In line with the government’s election campaign promise of a better Ghana Agenda, licences are given to multinational companies to mine in our forest reserves without proper consideration of its consequences after submitting a signed “Statement of Policies on Natural Resource and Environment,’’ to the European Commission.

These multinational mining companies use their money and power to deceive our leaders to allow them mine in our forest reserve after they have destroyed the off reserves areas in the country by polluting water bodies, violating human rights, and intimidating communities.

Many of our forest reserves across the country are home to endangered species of plants and animals, in addition to containing precious minerals like gold, diamond and bauxites which the mining companies have targeted for their activities. Examples include Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District where a mining company from Australia has started their operation, Agyenuapepo Forest Reserve in the Birim North area of the Eastern Region, and Newmont Limited who want to mine royal cemeteries in the Akyem Kotoku Traditional area.

The mining companies intimidate communities by using violence that results in death of  Indigenous youth. In this year, at least seven or more death of community people have being recorded. Newmont Limited polluted several communities’ water bodies and kept it secret from the communities and the government until a local NGO raised the issue.

These mining corporations are ready to pay their way out to have whatever they want, however we cannot rule out the payment of bribery by these mining companies to our leaders,  since they protect their interest.  These mining companies falsified documents claiming that the Indigenous communities have agreed with the mining activities in their area.

RAN Ghana would challenge any mining corporations that destroy the environment and violate human rights of Indigenous mining communities especially the youth who end being killed. We would also subject for advocacy in this direction to ensure that human rights of mining communities are not trampled on.

Finally, I would like to call on the government to stop granting mining concessions to these mining companies particularly in forest reserve.

Now comes news that ACORN is shutting down their operations. In case you don’t remember, ACORN became the Republican party’s target of choice in branding then-candidate Obama as a radical community organizer. Not surprisingly, the high-profile slurs and accusations had the desired impact on ACORN’s bottom line and made it impossible for them to go on (although affiliates in New York and California will continue to operate under new names).

While I mourn the passing of this steadfast advocate for fair, affordable housing, I’m reminded of the immortal words of Joe Hill, “Don’t waste time mourning, organize!”

And that got me thinking about the US Social Forum (USSF) coming up in Detroit this June. The USSF seeks to build “a powerful multi-racial, multi-sectoral, inter-generational,
diverse, inclusive, internationalist movement that transforms this country and changes history.” It’s an opportunity for movements to come together and collaborate on strategies to create a society that won’t tolerate racism and homophobia, that recognizes housing as a basic human right, and that protects the interests of people, communities and the planet we all rely on. Sounds like something we could really use right about now!

Overall, the report is impressively broad in scope. Unfortunately, it neglects to examine the climate impact of deforestation for food production. I wonder how that would add to the carbon footprint of the average American diet – quite a bit, I’d expect!

A Cargill Oil Palm Plantation - Photo Greenpeace PNG

Still, the authors’ recommendations for reducing your carbon “foodprint” are sound – and they would also contribute to reducing deforestation for food production:
• Eat fewer animals and more plants
• Buy unprocessed foods with less packaging
• Grow and harvest your own food
• Minimize car trips to restaurants and stores
• Cook at home more and eat out less
• Cook with efficient appliances and techniques
• Compost, recycle, and relish leftovers

Isn’t it nice that the same steps that are good for our health and our budget will also help the planet?

Yesterday, I learned that the state Land and Survey Department demolished 25 homes in Sebauh, near the city of Bintulu (on Malaysian Borneo). The state claims that the homes were illegally built on state land, but the department moved forward with the destruction despite the fact that the community’s land rights claim is still pending in the courts. (Sarawak’s legal system is bogged down with such cases, and they drag on for years. Our fact-finding team found multiple instances where homes or crops were demolished despite on-going legal disputes.)

The now homeless community members report that state officials intentionally destroyed all of their possessions during the demolition. In response, about a hundred community members have set up a blockade to prevent the rest of their homes from being bulldozed.

