renewable natural resources through efficient use and careful planning.

3. REDUCTION AND DISPOSAL OF WASTES: We will reduce and where possible eliminate waste through source reduction and recycling. All waste will be handled and disposed of through safe and responsible methods.

4. ENERGY CONSERVATION: We will conserve energy and improve the energy efficiency of our internal operations and of the goods and services we sell. We will make every effort to use environmentally safe and sustainable energy sources.

5. RISK REDUCTION: We will strive to minimize the environmental, health and safety risks to our employees and the communities in which we operate through safe technologies, facilities and operating procedures, and by being prepared for emergencies.

6. SAFE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES: We will reduce and where possible eliminate the use, manufacture or sale of products and services that cause environmental damage or health or safety hazards. We will inform our customers of the environmental impacts of our products or services and try to correct unsafe use.

7. ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION: We will promptly and responsibly correct conditions we have caused that endanger health, safety or the environment. To the extent feasible, we will redress injuries we have caused to persons or damage we have caused to the environment and will restore the environment.

8. INFORMING THE PUBLIC: We will inform in a timely manner everyone who may be affected by conditions caused by our company that might endanger health, safety or the environment. We will regularly seek advice and counsel through dialogue with persons in communities near our facilities. We will not take any action against employees for reporting dangerous incidents or conditions to management or to appropriate authorities.

9. MANAGEMENT COMMITMENT: We will implement these Principles and sustain a process that ensures that the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer are fully informed about pertinent environmental issues and are fully responsible for environmental policy. In selecting our Board of Directors, we will consider demonstrated environmental commitment as a factor.

10. AUDITS AND REPORTS: We will support the timely creation of generally accepted environmental audit procedures. We will annually complete the CERES Report, which will be made available to the public.

[2] Graph: The carbon dioxide data (red curve), measured as the mole fraction in dry air, on Mauna Loa constitute the longest record of direct measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere. They were started by C. David Keeling of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in March of 1958 at a facility of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [Keeling, 1976]. NOAA started its own CO2 measurements in May of 1974, and they have run in parallel with those made by Scripps since then [Thoning, 1989]. The black curve represents the seasonally corrected data. Data are reported as a dry mole fraction defined as the number of molecules of carbon dioxide divided by the number of molecules of dry air multiplied by one million (ppm). [Source] [3] C & J Plant (1991). Green business: Hope or hoax. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers.

 

 

Suicidal Tendencies or Addiction? Earth Day Hijacked by Climate Wealth Opportunists

Earth Day Hijacked by Climate Wealth Opportunists

April 21st, 2010 will Mark the fall of the Mainstream Environmental ‘Movement’

For many in the climate justice movement, the growing trend of cozy alliances between many of the mainstream ENGOs with multinational corporate partners has been a toxic recipe; the price of which may be nothing less than complete ecological devastation. The result of these unscrupulous relationships is undeserved legitimacy for transnational corporations, as compromised NGOs run hand in hand with CEOs and executives in a race to the lowest common denominator. The common denominator is money and the finish line is paved in gold – but at what cost? Species extinction is happening at a scale of epic proportions, droughts and storms are happening at unparalleled magnitude; irreversible climate change catastrophe now stares at us in the face. The most inconvenient truth of all – that today – we now stand on the cusp of epic collapse of civilization. Has Earth Day become nothing more than a day of greenwash opportunism and will it mark the fall of the mainstream environmental movement.

Creating Climate Wealth Summit

Invitation from the ‘Earth Day Network’:

“Please join Earth Day Network and the Carbon War Room on April 21, 2010 from 6:00 p.m.-10:00p.m. at the Ronald Reagan Building for a celebration on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day! Join Sir Richard Branson, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and celebrities. Join attendees from the Creating Climate Wealth Summit, our keynote speakers Richard Branson and Lisa Jackson, and enjoy a night conversing with other professionals that are making a difference in the climate change market! Held at the beautiful Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington, D.C., this night will not only bring together those that are making a difference in the climate marketplace, but it will provide superb dining, excellent entertainment and a night of networking not to be missed! Seats are limited and will sell out; tickets will only be available in advance. Purchase before March 31, 2010 and receive a 10% discount! Ticket prices: $450 – Full Ticket, $295 – Non-profit and Academic, Please contact us regarding government rates. Leadership Celebration Dinner Guests include Richard Branson; Founder and Chairman, Virgin Group Denis Hayes Honorary Chair, Earth Day Network Organizer, Earth Day 1970 Lisa Perez Jackson Administrator, EPA.”

Executive board members of the ‘Carbon War Room’ include CEO of Virgin Unite and former CEO of Richard Branson’s Virgin Mobile (partner of original Havas tcktcktck campaign), and George Polk; currently leading a new $1 billion initiative by George Soros to invest private equity in climate change business models.

Richard Branson is ubiquitous. His corporations Virgin and Virgin Atlantic are partners in ‘The Climate Group’ (comprised of corporations and government) and he has worked with tcktcktck in the past. In 2007, HSBC announced that The Climate Group, along with WWF, Earthwatch, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, would be a partner in the HSBCClimate Partnership, and donated US$100 million to the group – the largest-ever single corporate donation. As of December 2008, The Climate Group coalition includes more than 50 of the world’s largest corporations and sub-national governments, as well as several partner organizations. The Climate Group also works on other initiatives, one being that of the ‘Voluntary Carbon Standard’, a new global standard for voluntary offset projects.

‘Sir’ Richard Branson is presently working with the New Royal Society initiative on ‘solar radiation management’ with “the right stakeholders” to “create a strategic roadmap for governance and regulation” in the geoengineering “battle area.” As well, Branson is fervently developing “tourism ventures into space”. You can book your place in space on Richards “sexiest spaceship ever” at your earliest convenience, because, according to Richard, “Everybody should have the chance to experience space travel one day”. Branson also has massive investments in biofuel research including palm and soy – both of which have had devastating consequences.

