Mobilization for Climate Justice

For immediate release November 23, 2009

Contacts:

Kim Marks, Mobilization for Climate Justice, Rising Tide North America (503) 539-7471
Ananda Tan, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), Mobilization for Climate Justice (415) 374-0615

Nationwide Protests in Nine Cities Target Climate Crisis

WHO: Mobilization for Climate Justice (www.actforclimatejustice.org)

A broad and diverse coalition of organizations working for social, environmental, economic and racial justice has come together to call for urgent action on the global climate crisis based on equitable, democratic and science-based solutions.

WHEN: November 30, 2009 (see below)

WHAT: Nationwide protests in cities across the U.S. will take place a week before the beginning of the international UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen, and on the 10th Anniversary of the World Trade Organization protest in Seattle. The world’s major corporations have been dominating international and domestic climate policy – as they did with the international trade policy arena. Activists in major cities around the U.S. are preparing for non-violent direct action against these major climate polluters and their financiers, stating: “Our Climate is Not Their Business!”

Specific Times and Locations:

11 a.m. CST Chicago: Rally at Federal Plaza, marches to the Chicago Climate Exchange, the first and largest carbon trading institution in North America

8:00 a.m. Washington DC: March from US Chamber of Commerce (H St. NW & Connecticut St. NW), to other corporate polluters and their lobbyists.

Nov. 29-Nov. 30 EST Boston “Sleepout” on Boston Commons in front of the State House, followed by morning lobbying and rally at the State House, followed by march to offices of Sen. John Kerry

12 noon EST New York: Rally at Bank of America (16th and 5th Ave. nr Union Sq.); colorful procession with marching band to offices of US CAP member Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) for Speak Out with climate scientist Dr. James Hansen and others. Street theatric to follow.

Maine: Rally in downtown Portland; rally and march in Bangor

12 noon PST Seattle, Washington: Climate! Justice! Assembly, Westlake Park, 401 Pine

3 pm EST Burlington, VT: Davis Student Center at UVM rally, followed by a march to the federal building.

11:30 am PST San Francisco, CA: Justin Herman Plaza rally, followed by a march to Bank of America, 345 Montgomery St. where non-violent civil disobedience will take place

WHY:

With world leaders converging in Copenhagen in early December for global UN climate negotiations, the people hit hardest by this crisis and least responsible for its cause-working class, Indigenous and people of color communities around the world-have been systematically excluded and are demanding a voice at this table. The world’s major climate polluters continue to exert their influence over these negotiations through armies of paid lobbyists, in order to protect their profits and prevent any meaningful climate solutions. These corporations are pushing false solutions, including “clean coal”, nuclear energy, bio-fuels and carbon markets, which delay urgent emissions reductions, threaten ecosystems and subsidize the construction of more toxic industries in the backyards of the poor. The Mobilization for Climate Justice calls carbon marketing a “commodification of the commons, patently fraudulent, unjust and ineffective.”

The protests are directed at those corporations and financial institutions driving the climate crisis and obstructing meaningful reform in Washington as in Copenhagen.