We’ll continue to monitor this situation and let you know what you can do to help. In the meantime, this is another reminder that we need to make sure that any palm oil that goes into the products we buy is produced in a manner that respects both the environment and human rights. Go to TheProblemWithPalmOil.org to take action and learn more.

It was December 2nd, and the weather looked very bright as the sun rose and the breeze blew from the ocean side towards the Accra International Conference Center, the venue of the 2009 National Climate Change Forum.

As the delegates arrived at the venue to kick start the talk, I talked with some of the delegates about their expectations. I was not very impressed with their answers. It looked to me like a lot of them don’t have any plan ahead of the National Climate Change forum. At about 9:58 am, the Vice President H.E. John Dramani Mahama arrived at the venue, but prior to his arrival was the Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ms. Sherry Ayittey and other dignitaries.

Ghana's National Climate Change Forum

The Event started on a very soft note with an opening prayer, followed by the introduction of the Chairman for the occasion. The theme for the event was Climate Change: Everybody’s Concern. At the end of the forum, most of the speakers’ views were centered on the negotiation position that the COP-15 summit in Copenhagen should result in developed countries providing money to the developing countries to help them reduce their own emissions.

I was not fully in support of that idea – or rather, I didn’t think it was sufficient. As RAN Ghana works to protect our environment and human rights issues, we believed that Climate change has great significance for sustainable development plans, life and livelihoods in Ghana and across Africa. Many developing countries, including Ghana, are unable to cope with current climate variability, let alone cope with the medium and longer-term impacts of projected changes. Floods and droughts, Food Supply, Human Health, Settlements and Infrastructure, Desertification, Water Resource, Natural Resource Management and Biodiversity for example, continue to challenge the success of poverty reduction programs since relief and rehabilitation effort reduce budget, which sometimes received huge financial support from developed countries, that should have been used for developmental purposes. The developed countries should not only make available financial and technical assistance for developing countries but, they themselves should also cut down their greenhouse gas emission so that the money and assistance can go a long way to help mitigate the problem of climate change.

RAN Ghana representatives at the Climate Change Forum

As tropical forests around the world continue to be endangered by unsustainable logging practices, climate change and the expansion of agribusiness, now is a critically important time to stand up for rainforests! Please plan to join our celebration of the forests by taking action to support these global treasures and ensure that future generations will benefit from the clean air, biodiversity and climate control that rainforests provide.

Here are some ideas on ways to celebrate World Rainforest Week. Please let us know how you plan to celebrate in the comments below!

Hold a movie screening and discussion showing the documentary “Green”: Green tells a moving story about the corporate conversion of rainforests in Indonesia for palm oil, tropical wood and paper through the eyes of a dying orangutan. As you may already know, almost 90% of orangutan habitat has already disappeared. If current trends of deforestation continue, the orangutan will be extinct in the near future.

Green can be downloaded for free at http://greenfilm.free.fr/. Register your screening by contacting Hillary@ran.org, and we’ll send you discussion questions and some tips for a successful movie night.

Gather petition signatures demanding that Cargill adopt and implement a global forest policy. Our petition can be downloaded at http://action.ran.org/images/a/ac/Cargill_Petition.pdf. And you can find more information about Cargill’s role in rainforest destruction for palm oil plantations and download factsheets at http://action.ran.org/index.php/Cargill. (Please return all signed petitions to RAN!)

Be a rainforest educator: We have lesson plans and fun activity ideas for children of all ages! Whether you’re a teacher, a student, or someone with an urge to increase awareness among your friends or community members, you can help protect the rainforests with our educational materials.

Blog for the Rainforests!: Write a post about World Rainforest Week for any blogs that you’re part of (and send us the links!). Tell friends on Facebook and other social networks.

