HOPE

This category deals with alliances that bridge the ideological divide, see also effective counter-measures

fixed? all blk guard uk --> xxx

high leverage, potential to scale?

===<h1 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: rgb(26, 26, 26); font-family: "SF Compact Display", -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; line-height: 1.16em; margin: 1em 0px 0.625em;">good</h1>This week, in TIME magazine, <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUNuOhCAM_Rp5G8NFGXzgQTe7v2EQqkMG0GDdjX-6CRN25ymPT3HGoRlzafe1h3JsUMevdP8KWnXUeJ045hqFfH7OGeAaHzQmA8g2zEFbw36Nd0LlCny0pIZMFSoRhihlOSKd-wp3TyrmYmJtuRiGc3hPCQLGn4hn2sCEvQLcdsr0Vf8pwT6CLVdY2lbKTvKeels8LF8-7AvkxZ4cNrSghJ_kXe0Y6LkltKa1e3w1fdDIyT_7gfWD1VD48Lr_Zh2NPZ9XSZZbwajfTNRpssl7IaLrrHUeCSP5wjJTAHcRzJ-PLol4LmBTvC3B0CE_AGLD4xJ1bWkMLm13EzaQYblCLdR6c7_77R6Og" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUNuOhCAM_Rp5G8NFGXzgQTe7v2EQqkMG0GDdjX-6CRN25ymPT3HGoRlzafe1h3JsUMevdP8KWnXUeJ045hqFfH7OGeAaHzQmA8g2zEFbw36Nd0LlCny0pIZMFSoRhihlOSKd-wp3TyrmYmJtuRiGc3hPCQLGn4hn2sCEvQLcdsr0Vf8pwT6CLVdY2lbKTvKeels8LF8-7AvkxZ4cNrSghJ_kXe0Y6LkltKa1e3w1fdDIyT_7gfWD1VD48Lr_Zh2NPZ9XSZZbwajfTNRpssl7IaLrrHUeCSP5wjJTAHcRzJ-PLol4LmBTvC3B0CE_AGLD4xJ1bWkMLm13EzaQYblCLdR6c7_77R6Og&source=gmail&ust=1568578125130000&usg=AFQjCNGzhjpzW8DFVIt0X2m9MhG5z44E5w" style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">journalist-turned-climate-activist Bill McKibben describes</a> how the world could look by mid-century if the collective we confront climate change head-on in the next few years.While we’re not “getting out of this unscathed,” McKibben describes paths forward after 2020 that are just as potentially politically achievable as doing nothing or not doing enough.McKibben’s vision of the positive and possible is a welcome change from recent, despairing climate forecasts by public intellectuals — from <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkM2OhCAQhJ9muGnAv5EDB93svoZpoUfJIBpox_j2i05CqkMRqOLTQDit4VTbGontEcNgjSqeDZeSM6MqI9q6ZTYOr4C4gHWKwo5s20dnNZBd_X2Bi5bNCkBiW-lWFi2vOZTlE0b5HEeo6xIaadiVMsBuLHqNCj8YztUjc2om2uKj7B7FX1rHceT-JLtgzPW6JCcFyDR4eUmTZFzXd0wz4Mfike3e-hlGSzA6zBACzZmzL8zgRRiyA8Ji_ZQZ-FiTds6BxuxA52I-0-KYvb4guRRl0przXOR1_9N1fVU2xW_Xi65_VHyZijzuYyTQ76sYC2oDWvRblOl0uvDcdqIzpLmkVnQO6K9S5guOvqRvEHRuqDwe0SGlll8z0RSiaWXNUpJZ05teGQw47e7G7W_9BxNilcY" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkM2OhCAQhJ9muGnAv5EDB93svoZpoUfJIBpox_j2i05CqkMRqOLTQDit4VTbGontEcNgjSqeDZeSM6MqI9q6ZTYOr4C4gHWKwo5s20dnNZBd_X2Bi5bNCkBiW-lWFi2vOZTlE0b5HEeo6xIaadiVMsBuLHqNCj8YztUjc2om2uKj7B7FX1rHceT-JLtgzPW6JCcFyDR4eUmTZFzXd0wz4Mfike3e-hlGSzA6zBACzZmzL8zgRRiyA8Ji_ZQZ-FiTds6BxuxA52I-0-KYvb4guRRl0przXOR1_9N1fVU2xW_Xi65_VHyZijzuYyTQ76sYC2oDWvRblOl0uvDcdqIzpLmkVnQO6K9S5guOvqRvEHRuqDwe0SGlll8z0RSiaWXNUpJZ05teGQw47e7G7W_9BxNilcY&source=gmail&ust=1568578125130000&usg=AFQjCNEari_53_Tu8x8r82yY_tM9xq1Y4w" style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">David Wallace-Wells’ book “The Uninhabitable Earth</a>” to <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJw9UF2PhCAM_DXLmwb8WnngQS93f8OgVJcsAoFyxn9_6CaXNJNmmnY6s0iEzYVTeBeRpAhh0kpUz45yTokSjWJ92xMdpzUA7FIbgSEB8Wk2epGonb0XKOvJS_Clo92Tc2h5I2XN17WhXcX7dabN-oSGXCqTTEqDXUDAL4TTWSBGvBB9fNTDo_rJdRxHaeE4XXhDKBe3Z25JBlOA_06aIg92sHgtvCQWei0OKCI670EVPgCCVdpuRFccpZnbGltGRlO34Nw9jUXfU9jGwYHw3dt6qMaY4ol_elSYLwEvflzeo83S7vN52tT5dyshrPCaycDahPKviJ8XaJpweRTUQDiBA-ZI6Ksa7nLclKyuWbVigIsCVzZ2lv_AMBm4tN" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJw9UF2PhCAM_DXLmwb8WnngQS93f8OgVJcsAoFyxn9_6CaXNJNmmnY6s0iEzYVTeBeRpAhh0kpUz45yTokSjWJ92xMdpzUA7FIbgSEB8Wk2epGonb0XKOvJS_Clo92Tc2h5I2XN17WhXcX7dabN-oSGXCqTTEqDXUDAL4TTWSBGvBB9fNTDo_rJdRxHaeE4XXhDKBe3Z25JBlOA_06aIg92sHgtvCQWei0OKCI670EVPgCCVdpuRFccpZnbGltGRlO34Nw9jUXfU9jGwYHw3dt6qMaY4ol_elSYLwEvflzeo83S7vN52tT5dyshrPCaycDahPKviJ8XaJpweRTUQDiBA-ZI6Ksa7nLclKyuWbVigIsCVzZ2lv_AMBm4tN&source=gmail&ust=1568578125130000&usg=AFQjCNFH_aAEOTFMvFc2lWGqOm2--F291w" style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">Jonathan Franzen’s “What If We Stopped Pretending”</a> (that “the climate apocalypse is coming”) in The New Yorker.