Turning food and Displacement into Corporate Profits

Amsterdam, 17 March 2010 – “A roadmap for introducing biofuel blends into commercial jet fuel, to be discussed today at the World Biofuels Conference in Amsterdam, will lead to faster deforestation and climate change and spells disaster for Indigenous peoples, other forest-dependent communities and small farmers …”

Read the rest of the post here.Learn more about devastation and displacement resulting from biofuels here.

Peter Diamandis, strategic advisor from the “Climate Response Fund” is also interested in space tourism. Diamandis is an international leader in the commercial space arena, having founded a commercial space company developing private, FAA-certified parabolic flight utilizing a Boeing 727-200 aircraft. He is the Chairman & co-founder of the Rocket Racing League (www.rocketracingleague.com). Diamandis is a Managing Director and Co-Founder of Space Adventures (www.spaceadventures.com), the company which brokered the launches of four private citizens to the International Space Station.

CNN, March 23rd, 2010:

“Virgin Galactic has envisioned one flight a week, with six tourists aboard. Each will pay $200,000 for the ride and train for at least three days before going. About 80,000 people have placed their names on the waiting list for seats.”

Expanding the market for aviation, and creating a market for space travel in a climate crisis, while people die, and are displaced, is nothing less than psychopathic behavior. Could any of the 80,000 blinded narcissists on the waiting list be one of the 100 top paid CEOs still raking it in, in Canada? The total average compensation for Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs was approx. 7.5 million dollars in 2008—a stark contrast from the total average Canadian income of $42,305. They pocketed what takes Canadians earning an average income an entire year to make by 1:06 pm January 4—the first working day of the year.

[Click here to read more and download the full report. Click here to use our CEO pay calculator to find out how quickly a top CEO will earn your salary.]

Now compare the above ‘Climate Wealth’ invitation with excerpts from this letter from Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, to the United Nations representatives; September 27th, 2007:

“Sister and brother Presidents and Heads of States of the United Nations: The world is suffering from a fever due to climate change, and the disease is the capitalist development model. Whilst over 10,000 years the variation in carbon dioxide (CO2) levels on the planet was approximately 10%, during the last 200 years of industrial development, carbon emissions have increased by 30%. Since 1860, Europe and North America have contributed 70% of the emissions of CO2. 2005 was the hottest year in the last one thousand years on this planet. …

Faced with this situation, we – the indigenous peoples and humble and honest inhabitants of this planet – believe that the time has come to put a stop to this, in order to rediscover our roots, with respect for Mother Earth; with the Pachamama as we call it in the Andes. Today, the indigenous peoples of Latin America and the world have been called upon by history to convert ourselves into the vanguard of the struggle to defend nature and life. …

In my own country I suffer, with my head held high, this permanent sabotage because we are ending privileges so that everyone can “Live Well” and not better than our counterparts.”

Read the letter from Evo Morales in its entirety here.

Watch Evo Morales speak of the inequality of climate change here.

The Rich get Richer and the poor die of hunger and thirst

“The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human” – Aldous Huxley

It seems the wealthy and their partners have become completely blind to the reality of the climate change crisis. There is fiction and non fiction – the wealthy and their partners live in a narcissistic world of deception created by themselves. They fail to acknowledge the current reality – instead, they cling to false solutions in a fantasy world. They do so at the expense of survival of all species on earth. Is the wealth such elites accumulate by profiting from the climate crisis, which they created in the first place, to be given to the poorest of the poor; the disenfranchised men, women and children, who die of hunger and thirst?

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear

The corporate climate groups sprouting up left right and centre are not about saving civilization from devastation, these corporately inundated climate groups are about protecting the capitalist system itself and protecting corporate profits at all costs. Just like governments are not in Iraq and Afghanistan to ‘liberate the people’ … corporations are not creating alliances with NGOs to ‘save humanity’. When they pretend otherwise – they both deluding themselves and the public. Corporations never fail to exploit crisis, such as ecosystem collapse, to further vested corporate economic interests. The United Nations has reported that in 2008 the world’s largest corporations caused 2.2 trillion dollars worth of environmental damage. If these corporations were not able to externalize these costs by way of destroying and poisoning the natural environment, one-third of their profits would be lost. Almost twenty years after Rio, emissions have reached an all time high. As corporate profits have soared – so have carbon emissions. Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio Earth Summit) in 1992, the world has witnessed a staggering increase in CO2 emissions of over 40%. The global community must acknowledge that the capitalist system cannot ensure our survival – it can only ensure our certain demise.

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” – Aldous Huxley

The Staggering Inequality of Climate Change

Globally, the wealthiest 8% emit 50% of all emissions

And most of this is for a display of opulence and over consumption. Professor Stephen Pacala of Princeton University calculated the emissions per person based on 6.5 billion people. What he found is startling. He found that the 3 billion poorest people emit essentially nothing. Simply stated, the development of the desperately poor is not in conflict with solving the climate crisis. Ironically, the reluctance of developing countries to drastically cut carbon is often used as an excuse by developed nations to do nothing. For example, Zimbabwe emits 0.93 tonnes of carbon per person, while the United States emit 19.66 tonnes of carbon per person. Canada emits 17.86 tonnes of carbon per person. India produces 1.17 tonnes of carbon per person while China produces 3.7 tonnes of carbon per person. Bottom line – a person in Canada or the U.S. produces approx. 20 times the carbon than an average person in a vulnerable, developing country such as Zimbabwe.

The wealthiest 15% emit 75% of all emissions

Furthermore, Pacala’s data shows that the wealthiest 15% are responsible for ¾ of global emissions.

“In contrast, the rich are really spectacular emitters. …the top 500 million people [7.5% of humanity] emit half the greenhouse emissions. These people are really rich by global standards. Every single one of them earns more than the average American and they also occur in all the countries of the world. There are Chinese and Americans and Europeans and Japanese and Indians all in this group.”

