Archive | August, 2009

Tree Sit Day 6:Treesitters descend, threatened with chainsaw, $50,000 bail

By Scott Parkin, August 31 2009

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Tree Sit Day 6:Treesitters descend, threatened with chainsaw, $50,000 bail

Some pretty crazy goings on in Pettry Bottom, WV. Massey’s security guards were cutting at the trees where Climate Ground Zero’s tree-sitter were sitting. They threatened them with physical assault and verbal abuse. And as one climber, Nick, descended they began to cut his tree which was attached to the other tree-sitters tree. Laura, then [...]

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Verizon Wireless: Sponsoring Mountaintop Removal

By Scott Parkin, August 31 2009

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Verizon Wireless: Sponsoring Mountaintop Removal

Why on earth has Verizon Wireless decided to sponsor a climate-denying, mountain-destroying, union-busting, PRO-MOUNTAINTOP REMOVAL labor day rally being organized by Massey Energy, featuring noted right-wing nutjobs Ted Nugent and Sean Hannity? Massey Energy is the poster-child of mountaintop removal and has been under fire for many years from everything to political corruption to destroying [...]

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Building dams to save the environment

By David Gilbert, August 31 2009

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Building dams to save the environment

Environmental advocates, especially those of us who grew up in the dam ridden West, would never imagine that a dam can actually be a tool to protect a critically threatened ecosystem. But that is exactly what is happening in the Kampar Peninsula of Sumatra, Indonesia. The Kampar Peninsula is under attack from the pulp and [...]

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Tree Sit Day 6:One Tree-Sitter to Descend After Week Defending People from Blasting

By Scott Parkin, August 31 2009

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Tree Sit Day 6:One Tree-Sitter to Descend After Week Defending People from Blasting

After a week of defending people in the Coal River Valley and enduring sleep deprivation tactics at the hands of Massey security, tree-sitter Nick Stocks is descending and turning himself in to the WV State Police. Tree-sitter Laura Steepleton plans to stay put with no immediate plans to leave. The tree-sit above the Coal River [...]

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Headed to Appalachia – How ‘bout You?

By Debra, August 31 2009

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Headed to Appalachia – How ‘bout You?

As organizing director at RAN, I’ve worked to support our campaign to break our addiction to fossil fuels, stop financing for the coal industry and put an end to mountaintop removal coal mining. Now I’m going to see it first-hand. I’ve read a lot about how devastating mountaintop removal mining is for communities in Appalachia. [...]

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Tree Sit Day 5:Blast in KY Sends Boulder into Home While WV Tree Sitters Stop Blasting

By Scott Parkin, August 30 2009

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Tree Sit Day 5:Blast in KY Sends Boulder into Home While WV Tree Sitters Stop Blasting

Day 5 of the Climate Ground Zero Tree Sit. In Kentucky, a MTR blast sent a boulder into a house, in WV they’ve stopped blasting for 5 days straight. Here’s a video with aerial footage of the tree sit and some voice over by Massey CEO Don Blankenship. Blast in KY Sends Boulder into Home; [...]

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What do you do when RBC’s lawyers threaten to sue you?

By Adrian, August 28 2009

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What do you do when RBC’s lawyers threaten to sue you?

Several weeks ago – while we were busy organizing a banner hang at the headquarters of Royal Bank of Canada, the world’s biggest funder of the tar sands – a senior lawyer from RBC faxed us a very polite letter, letting us know that if we didn’t stop using their corporate logo in our campaign [...]

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APRIL, the pulp and paper giant, violates Indonesian laws and community rights

By David Gilbert, August 28 2009

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APRIL, the pulp and paper giant, violates Indonesian laws and community rights

The Kampar peninsula in Riau, Sumatra has become a center of expansion of the pulp and paper industry. Once entirely peat forest and peat swamp habitats, the most carbon rich forests in the world, the Kampar is being rapidly converted to Acacia tree plantations. This month, Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL), one of [...]

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It’s Not Just a T-Shirt, It’s a Career

By Debra, August 27 2009

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It’s Not Just a T-Shirt, It’s a Career

Yesterday, a colleague asked me if I had one of those t-shirts with the little fish ganging up on the big fish. That inspired me to dig it out of my drawer and wear it today. Putting on the t-shirt reminded me of when I bought it – 20 years ago this summer, during my [...]

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West Virginia Tree Sit Day 2

By Scott Parkin, August 26 2009

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West Virginia Tree Sit Day 2

The sun is up and so are the tree sitters. Day two of standing in the way of the destruction of Appalachian mountains and communities begins! See Climate Ground Zero’s Update Feed Here. TREE SIT DETERS BLASTING, ENTERS SECOND DAY AT MASSEY EDWIGHT MINE PETTRY BOTTOM, W.Va. —The two tree sitters forced Massey Energy to [...]

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