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<a href="http://XXX.theguaXXXdian.com/us-news/2015/apr/07/wisconsin-republicans-climate-change">http://yyy.theguaXXXdian.com/us-news/2015/apr/07/wisconsin-republicans-climate-change</a>

<a href="http://www.theguaXXXdian.com/world/wisconsin" data-link-name="auto-linked-tag" data-component="auto-linked-tag" class=" u-underline" style=" cursor: pointer; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); -webkit-transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out; text-decoration: none !important; background: transparent;">Wisconsin</a> Republicans are looking to place a Florida-style moratorium on the ability of a key public official to work on matters related to climate change on state time.

State treasurer Matt Adamczyk, a Republican, says his plan to prohibit Tia Nelson, the executive secretary of the state’s <a href="http://bcpl.state.wi.us/" data-link-name="in body link" data-component="in-body-link" class=" u-underline" style=" cursor: pointer; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); text-decoration: none !important; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Board of Commissioners of Public Lands</a>, from “engaging in global warming or climate change work” on the job is part of an attempt to trim government spending, which has included <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/02/us/wisconsins-treasurer-wants-to-cut-needless-workers-starting-with-himself.html?_r=0" data-link-name="in body link" data-component="in-body-link" class=" u-underline" style=" cursor: pointer; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); text-decoration: none !important; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">fighting for his own office to be eliminated</a>.