Not all rainforests are tropical: The coastal rainforests of British Columbia are one of very few temperate rainforests in the world. However, the Northern Gateway pipeline, proposed by Enbridge, is a huge threat to this ancient forest. The pipeline would carry dirty tar sands oil from Alberta to Kitimat, a little town at the end of a beautiful inlet on BC’s coast that is surrounded by spectacular old-growth rainforests. If this pipeline is built, massive oil tankers from the Western U.S. and Asia will plow through the narrow coastal inlets to load up oil in Kitimat, where an oil spill would spell catastrophe for the Great Bear Rainforest. Click here to learn more about how tar sands development is threatening Canada’s temperate rainforests.

Donate (or hold a fundraiser) to celebrate World Rainforest Week by supporting RAN’s work to protect rainforests.

Those are our ideas. What do you suggest?

Have a happy World Rainforest Week!

Since the colonial time, the Indigenous people of Pokuase have depended on their Forest reserve, more than any other Indigenous group in Ghana. Everything about the Pokuase, including their cultural, rituals and portable drinking water, had been influenced by the rainforest. However, in the last years since corporate developers first moved to the area, the Indigenous people of Pokuase had suffered from various diseases through the contamination of their stream, forceful repression for trying to protect their forest reserve and lack of support in their struggle.

In the past, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognized the unique value of Pokuase culture and the Gua Koo forest reserve by declaring that the Pokuase “have long rich history of their natural environment, as evidenced by their strong tie with the Sunkwa stream.”

RAN Ghana members with Pokuase youth

The survival of the Pokuase hinges on their ability to gain control of and sustainably manage their own traditional territory. To support the Pokuase’s struggle for Gua Koo Forest reserve and Sunkwa stream, RAN Ghana carried out an assessment, met with the traditional authority and the Indigenous people and also educated the community at a forum. RAN Ghana is also strategizing campaigns to organize with the Pokuase to keep encroachers away, build the capacity of the traditional authority and youth to protect the forest, institute environmentally friendly alternative projects and demarcation of the forest reserve.

RAN Ghana members visit a portion of the destroyed and cleared Pokuase forest reserve that the Indigenous people are struggling to protect

RAN Ghana's John F. Akwetey speaks at the Pokuase forum

Larry Gibson

Larry was preparing for a big Labor Day party, and he was fairly certain there would be violence. He had hung a “Coal keeps West Virginia poor” sign on the patio, right next to his “Friends of the Mountains” sign, and when we arrived he noticed it had been torn down. He was clearly shaken because he hadn’t noticed that anyone had entered his property. While we were there, he put in calls to try to arrange security for the upcoming event, but he didn’t sound hopeful that the police would be of any help. In fact, he has had no call backs for his request for state law enforcement support. Since the incident on the 4th the State Troopers came once to see what the fuss was about, didn’t take a statement and did not give Larry their names when he asked.

Because of his activism, Larry has experienced 136 acts of violence. His property and neighbors’ property has been shot up (we saw bullet holes), and his dog was hung on his porch and almost killed.

In June, Larry was arrested along with Daryl Hannah, climatologist Jim Hansen, RAN Executive Director Michael Brune and dozens of Coal River Valley residents in a protest to stop mountaintop removal. Larry plead not guilty and he’s looking forward to making his case before a jury and the public. He holds the state and law enforcement in contempt and wants to tell the world.

When I made a blog post earlier in my trip, somebody kindly suggested that I take a hike (I believe he recommended Afghanistan). Since I was in Appalachia, I went for brief hike with Larry and my friends. He took us up the hill past some his cousins’ homes to a mountaintop removal site. He told us about how he felt the blasts when they blew up the mountain (it’s more than 400 feet shorter than it used to be). And he told us that the 310 year old cemetery where his family is buried slid over a high wall, and he can’t get there anymore. At the time, he was negotiating with the company to try to save it. It was against the law to destroy it, “but who cares?”

