The UN faces a devaluation of the tradable credits it gives investors that pay for projects to reduce hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, because the European Union may favor alternatives such as windfarms to combat global warming. UN offsets for 2012 traded at 3.87 euros ($4.77) a metric ton less than comparable EU permits, almost twice the spread at the end of last year.
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Indigenous Peoples from around the world, including Maori from New Zealand and Gwich’in from the far north in Alaska, came to the World Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth to share their wisdom and set new ground rules to ensure the protection of Mother Earth and the survival of the planet.
During the opening ceremony with Bolivian President Evo Morales, Faith Gemmill, executive director of Red OIL (Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands) in Alaska described the genocidal policies aimed at Indigenous Peoples and what must happened now to rescue Mother Earth.
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Climate Activists Invade DC Offices of Environmental Defense, Daughter of ED Founder Accuses Group of Pushing False Solutions to Climate Change <http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2008/12/01/climate-activists-invade-dc-offices-of-environmental-defense-daughter-of-ed-founder-accuses-group-of-pushing-false-solutions-to-climate-change/>
Press Release from Rising Tide North America - 1 December , 2008 -
For full statement from Dr. Rachel Smolker visit:
http://www.globaljusticeecology.org/connections.php?ID=214
http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2008/12/01/climate-activists-invade-dc-offices-of-environmental-defense-daughter-of-ed-founder-accuses-group-of-pushing-false-solutions-to-climate-change/
Washington, DC-As the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change opened today in Poznan, Poland, grassroots climate activists took over the Washington DC office of Environmental Defense. The activists stated that they had targeted ED, one of the largest environmental organizations in the world, because of the organization’s key role in promoting the discredited approach of carbon trading as a solution to climate change.
Dr. Rachel Smolker of Global Justice Ecology Project and Global Forest Coalition read a statement, which said in part, “My father was one of the founders of this organization, which sadly I am now ashamed of. The Kyoto Protocol, the European Emissions Trading Scheme and virtually every other initiative for reducing emissions have adopted their market approaches. So far they have utterly failed, serving only to provide huge profits to the world’s most polluting industries. Instead of protecting the environment, ED now seems primarily concerned with protecting corporate bottom lines. I can hear my father rolling over in his grave.”
The activists rearranged furniture in the office, illustrating how marketing carbon is “like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.” Others held signs reading “Keep the cap, ditch the trade” and “Carbon trading is an environmental offense.”
Leo Cerda, an indigenous activist with Rising Tide Ecuador said, “ED wants to turn the atmosphere and forests into private property, and then give it away to the most polluting industries in the form of pollution allowances that can be bought and sold. Not only is this an ineffective way to control emissions, it is also a disaster for the poor and indigenous peoples who are not party to these markets and are most impacted by climate change.”
ED has been key in establishing the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a business consortium advocating for a cap and trade system with extremely weak emissions reductions. US CAP allows polluters like Duke Energy, Shell, BP, DuPont, and Dow Chemical to claim they are green while continuing with business as usual. In recognition, activists awarded ED the “Corporate Greenwash Award,” a three foot tall green paintbrush. “We think this award is appropriate since Environmental Defense spends more time painting polluters green than actually defending the environment,” said Matt Wallace of Rising Tide North America.
Opposition to carbon trading is growing as it becomes apparent that market based schemes do little to fight climate change while helping corporations rake in profits. Earlier this year, over 50 groups came together in the US to denounce carbon trading in a Declaration Against the Use of Carbon Trading Schemes to Address Climate Change. Globally, hundreds of environmental, social justice, and indigenous groups have come together to oppose such market based initiatives as inherently unsustainable and ineffective in creating a just
transition away from fossil fuels.
Off-site Media Contact: Matt Wallace, Rising Tide North America, ph: 828-280-3462
On-site Contact: Dr. Rachel Smolker, Global Justice Ecology Project and Global Forest Coalition ph: 802-735-7794
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© CORE, May 8, 2008
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© Word Rainforest Movement (WRM)
UN-REDD: Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) For Multi-Donor Trust Fund Using Pass-Through Fund Management.