The remaining 85% of humanity emit only 25% of all emissions

Pacala’s data shows the globally wealthy could solve the crisis. Most importantly, it also shows there is absolutely no other way. Humanity must cut fossil fuel emissions massively and the only people who can cut global fossil fuel use to the extent needed are the wealthiest 15%. Furthermore, most of the cuts will need to be made by the wealthiest 7½%, because they are using almost all of it. The globally wealthy must make the major reductions. Below is the Nov. 09 Global Carbon Project carbon budget. In the graph it shows that the carbon emissions budget for the Unites States and Australia budget (& I will assume Canada) until 2050 will be used up by 2019.

Humanity will not longer survive within the Capitalist System

Ecology and economy are interdependent. Both words have a common root: the Greek word “oikos” which means home. A whole earth economy is an economy based not on the wealth of a few but the welfare of the many – not living better than others – but “living well”. A whole earth economy recognizes the earth has ecological limits and that if these limits are not respected there will be serious, irreversible consequences. The warning from Rio in 1992 continues to be ignored;

“Humanity stands at a defining moment in history. We are confronted with a perpetuation of disparities between and within nations, a worsening of poverty, hunger, ill health and illiteracy and the continuing deterioration of the ecosystem on which we depend for our well being (Preamble, Agenda 21, UNCED, 1992)”

If the global community continues to fail to heed the admonitions of the past, it is the rights not only of present, but also future generations who will suffer. The time has long since passed for tolerating the gross negligence of those who satisfy their insatiable wants at the expense of the fundamental needs and inalienable rights of others.

Ethics verses exploitation. It’s that simple. Choose a side.

A Kiss of Death to Faux ‘Green’ Capitalism and Those that Defend It

The only way climate catastrophe can be prevented is if the global community confronts those who impede action.  Once confronted, such compromised organizations , individuals and governments who continue to place their own self interests above that of humanity, will come to be seen as not just self serving, but highly unethical and criminally negligent.  They must be shunned by society.  Opulence and over consumptive lifestyles must become not a source of status, but a source of shame. The licenses and charters of corporations that perpetuate this negligence must be revoked.

Divesting in the bad and investing the good

All products that are destructive to human health and the ecosystem must be phased out and then prohibited. Rather than spending money on the food and the products that perpetuate ill health, exploit people, cause death and destroy the natural environment, the global community must invest in and subsidize what is necessary for humans and what is beneficial for the ecosystem.

Suicidal Tendencies; Refusing to Face Reality at One’s Own Peril

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Einstein

The absolute apathy of the mainstream ‘environmental movement’ has never been more clearly demonstrated than in the invitation for the ‘climate wealth summit’.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) model is one of the best we have at this time, keeping in mind it omits Arctic carbon feedbacks (like all the models), so in reality, the future looks much more terrifying. The MIT median projection for the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide in 2095 is a jaw-dropping 866 ppm.

About 4.5 million years ago, during the early Pliocene period, temperatures on Earth were some 3 to 4 degrees C (5.4 to 7.2 degrees F.) higher in the tropics, and perhaps 10 degrees C (18 degrees F.) warmer near the poles. Palm trees grew in Antarctica and alligators inhabited swamps above the Arctic Circle. We are now firmly on this path.

While the wealthy and their partners cover their ears to the cries of the most vulnerable and disenfranchised, who plead for no more than a right to simply stay alive, the wealthy and their partners, blind to the suffering of others, instead create new markets for wealth profits. The wealthy thus make a mockery of those who are already suffering from the dire effects of climate change. The actions of the wealthy elite could be compared to eating Christmas dinner in front of a person starving to death in a refugee camp.

Climate Wealth Summit Undermines Essence and Intent of Earth Day

In 1969 John McConnell, felt it necessary to propose a holiday in which we celebrate the Earth’s life and beauty. Along with a celebration of the Earth, he also intended Earth Day to alert earthlings about the need for preserving and renewing the threatened ecological balances upon which all life on Earth depends. McConnell said, “Let every individual and institution now think and act as a responsible trustee of Earth, seeking choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will provide a sustainable future, eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, awaken the wonder of life and foster peaceful progress in the human adventure.” Today would he not roll in his grave at the thought of a ‘creating climate wealth summit’ – in essence – profiting from the collapse of civilization. Their ‘climate wealth’ solutions could be compared to the Ku Klux Klan working with the ‘Martin Luther King, Jr. foundation to ensure rights and justice for those suffering from racism.

“One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.”­ Chinua Achebe| Nigerian Writer

The global community must choose

The world has a choice to make: humanity over corporate profits or corporate profits over humanity. The global community can choose profits resulting from the actions of compromised and self-serving people, institutions and governments; or, the global community can choose humanity through altruism and ethical solutions. In global solidarity, citizens must defend our dying Mother earth. We must create a new world; a world of meaning, sharing, beauty, culture, love and respect in a race towards a zero carbon where all children and all life will flourish.

Ethical grassroots organizations and progressive governments are now left with the daunting task of saving the planet from complete collapse and total catastrophic, irreversible climate change. The global community must lend support to the organizations and the governments that have the courage to lead.

The world has a choice to make.

We choose life.