MTR site near Larry's property

While below-ground mines used to employ more than 500 workers, the massive mine behind Larry’s property employs all of 19 people. And since Massey isn’t a union company, the miners make about $12/hour (union workers typically make twice that). Hardly the stuff you’d want to base an entire economy on. Larry also disputes claims that MTR is so much safer than underground mining. This year, they’ve already lost nine people in mining accidents, and six were from surface mining.

The biggest industries in West Virginia are mining, Walmart and tourism, in that order. Larry says that the Governor simply won’t pursue other industries because the coal company wants to keep wages down and have its pick of the workers.

Larry fully expects to lose his life in this battle, but he won’t stop. He says it’s not about being brave, it’s about being right. His message to the rest of us: If it can happen here with coal, it can happen anywhere else in this country where there’s something of value that somebody can make money from. It’s our fight too. We need to take a stand.

Maria Gunnoe

Maria is an animal person and lives with rescued cats and dogs and once fostered an injured deer. Around 2000 she noticed that frogs, once ubiquitous in the fields in front of her home, had started disappearing. The field used to be so loud with croaking that you couldn’t hold a conversation, but not anymore. She soon found out that the stream running by her home carried polluted run-off from a blast site.

Maria showed us one spot (among several) where trees had been clear cut within sight of her home. In this particular spot, the contractor had not spoken English and deforested the wrong location. She was very concerned about the number of foreign workers being brought in to do very dangerous work. She said they’re often unaccounted for. The coal company puts them up in tents and pays them “scraps.”

She spoke about how several family cemeteries are currently being destroyed by mountaintop removal. Her group went in and marked off the required 100 foot buffer zone around three cemeteries, and the coal company moved the markers. The cemeteries are in the company’s permit zone, so people who want to visit gravesites, including family visiting loved ones, must make arrangements with the coal company, pay for a safety training and purchase a hard hat and hard-toed boots. She took us up to see a cemetery site, but the coal company had blocked off the access road and the only way in meant probable arrest. So much for paying our respects.

As vulnerable as the cemeteries are, they’re about all that’s left of Lindytown. Over the past year, the town has been systematically de-populated and now there are just a few occupied homes remaining. Many of the homes that are left have been vandalized and looted, allegedly by mine employees encouraged by Massey.

Massey offered everybody $25,000 to give up their land and sign away any future right to sue the company. Some sold then, others held out and saw a lawyer. The coal company then came back and asked those who remained what it would take to get them to sell. The hold-outs got at least twice that amount and sometimes more. One lifelong resident suffered a heart attack on her moving day, and died as she prepared to move for the first time in her life.

Today, we arrived in Lindytown in time to meet Laura Webb, as her friends packed up her house and got her ready to move two hours away. Laura doesn’t want to move, and she’s furious at what the coal companies are doing to her community. She faced threats and intimidation before she agreed to sell her land. And even after signing a contract, her horse was killed and a truck knocked out her phone lines. She’s mad as hell – and just moving further away isn’t going to stop her from speaking her mind. But right now, Laura’s primary concern is safely relocating her life, her family, her property and the animals she’s rescued to the new property before Massey decides she’s taken too long and denies her further access to her property.

Laura’s friend Bob was helping her move. He told us this is the second time in 10 years he’s been relocated by the coal company. He also told us that Massey mines aren’t even union. He used to live in Blair, where the union wars took place and he talked about the bitter irony of that historical site being destroyed by a non-union mining company.

Laura is a plant person, and she’s nurtured many rare and endemic plants on her land. Some are underground now, so she can’t relocate them. I also saw her well-tended garden with the ripening tomatoes that will likely never be eaten.

When the mountains are blown up, they’re “reclaimed” by being sprayed with hydroseed – a mix of grass seed, newspaper and green dye). It’s not native grass and it has no nutritional value for wildlife. Most of the plants they use on reclaimed lands are invasive. The reclaimed land tends to shift and ends up in streams, so that invasive plants now line the streams.