<h1 class="rich-linktitle" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><a class="rich-linklink" style=" cursor: pointer; background: transparent;">How much fossil fuel has been used in your lifetime?</a></h1>

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The committee tasked with managing some of Wisconsin’s public land, along with a trust to fund school libraries, is set to vote on the measure in its 7 April meeting.

Nelson’s supporters on the board, including Wisconsin secretary of state Doug La Follette, have characterised the vote as a politically motivated witchhunt which comes as the result of Nelson’s participation in a global warming taskforce created by then-governor Jim Doyle, a Democrat, in 2008.

Adamczyk alleges that <a href="http://www.epa.gov/statelocalclimate/state/state-examples/action-plans.html#wi" data-link-name="in body link" data-component="in-body-link" class=" u-underline" style=" cursor: pointer; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); -webkit-transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out; transition: border-color 0.15s ease-out; text-decoration: none !important; background: transparent;">Nelson’s co-authoring of a report</a> on policy recommendations for the state to address climate change amounted to theft of the state’s time.

Nelson declined to comment on the allegations.

She said that in 10 years leading the agency and working with both Republican and Democratic majority boards, this marked “the first time climate change has been a part of the conversation”.

Adamczyk has taken a special interest in the commission’s spending since he took office in November, reportedly calling for Nelson, who is the daughter of <a href="http://www.earthday.org/" data-link-name="in body link" data-component="in-body-link" class=" u-underline" style=" cursor: pointer; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); text-decoration: none !important; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-color: transparent; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Earth Day</a> founder Gaylord Nelson, to be <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/new-wisconsin-treasurer-makes-waves-in-role-on-obscure-state-board-b99429552z1-289233071.html" data-link-name="in body link" data-component="in-body-link" class=" u-underline" style=" cursor: pointer; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); text-decoration: none !important; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">removed from BCPL’s letterhead within a week of taking office</a>, and telling <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/02/us/wisconsins-treasurer-wants-to-cut-needless-workers-starting-with-himself.html?_r=0" data-link-name="in body link" data-component="in-body-link" class=" u-underline" style=" cursor: pointer; border-bottom-width: 0.0625rem; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(220, 220, 220); text-decoration: none !important; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Nelson he was “beyond disappointed”</a> that the office maintained a New York Times subscription, and urging its cancellation.

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cf GA

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4/15 note corps also jumped on indiana gay rights

But the efforts of nonprofit advocacy groups like <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/press/press-releases/alec-tries-to-silence-critics.html" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Common Cause</a>, the <a href="http://www.lcv.org/" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">League of Conservation Voters</a> (LCV) and <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Greenpeace</a> have cost it a growing list of high-profile corporate members. Over 100 have departed, as public pressure has mounted. Just in the past year, ALEC lost Facebook, <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/08/21/alec-microsoft/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Microsoft</a>, AOL, eBay, <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/09/23/alec-google-climate-change/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Google</a> and Yelp. Pepsi, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, Amazon, Best Buy and WalMart were already gone. Even BP, formerly a high-level ALEC sponsor, announced in March <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/24/museums-urged-to-drop-climate-denier-donors-bp-dumps-alec/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">it was cutting its ties with the group</a>. Greenpeace, for its part, <a href="http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2015/04/06/alec-denies-alec-denies-climate-change/" target="blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">has announced</a> the launch of a new <a href="http://alecclimatechangedenial.org/" target="_blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">website</a> to highlight the extent of ALEC’s climate denial campaign.

With so much attrition, ALEC has decided to fight back, and the tactic it’s chosen is intimidation. It sent <a href="http://www.commoncause.org/issues/more-democracy-reforms/alec/alec-cease-and-desist-letter.pdf" target="_blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">cease-and-desist letters</a> to Common Cause and the League of Conservation Voters, threatening to sue them unless they retract statements saying ALEC is denying <a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">climate change</a>.