Cory Morningstar, Canadians for Action on Climate Change | Joan Russow PhD Global Compliance Research

Visit the ‘TIME TO BE BOLD’ declaration as we move towards the ‘World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Bolivia, April 19th – 22nd.Earth Day Hijacked by Climate Wealth Opportunists

April 21st, 2010 will Mark the fall of the Mainstream Environmental ‘Movement’

For many in the climate justice movement, the growing trend of cozy alliances between many of the mainstream ENGOs with multinational corporate partners has been a toxic recipe; the price of which may be nothing less than complete ecological devastation. The result of these unscrupulous relationships is undeserved legitimacy for transnational corporations, as compromised NGOs run hand in hand with CEOs and executives in a race to the lowest common denominator. The common denominator is money and the finish line is paved in gold – but at what cost? Species extinction is happening at a scale of epic proportions, droughts and storms are happening at unparalleled magnitude; irreversible climate change catastrophe now stares at us in the face. The most inconvenient truth of all – that today – we now stand on the cusp of epic collapse of civilization. Has Earth Day become nothing more than a day of greenwash opportunism and will it mark the fall of the mainstream environmental movement.

Creating Climate Wealth Summit

Invitation from the ‘Earth Day Network’:

“Please join Earth Day Network and the Carbon War Room on April 21, 2010 from 6:00 p.m.-10:00p.m. at the Ronald Reagan Building for a celebration on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day! Join Sir Richard Branson, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and celebrities. Join attendees from the Creating Climate Wealth Summit, our keynote speakers Richard Branson and Lisa Jackson, and enjoy a night conversing with other professionals that are making a difference in the climate change market! Held at the beautiful Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington, D.C., this night will not only bring together those that are making a difference in the climate marketplace, but it will provide superb dining, excellent entertainment and a night of networking not to be missed! Seats are limited and will sell out; tickets will only be available in advance. Purchase before March 31, 2010 and receive a 10% discount! Ticket prices: $450 – Full Ticket, $295 – Non-profit and Academic, Please contact us regarding government rates. Leadership Celebration Dinner Guests include Richard Branson; Founder and Chairman, Virgin Group Denis Hayes Honorary Chair, Earth Day Network Organizer, Earth Day 1970 Lisa Perez Jackson Administrator, EPA.”

Executive board members of the ‘Carbon War Room’ include CEO of Virgin Unite and former CEO of Richard Branson’s Virgin Mobile (partner of original Havas tcktcktck campaign), and George Polk; currently leading a new $1 billion initiative by George Soros to invest private equity in climate change business models.

Richard Branson is ubiquitous. His corporations Virgin and Virgin Atlantic are partners in ‘The Climate Group’ (comprised of corporations and government) and he has worked with tcktcktck in the past. In 2007, HSBC announced that The Climate Group, along with WWF, Earthwatch, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, would be a partner in the HSBCClimate Partnership, and donated US$100 million to the group – the largest-ever single corporate donation. As of December 2008, The Climate Group coalition includes more than 50 of the world’s largest corporations and sub-national governments, as well as several partner organizations. The Climate Group also works on other initiatives, one being that of the ‘Voluntary Carbon Standard’, a new global standard for voluntary offset projects.

‘Sir’ Richard Branson is presently working with the New Royal Society initiative on ‘solar radiation management’ with “the right stakeholders” to “create a strategic roadmap for governance and regulation” in the geoengineering “battle area.” As well, Branson is fervently developing “tourism ventures into space”. You can book your place in space on Richards “sexiest spaceship ever” at your earliest convenience, because, according to Richard, “Everybody should have the chance to experience space travel one day”. Branson also has massive investments in biofuel research including palm and soy – both of which have had devastating consequences.

Turning food and Displacement into Corporate Profits

 

 

 

Amsterdam, 17 March 2010 – “A roadmap for introducing biofuel blends into commercial jet fuel, to be discussed today at the World Biofuels Conference in Amsterdam, will lead to faster deforestation and climate change and spells disaster for Indigenous peoples, other forest-dependent communities and small farmers …”

Read the rest of the post here.Learn more about devastation and displacement resulting from biofuels here.

Peter Diamandis, strategic advisor from the “Climate Response Fund” is also interested in space tourism. Diamandis is an international leader in the commercial space arena, having founded a commercial space company developing private, FAA-certified parabolic flight utilizing a Boeing 727-200 aircraft. He is the Chairman & co-founder of the Rocket Racing League (www.rocketracingleague.com). Diamandis is a Managing Director and Co-Founder of Space Adventures (www.spaceadventures.com), the company which brokered the launches of four private citizens to the International Space Station.

CNN, March 23rd, 2010:

“Virgin Galactic has envisioned one flight a week, with six tourists aboard. Each will pay $200,000 for the ride and train for at least three days before going. About 80,000 people have placed their names on the waiting list for seats.”

Expanding the market for aviation, and creating a market for space travel in a climate crisis, while people die, and are displaced, is nothing less than psychopathic behavior. Could any of the 80,000 blinded narcissists on the waiting list be one of the 100 top paid CEOs still raking it in, in Canada? The total average compensation for Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs was approx. 7.5 million dollars in 2008—a stark contrast from the total average Canadian income of $42,305. They pocketed what takes Canadians earning an average income an entire year to make by 1:06 pm January 4—the first working day of the year.

[Click here to read more and download the full report. Click here to use our CEO pay calculator to find out how quickly a top CEO will earn your salary.]

Now compare the above ‘Climate Wealth’ invitation with excerpts from this letter from Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, to the United Nations representatives; September 27th, 2007:

“Sister and brother Presidents and Heads of States of the United Nations: The world is suffering from a fever due to climate change, and the disease is the capitalist development model. Whilst over 10,000 years the variation in carbon dioxide (CO2) levels on the planet was approximately 10%, during the last 200 years of industrial development, carbon emissions have increased by 30%. Since 1860, Europe and North America have contributed 70% of the emissions of CO2. 2005 was the hottest year in the last one thousand years on this planet. …

Faced with this situation, we – the indigenous peoples and humble and honest inhabitants of this planet – believe that the time has come to put a stop to this, in order to rediscover our roots, with respect for Mother Earth; with the Pachamama as we call it in the Andes. Today, the indigenous peoples of Latin America and the world have been called upon by history to convert ourselves into the vanguard of the struggle to defend nature and life. …

In my own country I suffer, with my head held high, this permanent sabotage because we are ending privileges so that everyone can “Live Well” and not better than our counterparts.”