The coal companies clearly have no concern about the repercussions of their blasts. Maria showed us a picture of a 100 pound rock that blasted down a mountain near her house and onto the road where her son rides his motorbike. Laura told us about a massive boulder dislodged by a bulldozer that rolled through a house and crushed a 3 year-old child.

People in the community are suffering the health effects of the toxins in the air. The very toxins that miners wear masks to protect themselves from, the community is directly exposed to. Maria suffers from frequent nosebleeds and everybody she knows has health problems. As Maria said, “You know it’s destroying beautiful places and clean water, but at first you’re naïve enough to think there’s no health impact.” But they live in a cancer cluster now. Last year, a 13 year-old died of cancer.

And it’s not just the air – the water’s poisoned too. The emissions coming from the polluted streams are dangerous. And not everyone can afford to buy bottled drinking water.

Maria’s under an incredible amount of stress speaking out against mountaintop removal in coal country. But she says “My friends live here. The people against me drive through here.” She told us about being at a convenience store with a bunch of Massey employees when it started to rain. The workers couldn’t get out of there fast enough – they were scared to death of being caught in the rain when flash floods can sweep people away, destroy bridges and make survival questionable. Even though they won’t admit it, they know the risks that mountaintop removal brings to this community.

But it’s not all bad, she told us about a being in a supermarket when a man shouted out “I work for Massey coal and I support Maria Gunnoe 110%!” It was nice reminder for her that not even all of the coal workers are against her.

Maria describes this as a cultural genocide and a look at the legal definition makes us wonder where the United Nations is, or Amnesty, or anyone who could stop the destruction of this region and its people.

Judy told us about how she was the eighth generation of her family to live in Appalachia. She told us about how Appalachians have a tradition called “tending the commons,” which meant taking care of the hills and the hollers for the common good. It was a traditional practice for people to help spread ginseng seeds (and other medicinal herbs) so that the “’seng” would propagate on down the mountain. Someone had a question about this on my last blog post, and yes, according to Judy there were absentee landholders who did hold legal rights to these lands and ultimately sold them to the coal companies. When the coal companies put up fences everywhere, this practice (and the abundance of ginseng) was brought to a halt.

West Virginia still grows half of all of the ginseng currently sold in the world, but the incredibly lucrative plant isn’t nearly as prevalent as it used it be. Appalachia is also home to many other medicinal herbs, including black cohosh and goldenseal. There’s a real treasure trove of herbs that grow at higher altitudes on the mountains that are being destroyed. In addition, Appalachia has more than 150 different types of trees – it’s the seed source for many varieties of trees in North America.

Judy told us she was working as a waitress when they first started blowing the mountains up. She told us about Appalachians’ connection to the landscape and told us that walking through the holler makes you feel like you’re being hugged by the mountain. She described walking through the holler with daughter, while her grandson played in a nearby stream. Suddenly, her grandson called out “What’s wrong with these fish?” and held up a dead fish in each hand. Judy immediately started yelling “get out of the water!”

That’s when it clicked for her that, if the fish were being poisoned, the land and the people must also be experiencing some serious side effects. Since then, she’s been speaking out against the destruction of the Appalachian landscape and culture.

It hasn’t been easy for her. Since she started this work, her life has been threatened and she’s been run off the road so many times that she won’t drive with her kids in the car. Despite the incredibly stress and constant threats to her property, her family and her life, Judy isn’t going to quit. She’s fighting for everybody’s life and health, and for the culture they share.

I was also very moved when Judy told us how much she appreciated RAN’s work to stop mountaintop removal. She said that the corporate campaigning to cut off the financing, our support for local actions and our efforts to raise the profile of the issue beyond Appalachia were all helping. I was very glad to hear that, but I left feeling such a deep sense of awe and appreciation at everything this woman and Coal River Mountain Watch are doing to protect their homes, their communities and their culture.