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pro-solar conservative group in Florida cleared a m   ajor hurdle this week in its journey to make solar more accessible in the state.

Floridians for Solar Choice reached 72,000 signatures on a <a href="http://election.dos.state.fl.us/initiatives/fulltext/pdf/64491-1.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">petition</a> that seeks to allow Floridians to purchase solar power directly from other consumers — something that isn’t currently allowed in the state. That number of signatures clears the way for the petition to be reviewed by the state’s Supreme Court, which will decide whether or not the petition’s language legally qualifies it to be a ballot initiative for Floridians in 2016. Getting its petition on the 2016 ballot is the main goal for Floridians for Solar Choice.

“We are thrilled to reach this important milestone,” Tory Perfetti, founder of Floridians for Solar Choice, said in a statement. “It shows broad support among Florida’ families and businesses for removing barriers to commerce in solar power.”

...The petition for the initiative seeks to “encourage and promote local small-scale solar-generated electricity production and to enhance the availability of solar power to customers.” Under Florida’s current law, only utilities can sell electricity directly to consumers. Florida is <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/09/florida-solar-conservatives_n_6834792.html" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">one of only five states</a> in the country with a law like that, and solar advocates say that it’s holding the Sunshine State back from its solar potential. If the ballot initiative is successful in 2016, businesses and property owners in the state would be able to produce up to 2 megawatts of solar power and sell it directly to consumers.

If the state Supreme Court does approve the petition’s language for a ballot initiative, Floridians for Solar Choice will still have some work to do. In order to get on the ballot in Florida, an initiative <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/supreme-court-review-of-solar-petition-held-up-by-state-election-board/2222627" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">must collect 683,149 signatures</a> from Floridians in at least seven congressional districts by February 1. Any delays in the Supreme Court’s approval of the petition means there’s less time for Floridians for Solar Choice to collect signatures. Already, supporters have expressed frustration that the state took too long to acknowledge that they had received enough signatures for Supreme Court review.

Perfetti’s group began <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/01/08/3609455/florida-conservatives-push-for-solar/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">circulating</a> the petition in January, and he said at the time that he received “overwhelming” response to it. Perfetti and Debbie Dooley, a tea party activist who founded the original chapter of Conservatives for Energy Freedom in Georgia, say that they’re tackling solar in Florida because increasing access to the energy source makes sense from a conservative standpoint.

“Free market and the freedom to choose — those are core conservative principles,” Dooley <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/01/08/3609455/florida-conservatives-push-for-solar/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">told ThinkProgress in January</a>. “Unless you cherry-pick your principles, if you’re a true conservative, this is something that resonates with you. I think the residents are fed up with the government telling them who to purchase their power from.”

Floridians from Solar Choice has gained multiple backers of the ballot initiative. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) <a href="http://www.altenergymag.com/news/2015/03/25/seia-announces-support-for-florida-solar-ballot-initiative-/36642" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">voiced its support</a> of the initiative earlier this week, and it’s also <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/energy/supreme-court-review-of-solar-petition-held-up-by-state-election-board/2222627" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">gained</a> the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/09/florida-solar-conservatives_n_6834792.html" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">support</a> of the Tea Party Network, the Christian Coalition, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, the Florida Retail Federation, theSierra Club, and other groups.

“This fight is about consumer choice and private property rights — cherished, long-standing American principals that we strongly support as an organization and an industry,” Rhone Resch, president and CEO of SEIA, said in a <a href="http://www.altenergymag.com/news/2015/03/25/seia-announces-support-for-florida-solar-ballot-initiative-/36642" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">statement</a>. “We urge Floridians to sign this critically important, freedom-of-choice petition, allowing it to be placed on next year’s ballot.”

Conservative group Americans for Prosperity has attacked the initiative, however, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/09/florida-solar-conservatives_n_6834792.html" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; border-image-source: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-width: initial; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">saying</a>that it’s “about money, and using government and taxpayers to prop up the solar industry.” Supporters reject that claim, saying the measure isn’t calling for solar subsidies or mandates; instead, it simply wants to make it easier for Floridians to gain access to solar.