Read the letter from Evo Morales in its entirety here.

Watch Evo Morales speak of the inequality of climate change here.

The Rich get Richer and the poor die of hunger and thirst

“The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human” – Aldous Huxley

It seems the wealthy and their partners have become completely blind to the reality of the climate change crisis. There is fiction and non fiction – the wealthy and their partners live in a narcissistic world of deception created by themselves. They fail to acknowledge the current reality – instead, they cling to false solutions in a fantasy world. They do so at the expense of survival of all species on earth. Is the wealth such elites accumulate by profiting from the climate crisis, which they created in the first place, to be given to the poorest of the poor; the disenfranchised men, women and children, who die of hunger and thirst?

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear

The corporate climate groups sprouting up left right and centre are not about saving civilization from devastation, these corporately inundated climate groups are about protecting the capitalist system itself and protecting corporate profits at all costs. Just like governments are not in Iraq and Afghanistan to ‘liberate the people’ … corporations are not creating alliances with NGOs to ‘save humanity’. When they pretend otherwise – they both deluding themselves and the public. Corporations never fail to exploit crisis, such as ecosystem collapse, to further vested corporate economic interests. The United Nations has reported that in 2008 the world’s largest corporations caused 2.2 trillion dollars worth of environmental damage. If these corporations were not able to externalize these costs by way of destroying and poisoning the natural environment, one-third of their profits would be lost. Almost twenty years after Rio, emissions have reached an all time high. As corporate profits have soared – so have carbon emissions. Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio Earth Summit) in 1992, the world has witnessed a staggering increase in CO2 emissions of over 40%. The global community must acknowledge that the capitalist system cannot ensure our survival – it can only ensure our certain demise.

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” – Aldous Huxley

The Staggering Inequality of Climate Change

Globally, the wealthiest 8% emit 50% of all emissions

And most of this is for a display of opulence and over consumption. Professor Stephen Pacala of Princeton University calculated the emissions per person based on 6.5 billion people. What he found is startling. He found that the 3 billion poorest people emit essentially nothing. Simply stated, the development of the desperately poor is not in conflict with solving the climate crisis. Ironically, the reluctance of developing countries to drastically cut carbon is often used as an excuse by developed nations to do nothing. For example, Zimbabwe emits 0.93 tonnes of carbon per person, while the United States emit 19.66 tonnes of carbon per person. Canada emits 17.86 tonnes of carbon per person. India produces 1.17 tonnes of carbon per person while China produces 3.7 tonnes of carbon per person. Bottom line – a person in Canada or the U.S. produces approx. 20 times the carbon than an average person in a vulnerable, developing country such as Zimbabwe.

The wealthiest 15% emit 75% of all emissions

Furthermore, Pacala’s data shows that the wealthiest 15% are responsible for ¾ of global emissions.

“In contrast, the rich are really spectacular emitters. …the top 500 million people [7.5% of humanity] emit half the greenhouse emissions. These people are really rich by global standards. Every single one of them earns more than the average American and they also occur in all the countries of the world. There are Chinese and Americans and Europeans and Japanese and Indians all in this group.”

The remaining 85% of humanity emit only 25% of all emissions

Pacala’s data shows the globally wealthy could solve the crisis. Most importantly, it also shows there is absolutely no other way. Humanity must cut fossil fuel emissions massively and the only people who can cut global fossil fuel use to the extent needed are the wealthiest 15%. Furthermore, most of the cuts will need to be made by the wealthiest 7½%, because they are using almost all of it. The globally wealthy must make the major reductions. Below is the Nov. 09 Global Carbon Project carbon budget. In the graph it shows that the carbon emissions budget for the Unites States and Australia budget (& I will assume Canada) until 2050 will be used up by 2019.

Humanity will not longer survive within the Capitalist System

Ecology and economy are interdependent. Both words have a common root: the Greek word “oikos” which means home. A whole earth economy is an economy based not on the wealth of a few but the welfare of the many – not living better than others – but “living well”. A whole earth economy recognizes the earth has ecological limits and that if these limits are not respected there will be serious, irreversible consequences. The warning from Rio in 1992 continues to be ignored;

“Humanity stands at a defining moment in history. We are confronted with a perpetuation of disparities between and within nations, a worsening of poverty, hunger, ill health and illiteracy and the continuing deterioration of the ecosystem on which we depend for our well being (Preamble, Agenda 21, UNCED, 1992)”

If the global community continues to fail to heed the admonitions of the past, it is the rights not only of present, but also future generations who will suffer. The time has long since passed for tolerating the gross negligence of those who satisfy their insatiable wants at the expense of the fundamental needs and inalienable rights of others.

Ethics versus exploitation. It’s that simple. Choose a side.

A Kiss of Death to Faux ‘Green’ Capitalism and Those that Defend It

The only way climate catastrophe can be prevented is if the global community confronts those who impede action.  Once confronted, such compromised organizations , individuals and governments who continue to place their own self interests above that of humanity, will come to be seen as not just self serving, but highly unethical and criminally negligent.  They must be shunned by society.  Opulence and over consumptive lifestyles must become not a source of status, but a source of shame. The licenses and charters of corporations that perpetuate this negligence must be revoked.

Divesting in the bad and investing the good

All products that are destructive to human health and the ecosystem must be phased out and then prohibited. Rather than spending money on the food and the products that perpetuate ill health, exploit people, cause death and destroy the natural environment, the global community must invest in and subsidize what is necessary for humans and what is beneficial for the ecosystem.

Suicidal Tendencies; Refusing to Face Reality at One’s Own Peril

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Einstein

The absolute apathy of the mainstream ‘environmental movement’ has never been more clearly demonstrated than in the invitation for the ‘climate wealth summit’.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) model is one of the best we have at this time, keeping in mind it omits Arctic carbon feedbacks (like all the models), so in reality, the future looks much more terrifying. The MIT median projection for the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide in 2095 is a jaw-dropping 866 ppm.

