activism
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Bill McKibben: 'Wall Street has been occupying the atmosphere'
Here's Bill McKibben speaking at an Occupy Wall Street "mic check," where the crowd repeats back everything he says and acts as a sort of human-powered amplifier. The reason that it’s so great that we’re occupying Wall Street is because Wall Street has been occupying the atmosphere. That’s why we can never do anything about […]
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Environmentalist was barred from U.S. because FBI feared he'd glue himself to Palin
Last week, the U.K.'s "most effective environmentalist," John-with-an-H Stewart, had his entry visa revoked mid-flight when he tried to visit the U.S. for a speaking tour. All we knew for sure was that customs officials had grilled him for six hours about his plans for his visit, then sent him back to Britain with nary a pat on the rump. But Kate Sheppard at Mother Jones has uncovered the real reason Stewart was barred from the country: Super-glue.
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Why is Britain's best environmentalist barred from the U.S.?
John Stewart -- not that Jon Stewart, the one with the H -- was voted the U.K.'s most effective environmentalist in 2008. Like our Jon Stewart, he gets things done. So how come his visa was revoked while he was over the Atlantic, traveling to the U.S. for a speaking tour?
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More than 100 tar-sands activists politely arrested in polite Canadian protest
On Monday, at least 400 protestors stormed -- or, more accurately, walked gently up to and tapped on the shoulder -- the Canadian parliament building in Ottawa to protest the Keystone XL pipeline. Over 100 people were arrested, charged with trespassing, and barred from coming near the parliament building for a year. But everybody was REALLY, REALLY POLITE about it.
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Why I’m walking to Walden for Moving Planet
Thoreau wasn’t an environmentalist. That’s why he matters more than ever. Carry on his legacy of civic engagement and activism on Moving Planet day.
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Do individual green actions matter? Maybe not, says New York Times
The Huffington Post's eco-etiquette column yesterday featured a question from “Kimberly,” who writes "I used to be enthusiastic about going green, but now I feel like what's the point? Like a stupid reusable water bottle is going to make a difference…" She got a comforting answer, but if she’d written to the New York Times, op-ed contributor Gernot Wagner might have told her she might as well pack it in.
HuffPo’s advice columnist Jennifer Grayson identified Kimberly’s problem — "You're having a F**k it moment right now" — and told her to step back, take a breather, and "remember that individual actions do make a difference."
But Wagner, an economist with the Environmental Defense Fund, has a different answer for people like Kimberly:
[S]adly, individual action does not work. It distracts us from the need for collective action, and it doesn’t add up to enough. Self-interest, not self-sacrifice, is what induces noticeable change. ...
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Daryl Hannah gives you her [lawyer's] number
Here's Daryl Hannah preparing to be arrested at the Keystone XL protests -- she's writing a contact number, probably for her lawyer, on her arm so she doesn't forget it. And that's a nice hand-lettered sign! Hannah was arrested today outside the White House gates, and I originally was going to lead with that video and title the post "Daryl Hannah in handcuffs" but then I felt dirty about it.
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James Hansen arrested at tar-sands protest
Prominent NASA climate scientist James Hansen, a vocal proponent of climate change action who has long warned about the greenhouse gas effects of tar-sands development, has been arrested while protesting outside the White House. Hansen went down there intending to be arrested, and it worked! So good job, Jim. Hopefully your message gets through.
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Mass Movements in the USA Today
What does it take to build a popular movement that has a chance of succeeding in its objectives? I thought about this a good bit during my recent vacation in the West Virginia mountains. I’ve been personally involved in several mass movements over the course of my adult life: the draft resistance and anti-Vietnam war […]