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Large institutional museums have a history of receiving funding from those who might have an interest in slanting how they cover climate issues. Oil company BP, for instance, is a corporate sponsor at Chicago’s venerable Museum of Science and Industry, whose exhibits have long promoted a cheerful upbeat “better living through science” approach and whose interactive coal mine exhibit has been one of its major attractions since 1933.

But BP is doing a little image scrubbing of its own. It announced Monday that it has <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/23/usa-alec-bp-idUSL2N0WP21Y20150323" target="_blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">dropped its membership</a> in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the rightwing <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/09/25/alec-climate-change-deniers/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">climate denying group</a> that is heavily funded by—you guessed it!—the Koch brothers. BP gave no reason for dropping its membership, but it follows in the footsteps of Walmart, Amazon, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola Co., Best Buy, <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/09/23/alec-google-climate-change/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Google</a>, Microsoft, <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/09/24/facebook-alec-climate-change/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Facebook</a>, eBay, Wells-Fargo and dozens of others that have dropped their ALEC membership in response to pressure from activist groups.

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A new <a href="http://action.sierraclub.org/site/DocServer/Coal_Tracker_report_final_3-9-15.pdf?docID=17381" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; letter-spacing: 0.39px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">report by CoalSwarm and the Sierra Club</a> provides compelling evidence that the death knell for the global coal boom might very well have rung some time between 2010 and 2012.

Based on data CoalSwarm compiled of every coal plant proposed worldwide for the past five years as part of its <a href="http://endcoal.org/global-coal-plant-tracker/" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; letter-spacing: 0.39px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Global Coal Plant Tracker</a> initiative, the report finds that for every coal plant that came online, plans for two other plants were put on hold or scrapped altogether.

The failure-to-completion rate was even higher, as much as 4 to 1, in Europe, South Asia, Latin America, and Africa, according to the report, which also says that the long decline in coal-fired energy production in the United States and

==

master settlement

In 1998, New York State’s Republican Attorney General, Dennis Vacco successfully invoked the “corporate death penalty” to revoke the charters of two non-profit tax-exempt tobacco industry front groups, The Tobacco Institute and the Council for Tobacco Research (CTR). The two groups Vacco annulled were creatures of a decade long campaign funded principally by tobacco giant, Brown & Williamson to avoid costly health regulations that would diminish the profit margins of an industry that was killing one out of five of its customers. “Doubt is our Product,” explained Brown & Williamson’s notorious 1969 memo outlining the reptilian communications strategy that hatched its front groups.

==

penn gov corbett beat by bizman dem (use frack $ for educ, vs corbett fought teacher union like walker? big on voucher/charter? Wolf dem

==

yay

And yesterday, these 10 were found “not guilty” by New York City Criminal Court Judge Robert Mandelbaum. According to <a href="http://floodwallstreet.net/media/" target="_blank" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Flood Wall Street</a>, Judge Mandelbaum ruled that the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) order to disperse violated the First Amendment. In his ruling, the judge also found “that by ordering protesters to leave the entire Wall Street area, police violated protesters’ First Amendment right to carry their message directly to its intended recipients: the Wall Street bankers who bankroll <a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">climate change</a>.”

Defense Attorney Jonathan Wallace successfully argued that the Constitution protects Americans’ rights to “express political speech within proximity to the target of the protest. In this case, the NYPD first prevented protesters from entering Wall Street before later orderingthem to leave the area altogether.” This method of policing proved to be unlawful.

That is a victory in and of itself for the 10 individuals, as well as, the general American public and its right to protest. But the judge went even further “by taking judicial notice that climate change is happening, is a serious problem, requires immediate action and is caused by human activity,” said Flood Wall Street.

“The importance of judicial notice is that the judge accepted climate change and the need to do something about it as a fact without the necessity of any evidentiary support or proof at trial,” said Defense Attorney Martin Stolar. “To the best of my knowledge, this is unprecedented and has significance for future litigation involving climate change.”