About 4.5 million years ago, during the early Pliocene period, temperatures on Earth were some 3 to 4 degrees C (5.4 to 7.2 degrees F.) higher in the tropics, and perhaps 10 degrees C (18 degrees F.) warmer near the poles. Palm trees grew in Antarctica and alligators inhabited swamps above the Arctic Circle. We are now firmly on this path.

While the wealthy and their partners cover their ears to the cries of the most vulnerable and disenfranchised, who plead for no more than a right to simply stay alive, the wealthy and their partners, blind to the suffering of others, instead create new markets for wealth profits. The wealthy thus make a mockery of those who are already suffering from the dire effects of climate change. The actions of the wealthy elite could be compared to eating Christmas dinner in front of a person starving to death in a refugee camp.

Climate Wealth Summit Undermines Essence and Intent of Earth Day

In 1969 John McConnell, felt it necessary to propose a holiday in which we celebrate the Earth’s life and beauty. Along with a celebration of the Earth, he also intended Earth Day to alert earthlings about the need for preserving and renewing the threatened ecological balances upon which all life on Earth depends. McConnell said, “Let every individual and institution now think and act as a responsible trustee of Earth, seeking choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will provide a sustainable future, eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, awaken the wonder of life and foster peaceful progress in the human adventure.” Today would he not roll in his grave at the thought of a ‘creating climate wealth summit’ – in essence – profiting from the collapse of civilization. Their ‘climate wealth’ solutions could be compared to the Ku Klux Klan working with the ‘Martin Luther King, Jr. foundation to ensure rights and justice for those suffering from racism.

“One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.”­ Chinua Achebe| Nigerian Writer

The global community must choose

The world has a choice to make: humanity over corporate profits or corporate profits over humanity. The global community can choose profits resulting from the actions of compromised and self-serving people, institutions and governments; or, the global community can choose humanity through altruism and ethical solutions. In global solidarity, citizens must defend our dying Mother earth. We must create a new world; a world of meaning, sharing, beauty, culture, love and respect in a race towards a zero carbon where all children and all life will flourish.

Ethical grassroots organizations and progressive governments are now left with the daunting task of saving the planet from complete collapse and total catastrophic, irreversible climate change. The global community must lend support to the organizations and the governments that have the courage to lead.

The world has a choice to make.

We choose life.

Cory Morningstar, Canadians for Action on Climate Change | Joan Russow PhD Global Compliance Research

Visit the ‘TIME TO BE BOLD’ declaration as we move towards the ‘World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Bolivia, April 19th – 22nd.Earth Day Hijacked by Climate Wealth Opportunists

April 21st, 2010 will Mark the fall of the Mainstream Environmental ‘Movement’

For many in the climate justice movement, the growing trend of cozy alliances between many of the mainstream ENGOs with multinational corporate partners has been a toxic recipe; the price of which may be nothing less than complete ecological devastation. The result of these unscrupulous relationships is undeserved legitimacy for transnational corporations, as compromised NGOs run hand in hand with CEOs and executives in a race to the lowest common denominator. The common denominator is money and the finish line is paved in gold – but at what cost? Species extinction is happening at a scale of epic proportions, droughts and storms are happening at unparalleled magnitude; irreversible climate change catastrophe now stares at us in the face. The most inconvenient truth of all – that today – we now stand on the cusp of epic collapse of civilization. Has Earth Day become nothing more than a day of greenwash opportunism and will it mark the fall of the mainstream environmental movement.

Creating Climate Wealth Summit

Invitation from the ‘Earth Day Network’:

“Please join Earth Day Network and the Carbon War Room on April 21, 2010 from 6:00 p.m.-10:00p.m. at the Ronald Reagan Building for a celebration on the eve of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day! Join Sir Richard Branson, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and celebrities. Join attendees from the Creating Climate Wealth Summit, our keynote speakers Richard Branson and Lisa Jackson, and enjoy a night conversing with other professionals that are making a difference in the climate change market! Held at the beautiful Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington, D.C., this night will not only bring together those that are making a difference in the climate marketplace, but it will provide superb dining, excellent entertainment and a night of networking not to be missed! Seats are limited and will sell out; tickets will only be available in advance. Purchase before March 31, 2010 and receive a 10% discount! Ticket prices: $450 – Full Ticket, $295 – Non-profit and Academic, Please contact us regarding government rates. Leadership Celebration Dinner Guests include Richard Branson; Founder and Chairman, Virgin Group Denis Hayes Honorary Chair, Earth Day Network Organizer, Earth Day 1970 Lisa Perez Jackson Administrator, EPA.”

Executive board members of the ‘Carbon War Room’ include CEO of Virgin Unite and former CEO of Richard Branson’s Virgin Mobile (partner of original Havas tcktcktck campaign), and George Polk; currently leading a new $1 billion initiative by George Soros to invest private equity in climate change business models.

Richard Branson is ubiquitous. His corporations Virgin and Virgin Atlantic are partners in ‘The Climate Group’ (comprised of corporations and government) and he has worked with tcktcktck in the past. In 2007, HSBC announced that The Climate Group, along with WWF, Earthwatch, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, would be a partner in the HSBCClimate Partnership, and donated US$100 million to the group – the largest-ever single corporate donation. As of December 2008, The Climate Group coalition includes more than 50 of the world’s largest corporations and sub-national governments, as well as several partner organizations. The Climate Group also works on other initiatives, one being that of the ‘Voluntary Carbon Standard’, a new global standard for voluntary offset projects.