The t-shirt I got at Coal River Mountain Watch sums it up so well: “Save the Endangered Hillbilly: Stop Mountaintop Removal.

The first thing that you notice: It is truly beautiful here. Appalachia is green and lush and mountainous and it seems like it goes on forever. And then… it doesn’t. What we couldn’t see from the roadway was apparent from the air. Mountaintop removal coal mining is tearing a hole in the heart of this beautiful forest. In fact, it’s tearing lots of holes. Everywhere we looked, we saw another ugly sore on the landscape – coal mining operations or areas that have been blasted out that aren’t even being mined yet.

MTR sites in Appalachia

In the afternoon, we had a wonderful visit with Judy Bonds from Coal River Mountain Watch . She told us how she was the eighth generation of her family to live in Appalachia and about how Appalachians have always been connected to the landscape and cared for the commons – until the coal companies came in and laid claim to all of the commons. She had so many important things to say and stories to tell, and if Branden doesn’t write about it, I’ll tell you some of it tomorrow. Now it’s after midnight and we’re meeting with Goldman Prize-winner Maria Gunnoe in the morning, so I’d better call it a day.

Oh, by the way, we stopped by Climate Ground Zero and heard that the tree-sitters’ bail was reduced from $25,000 each to $1000, and the two of them were on their way over to the Climate Ground Zero house this evening after spending a night enjoying the relative peace and quiet of their jail cell.

While two tree-sitters sat in jail waiting for bail to be set (ultimately reported at $25,000 each (!) for misdemeanor charges). We heard about how Massey workers set up a 24-hour vigil to harass, threaten and even torture the two. Workers reportedly set off various types of extremely loud noises at irregular intervals to make it impossible for the tree sitters to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time. We were told that they cut down nearby trees and took a chainsaw to the trees that the sitters were in (stopping short of cutting them down while the sitters were still there).

The more I saw and heard, the more I experienced déjà vu. This trip to Appalachia has so many similarities to my fact finding trip last year to visit to Indigenous communities impacted by palm oil plantations in Malaysia. How so?
• Both are (or were) beautiful forested areas with flowing rivers and thriving local cultures.
• Both are being exploited for the benefit of corporations that promise a good living to community members, but don’t deliver.
• Rivers are being polluted and community members are left with toxic fish to eat.
• Bottled water is the only safe choice.
• Both are company towns (or states), where local government bends over backwards to contort the law to favor the industry over the people, where local police offer no protection, and where local media won’t say a word against the company.
• Both are home to determined people standing up against all odds to save their communities and their heritage.
• People in both areas face trumped up charges, excessive bail and other systematic controls designed to scare off others from speaking out.
• Above all, both of them need our help!

If you can make it to Appalachia to support the struggle, go! If you can’t, help expose what’s going on by writing about, telling your friends, doing a classroom presentation, etc. And tell the EPA that it’s time to stop this horrible practice once and for all!

It’s comforting to think that what’s happening in Malaysia couldn’t happen in a “mature democracy” like the USA. Think again.

I’ve read a lot about how devastating mountaintop removal mining is for communities in Appalachia. I’ve seen pictures of sites that were once beautiful mountains and are now hideous, open sores on the landscape. I’ve cheered on efforts to save Coal River Mountain and turn it into a wind farm that would produce renewable energy instead of just a one-time carb fix. I’ve even seen a jar of the disgustingly murky water that runs from the faucet in coal-country (didn’t you think the U.S. had national standards for drinking water?). And I’ve heard stories first-hand from community members who are fighting to save their homes and their heritage, most recently in an inspiring and infuriating panel at Netroots Nation where the speakers strongly encouraged bloggers and others to come out and see what’s happening for themselves.

When I heard their invitation, I already had my ticket. When I read the call-out for people to come to Appalachia to support the tree-sitters who have temporarily stopped blasting at a Massey site, I was boarding a train to the airport. I don’t know at this point where the tree-sit will fit in with our plans (I hear that they’re arresting anyone who tries to get near them.). I’m certainly hoping that the tree-sitters will still be safely in place and that I’ll have a chance to show some support. I’ll find out when I get there.

