The IRS Scandal: Shaking Constitutional Freedoms

At first glance, it may seem like another annoying addition to the scandal du jour list: yesterday, Attorney General Eric Holder acknowledged that the Justice Department and FBI began a criminal investigation on whether Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees broke the law when they targeted conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status–using search terms such as “tea [...]

Continue reading...

Dear Exxon, We’re Sick of Your Spin Machine. With No Love, America.

Is anyone else paying attention to the tweets that Exxon-Mobil have posted following the aftermath of the Mayflower, Arkansas oil spill? Frustratingly—and not surprisingly—Exxon has issued a hollow apology “for the inconvenience” to the town of Mayflower for spilling over 80,000 gallons of oil that cascaded through the streets of this small town last Friday: [...]

Continue reading...

North Carolina Ups the Ante on Climate Protests

In case you haven’t seen it yet, the North Carolina Legislature has ratified a law that makes trespass on a power generating utility property a felony. My takeaway from this bit of news? This is how effective direct action in the climate movement is becoming: they’re trying to outlaw it. And no wonder. In the [...]

Continue reading...

Vote 4 Energy: Brought to You By The American Petroleum Institute

The American Petroleum Institute wants you (and the politicians it buys) to Vote 4 Energy in 2012. Our friends at Greenpeace describe API’s new ad campaign: “Vote 4 Energy attempts to show ‘real Americans’ who are ‘energy voters,’ meaning they are committing to vote for whichever politicians support Big Oil’s dirty agenda in this election [...]

Continue reading...

This Week In DC, The Outcry For Climate Solutions Has Become An Uproar

Last fall, Bill McKibben, Phil Radford and I issued a letter calling on people of conscience to take direct action to amplify the demands of the climate movement. Of course, we were far from the only people making that call — the outcry for solutions to the climate catastrophe looming over us has been loud [...]

Continue reading...

Cure Your Summertime Blues With Coal Action Camp

It’s going to be some hot business this summer, and we ain’t talkin about the triple digit heat wave hitting much of the country. There is a rebellious spirit sweeping the U.S.A. as people are fighting back against the fossil fuel industry from coast to coast. We all know about the big tar sands to-do [...]

Continue reading...

What is Sustainable Palm Oil? Part Two

The first blog post in this series explored the environmental, social, transparency and enforcement weaknesses of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), the dominant certification standard for palm oil companies. This post examines the colorful spectrum of positions on “sustainable” palm oil, from environmental advocacy and conservation groups to scientists and industry groups. Organizations [...]

Continue reading...

Who is Using All the Rainforest?

UPDATE: On October 11, 2012, Disney announced a comprehensive paper policy that maximizes its use of environmentally superior papers like recycled and eliminates controversial sources like those connected to Indonesian rainforest destruction. For more info, visit www.ran.org/disney. “We got to wondering…who is using all the rainforest that is being destroyed in Indonesia?” - “Toying With Forest Destruction” video [...]

Continue reading...

What is Sustainable Palm Oil? Part One

What is Sustainable Palm Oil? Part one of a three-part series. Palm oil has become an increasingly hot topic over the last year. This thick, long-lasting oil is found in almost half of all consumer goods sold in grocery stores and it is also a main driver of rainforest destruction in Indonesia and Malaysia. As [...]

Continue reading...

Disney’s Ties to Rainforest Destruction Exposed…Again

UPDATE: On October 11, 2012, Disney announced a comprehensive paper policy that maximizes its use of environmentally superior papers like recycled and eliminates controversial sources like those connected to Indonesian rainforest destruction. For more info, visit www.ran.org/disney. Over a year ago, I went to my local San Francisco bookstore to pick up some children’s books for RAN’s Rainforest-Free [...]

Continue reading...