‘Sir’ Richard Branson is presently working with the New Royal Society initiative on ‘solar radiation management’ with “the right stakeholders” to “create a strategic roadmap for governance and regulation” in the geoengineering “battle area.” As well, Branson is fervently developing “tourism ventures into space”. You can book your place in space on Richards “sexiest spaceship ever” at your earliest convenience, because, according to Richard, “Everybody should have the chance to experience space travel one day”. Branson also has massive investments in biofuel research including palm and soy – both of which have had devastating consequences.

Turning food and Displacement into Corporate Profits

Amsterdam, 17 March 2010 – “A roadmap for introducing biofuel blends into commercial jet fuel, to be discussed today at the World Biofuels Conference in Amsterdam, will lead to faster deforestation and climate change and spells disaster for Indigenous peoples, other forest-dependent communities and small farmers …”

Read the rest of the post here.Learn more about devastation and displacement resulting from biofuels here.

Peter Diamandis, strategic advisor from the “Climate Response Fund” is also interested in space tourism. Diamandis is an international leader in the commercial space arena, having founded a commercial space company developing private, FAA-certified parabolic flight utilizing a Boeing 727-200 aircraft. He is the Chairman & co-founder of the Rocket Racing League (www.rocketracingleague.com). Diamandis is a Managing Director and Co-Founder of Space Adventures (www.spaceadventures.com), the company which brokered the launches of four private citizens to the International Space Station.

CNN, March 23rd, 2010:

“Virgin Galactic has envisioned one flight a week, with six tourists aboard. Each will pay $200,000 for the ride and train for at least three days before going. About 80,000 people have placed their names on the waiting list for seats.”

Expanding the market for aviation, and creating a market for space travel in a climate crisis, while people die, and are displaced, is nothing less than psychopathic behavior. Could any of the 80,000 blinded narcissists on the waiting list be one of the 100 top paid CEOs still raking it in, in Canada? The total average compensation for Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs was approx. 7.5 million dollars in 2008—a stark contrast from the total average Canadian income of $42,305. They pocketed what takes Canadians earning an average income an entire year to make by 1:06 pm January 4—the first working day of the year.

[Click here to read more and download the full report. Click here to use our CEO pay calculator to find out how quickly a top CEO will earn your salary.]

Now compare the above ‘Climate Wealth’ invitation with excerpts from this letter from Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, to the United Nations representatives; September 27th, 2007:

“Sister and brother Presidents and Heads of States of the United Nations: The world is suffering from a fever due to climate change, and the disease is the capitalist development model. Whilst over 10,000 years the variation in carbon dioxide (CO2) levels on the planet was approximately 10%, during the last 200 years of industrial development, carbon emissions have increased by 30%. Since 1860, Europe and North America have contributed 70% of the emissions of CO2. 2005 was the hottest year in the last one thousand years on this planet. …

Faced with this situation, we – the indigenous peoples and humble and honest inhabitants of this planet – believe that the time has come to put a stop to this, in order to rediscover our roots, with respect for Mother Earth; with the Pachamama as we call it in the Andes. Today, the indigenous peoples of Latin America and the world have been called upon by history to convert ourselves into the vanguard of the struggle to defend nature and life. …

In my own country I suffer, with my head held high, this permanent sabotage because we are ending privileges so that everyone can “Live Well” and not better than our counterparts.”

Read the letter from Evo Morales in its entirety here.

Watch Evo Morales speak of the inequality of climate change here.

The Rich get Richer and the poor die of hunger and thirst

“The propagandist’s purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human” – Aldous Huxley

It seems the wealthy and their partners have become completely blind to the reality of the climate change crisis. There is fiction and non fiction – the wealthy and their partners live in a narcissistic world of deception created by themselves. They fail to acknowledge the current reality – instead, they cling to false solutions in a fantasy world. They do so at the expense of survival of all species on earth. Is the wealth such elites accumulate by profiting from the climate crisis, which they created in the first place, to be given to the poorest of the poor; the disenfranchised men, women and children, who die of hunger and thirst?

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear

The corporate climate groups sprouting up left right and centre are not about saving civilization from devastation, these corporately inundated climate groups are about protecting the capitalist system itself and protecting corporate profits at all costs. Just like governments are not in Iraq and Afghanistan to ‘liberate the people’ … corporations are not creating alliances with NGOs to ‘save humanity’. When they pretend otherwise – they both deluding themselves and the public. Corporations never fail to exploit crisis, such as ecosystem collapse, to further vested corporate economic interests. The United Nations has reported that in 2008 the world’s largest corporations caused 2.2 trillion dollars worth of environmental damage. If these corporations were not able to externalize these costs by way of destroying and poisoning the natural environment, one-third of their profits would be lost. Almost twenty years after Rio, emissions have reached an all time high. As corporate profits have soared – so have carbon emissions. Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio Earth Summit) in 1992, the world has witnessed a staggering increase in CO2 emissions of over 40%. The global community must acknowledge that the capitalist system cannot ensure our survival – it can only ensure our certain demise.

“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” – Aldous Huxley

The Staggering Inequality of Climate Change

Globally, the wealthiest 8% emit 50% of all emissions

And most of this is for a display of opulence and over consumption. Professor Stephen Pacala of Princeton University calculated the emissions per person based on 6.5 billion people. What he found is startling. He found that the 3 billion poorest people emit essentially nothing. Simply stated, the development of the desperately poor is not in conflict with solving the climate crisis. Ironically, the reluctance of developing countries to drastically cut carbon is often used as an excuse by developed nations to do nothing. For example, Zimbabwe emits 0.93 tonnes of carbon per person, while the United States emit 19.66 tonnes of carbon per person. Canada emits 17.86 tonnes of carbon per person. India produces 1.17 tonnes of carbon per person while China produces 3.7 tonnes of carbon per person. Bottom line – a person in Canada or the U.S. produces approx. 20 times the carbon than an average person in a vulnerable, developing country such as Zimbabwe.