I’m not sure when – or if- I’ll have internet access during the visit, but I’ll keep on typing and post what I can when I can. Stay tuned!

(PS – my flight out of SFO was delayed, and I missed my connection and wound up spending the night in Chicago, so I won’t be meeting up with my traveling companions until later this afternoon.)

I was working at Michigan Citizens Lobby as a regional organizer and part-time canvasser, working to stop the cost overruns from the Fermi II nuclear plant from getting passed on to consumers and for increased access to health care (yes, we’ve been fighting that particular battle for more than two decades). That summer, I had an opportunity to go to a gathering where I picked up the t-shirt. Dolores Huerta was a featured speaker, and she set me on the course I would follow for a lifetime. When she got us shouting “Si se puede!” there was no doubt it was true!

Now we’ve got a community organizer in the White House, and I still can’t imagine a better career path. After 20 years, I still get excited about working every day to effect change, and I also get to train and support new activists as they get their first taste of the power and thrill that comes from seeing that we really can make a difference. What a joy!

Earth Balance’s parent company Ventura Foods is one of Cargill’s biggest customers. And Cargill is the largest importer of rainforest-destroying palm oil into the U.S. More than 300 activists signed a petition urging Ventura Foods to stop purchasing palm oil from Cargill until that company makes a commitment to end rainforest destruction for palm oil plantations. Let’s hope Ventura Foods listens and puts some pressure on Cargill to shape up!

Check out the pictures of 100 or so of these activists sending a message to Earth Balance!

Activists at Animal Rights 2009 send a message to Earth Balance

Students for Peace & Justice invited me out to participate in their Procession for the Future weekend of workshops and speakers and, of course, the procession itself with amazing giant puppets that the Backbone Campaign is taking on tour around the country.

On Friday, I spoke to a civic engagement class at Naropa University and attended an evening event with inspirational activist poetry and prose by Margaret Randall and others.

Saturday, I met with friends at Global Response and learned about their campaign to stop Walmart from Greenwashing their “Love, Earth” gold, which in reality comes from mines established on Western Shoshone traditional territory without their consent, spewing toxins into the air and water and scaring away the wildlife that the community relies on for sustenance.

Then I attended a workshop with Matt Bear from Nonviolence United who used chocolate bars to provide a simple, effective and delicious lesson on how environmental, human rights and animal issues are all completely interconnected. Hmmm, just like the Walmart gold issue.

I gave a workshop on Strategic Corporate Campaigning, talking about how to plan and implement a markets-based campaign, like RAN’s current campaigns. Students for Peace & Justice recently launched a campaign against Lockheed, so I was happy to be able to give them some pointers.

That evening, we had a wonderful dinner hosted by a vegan coop. It was truly inspiring to be surrounded by so many people committed to living a sustainable, compassionate life and making the world a better place!

On Sunday, the weather (mostly) cooperated for an outdoor event with local activist groups, speakers and workshops on creative activism. I talked about false solutions to our energy and climate crisis, and about the real solutions that start with activism and with demanding that our energy choices are based in sustainability and respect for community health and rights. Once again, it’s so clear how all of our issues are completely interconnected.

Now I’m heading home, maybe a little sunburned, but mostly inspired by all of the smart, dedicated people I met during my time in Boulder and excited to see what they do next!

The RAN Activists in West Bengal have pledged to save the river. As a part of the campaign, pressure groups across West Bengal have decided to hold rallies to submit charters listing the demand of RAN to the state and Central Government.

Rather, it’s going to take each and every one of us coming together again and again to sustain the hope and courage that we feel today.

The world is celebrating the inauguration of Barack Obama and anticipating a bold agenda for change during his first 100 days in office.

So today I have a question for you: What’s your agenda for the next 100 days?