The wealthiest 15% emit 75% of all emissions

Furthermore, Pacala’s data shows that the wealthiest 15% are responsible for ¾ of global emissions.

“In contrast, the rich are really spectacular emitters. …the top 500 million people [7.5% of humanity] emit half the greenhouse emissions. These people are really rich by global standards. Every single one of them earns more than the average American and they also occur in all the countries of the world. There are Chinese and Americans and Europeans and Japanese and Indians all in this group.”

The remaining 85% of humanity emit only 25% of all emissions

Pacala’s data shows the globally wealthy could solve the crisis. Most importantly, it also shows there is absolutely no other way. Humanity must cut fossil fuel emissions massively and the only people who can cut global fossil fuel use to the extent needed are the wealthiest 15%. Furthermore, most of the cuts will need to be made by the wealthiest 7½%, because they are using almost all of it. The globally wealthy must make the major reductions. Below is the Nov. 09 Global Carbon Project carbon budget. In the graph it shows that the carbon emissions budget for the Unites States and Australia budget (& I will assume Canada) until 2050 will be used up by 2019.

Humanity will not longer survive within the Capitalist System

Ecology and economy are interdependent. Both words have a common root: the Greek word “oikos” which means home. A whole earth economy is an economy based not on the wealth of a few but the welfare of the many – not living better than others – but “living well”. A whole earth economy recognizes the earth has ecological limits and that if these limits are not respected there will be serious, irreversible consequences. The warning from Rio in 1992 continues to be ignored;

“Humanity stands at a defining moment in history. We are confronted with a perpetuation of disparities between and within nations, a worsening of poverty, hunger, ill health and illiteracy and the continuing deterioration of the ecosystem on which we depend for our well being (Preamble, Agenda 21, UNCED, 1992)”

If the global community continues to fail to heed the admonitions of the past, it is the rights not only of present, but also future generations who will suffer. The time has long since passed for tolerating the gross negligence of those who satisfy their insatiable wants at the expense of the fundamental needs and inalienable rights of others.

Ethics verses exploitation. It’s that simple. Choose a side.

A Kiss of Death to Faux ‘Green’ Capitalism and Those that Defend It

The only way climate catastrophe can be prevented is if the global community confronts those who impede action.  Once confronted, such compromised organizations , individuals and governments who continue to place their own self interests above that of humanity, will come to be seen as not just self serving, but highly unethical and criminally negligent.  They must be shunned by society.  Opulence and over consumptive lifestyles must become not a source of status, but a source of shame. The licenses and charters of corporations that perpetuate this negligence must be revoked.

Divesting in the bad and investing the good

All products that are destructive to human health and the ecosystem must be phased out and then prohibited. Rather than spending money on the food and the products that perpetuate ill health, exploit people, cause death and destroy the natural environment, the global community must invest in and subsidize what is necessary for humans and what is beneficial for the ecosystem.

Suicidal Tendencies; Refusing to Face Reality at One’s Own Peril

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” – Einstein

The absolute apathy of the mainstream ‘environmental movement’ has never been more clearly demonstrated than in the invitation for the ‘climate wealth summit’.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) model is one of the best we have at this time, keeping in mind it omits Arctic carbon feedbacks (like all the models), so in reality, the future looks much more terrifying. The MIT median projection for the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide in 2095 is a jaw-dropping 866 ppm.

About 4.5 million years ago, during the early Pliocene period, temperatures on Earth were some 3 to 4 degrees C (5.4 to 7.2 degrees F.) higher in the tropics, and perhaps 10 degrees C (18 degrees F.) warmer near the poles. Palm trees grew in Antarctica and alligators inhabited swamps above the Arctic Circle. We are now firmly on this path.

While the wealthy and their partners cover their ears to the cries of the most vulnerable and disenfranchised, who plead for no more than a right to simply stay alive, the wealthy and their partners, blind to the suffering of others, instead create new markets for wealth profits. The wealthy thus make a mockery of those who are already suffering from the dire effects of climate change. The actions of the wealthy elite could be compared to eating Christmas dinner in front of a person starving to death in a refugee camp.

Climate Wealth Summit Undermines Essence and Intent of Earth Day

In 1969 John McConnell, felt it necessary to propose a holiday in which we celebrate the Earth’s life and beauty. Along with a celebration of the Earth, he also intended Earth Day to alert earthlings about the need for preserving and renewing the threatened ecological balances upon which all life on Earth depends. McConnell said, “Let every individual and institution now think and act as a responsible trustee of Earth, seeking choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will provide a sustainable future, eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, awaken the wonder of life and foster peaceful progress in the human adventure.” Today would he not roll in his grave at the thought of a ‘creating climate wealth summit’ – in essence – profiting from the collapse of civilization. Their ‘climate wealth’ solutions could be compared to the Ku Klux Klan working with the ‘Martin Luther King, Jr. foundation to ensure rights and justice for those suffering from racism.

“One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised.”­ Chinua Achebe| Nigerian Writer

The global community must choose

The world has a choice to make: humanity over corporate profits or corporate profits over humanity. The global community can choose profits resulting from the actions of compromised and self-serving people, institutions and governments; or, the global community can choose humanity through altruism and ethical solutions. In global solidarity, citizens must defend our dying Mother earth. We must create a new world; a world of meaning, sharing, beauty, culture, love and respect in a race towards a zero carbon where all children and all life will flourish.

Ethical grassroots organizations and progressive governments are now left with the daunting task of saving the planet from complete collapse and total catastrophic, irreversible climate change. The global community must lend support to the organizations and the governments that have the courage to lead.

The world has a choice to make.

We choose life.

Cory Morningstar, Canadians for Action on Climate Change | Joan Russow PhD Global Compliance Research

Visit the ‘TIME TO BE BOLD’ declaration as we move towards the ‘World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth in Bolivia, April 19th – 22nd.