I hope that over the next 100 days you’ll make climate activism a part of your agenda — and join me in three major efforts that will help to stop global warming, protect tropical forests, and promote the rights of communities.

First, I hope you will come to Powershift 2009 for four days beginning February 27. This will be the largest conference this year for people of all ages to join forces to promote solutions to the climate crisis.

Sign up today and join RAN’s numerous events, workshops and trainings.

Immediately following Powershift, on March 2, join thousands of people in an historic act of civil disobedience at the Capitol Power Plant — a plant that powers Congress with dirty energy, and symbolizes a past that cannot be our future.

Then, on April 1, keep the momentum going with Fossil Fools Day — an international effort to break our addiction to fossil fuels through dozens of activities and actions. You can get all the updates by joining RAN’s Freedom From Oil Rapid Responder list.

Finally, you can help us launch a new initiative to bust the myth of industrial agrofuels as a “renewable” fuel. The best way to make sure you get the earliest word on this launch is to become a Rainforest Agribusiness rapid responder.

So again, I ask, what are you doing for the next 100 days? I know that with your help, we can use the hope and courage we’re feeling today to overcome the challenges threatening our climate, our forests and our communities.

In truth, ACORN represents one of the best efforts to build and protect true democracy (of the people, by the people and for the people) in this country. Founded in 1970 to unite welfare recipients and working people to address shared issues, the organization registered more than 1.3 million disenfranchised, low income voters this year. During the Reagan years, ACORN took on the housing crisis with a squatting campaign to get low- and moderate-income people into vacant houses and fix them up, with neighborhood approval. Fifteen thousand ACORN members and allies established “Reagan Ranches” in over 35 cities, building tent cities to symbolize the homelessness Reagan’s policies created. ACORN continues to work for housing rehabilitation and other reforms to meet the need for fair, affordable housing.

So what’s the truth about the voter fraud allegations? There was none. Nobody ever tried to cast a vote improperly. A handful of the 13,000 people ACORN hired to register voters got lazy and turned in falsified registration forms. ACORN’s quality-control process flagged those registration forms as bogus and turned them in to state officials (as required by law) with a note identifying the suspected problems. Sounds like a pretty laudable operation to me.

When political campaigns on either side attempt to paint legitimate grassroots organizing and voter registration efforts as something tainted, we need to speak up. Community organizations are the bedrock of our democratic system – go out and support one today!

The multigenerational rally included women in their seventies and a baby attending his second protest. Speakers from City Life/Vida Urbana talked about how Bank of America’s irresponsible lending practices have led to a wave of home evictions in Boston, while other speakers called for Bank of America to take responsibility for the social and environmental impacts of its financing. Participants carried signs with the message “Not with Our Money,” bearing pictures of coal power plants, tar sands, and foreclosed homes. Passersby were overwhelmingly supportive and took hundreds of pieces of literature.

After rallying in front of BofA, we marched and danced our way around the corner to the Citi bank branch. Waiting for us were four young activists who had chained themselves in front of the bank to temporarily shut down one branch and send a clear message that we will not stop until the bank stops funding dirty energy and starts investing in sustainable alternatives and community solutions. We kept up the music, chants and songs as police arrested the four. It was a first arrest for each of them, and they looked calm and strong as police unlocked them and took them into custody. They’re still in custody as I write this, and some of the demonstrators have stationed themselves outside of the police station to show their support.

It’s inspiring to see more and more people taking up the call for real solutions to our financial and climate crisis. As peaceful protests spread across the country and increasing numbers of people get involved, I look forward to more afternoons like this one spent with ever-larger crowds of people who can see a better future and won’t stop until we get there.

For more pics, visit our Flickr page, or check out articles and video from the Harvard Crimson, the Cambridge Chronicle and Boston’s Fox TV 25.

UPDATE:

Click here for information on how you can participate in the November 14-15 National Day of Action Against Coal & Coal Finance.