The ruling sets an important legal precedent in recognizing the constitutional legitimacy of mass civil disobedience actions protesting climate change, according to Flood Wall Street. The 10 defendants gave passionate testimony to the court, “<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/04/david-suzuki-climate-change-real-threat/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; -webkit-transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">affirming that their actions were justified</a>.”...

http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/06/found-not-guilty-flood-wall-street

==

JOHN H. RICHARDSON refers to morano deniers as asymetrical warfare; same true of Color ppl defectors?

==

maybe // blessed unrest: plug into any org b/c all networked, will build bottom up movement

<div>

wm robinson ucsb: rise of fascism, inequality // 30's? but instability creates opp for ppl's movement (skep of L/R a la Nader) Talkies 7/26/14

global capitalism and the rise of

</div>

==

anti Aspen/Koch SUMMIT:  steyer, park fdn, LCV, Mayday fund, 350, Color of Change, ICN, Pocan, R street, mtntop removal, Nader, CMD, Common Cause; Gayle McLaughlin, the bold mayor of Richmond, California (http://greenshadowcabinet.us/)

GORE Convener? Bill C?

==

anti ACA ads boosted youth enrollment (b/c raise awareness or made ppl think it was going to be cut soon so grab it) On the media 7/20/14

cf huge spending 2012 gop/gps few wins

==

Left-Right alliance?

Nader new book unstoppable (vs billionaires will save us?) finds 25 points of overlap

CFR levy says up tax on oil! (also export more LNG? boost US green energy for comp advantage?)

Laffer debate carbon tax

==

Park Fdn taken overt by younger women ;) ~ frack, build indep media

==

<div>Mann defamation  suit could bankrupt national review (tho it's not the worst?)  it was their online blog that got them in trouble?  to get attn, rhetoric hasto be contantly upped (cf rush/beck, then passes a threshold?</div>

<div>==

<div style="">aha: the two biggest offending industries are the most subsidied: oil and agribiz, and both have populist potential</div>

<div style="">==

<h1 class="title" style="font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; letter-spacing: -1px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Outrage Over Climate Inaction Reaches Fever Pitch in 2013</h1>

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</div>

<div style=""><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20131230/outrage-over-climate-inaction-reaches-fever-pitch-2013">http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20131230/outrage-over-climate-inaction-reaches-fever-pitch-2013</a></div>

<div style="">==

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Duke Energy has agreed to retire five coal-fired power plants in western Indiana by June 2018 under a settlement announced Friday with environmental and citizens groups that also calls for the company to increase its investments in renewable energy.

A state administrative law judge oversaw the settlement, which was signed Wednesday by Duke Energy, the Sierra Club, Citizens Action Coalition, Valley Watch and Save the Valley.

The settlement ends the activist groups' challenge of Duke Energy's state air permit for its new $3.5 billion, coal-gasification plant that went online this summer. That southwestern Indiana plant was the subject of an ethical flap after Duke officials and regulators were found to be discussing the project's rising costs.

The 618-megawatt plant's original 2007 cost estimate was $1.9 billion, but that eventually ballooned to about $3.5 billion. Duke Energy has said ratepayers can expect to see a 14 percent to 16 percent increase in their monthly bills by early 2014 as a result of the higher costs of the plant near Edwardsport, about 60 miles north of Evansville....<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/30/duke-energy-coal-fired-plants_n_3844645.html">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/30/duke-energy-coal-fired-plants_n_3844645.html</a>

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<div style="">==

moyers MARTY KAPLAN: I have children. I have to be an optimist. The globe has children. We have to be optimists. There is no choice. What is the alternative? If you are a pessimist, well, the most you can do, I suppose, is medicate yourself with the latest blockbuster and some sugar, salt, and fat that's being marketed to you. The only responsible thing that you can do is say that individuals can make a difference and I will try, we will try, to make that.

==

Big data (see Lanier) scary but hackers can break/use/leverage electronic communication systems; news stories can go viral for better or worse

not impossible lab connects one activist to one person who needs help (tailoring/disintermediation?)

----

new: Heroes, willing to put it all on the line: dechristopher, Hansen, hawks, pocan (infiltrator)

Gore hero but divisive/target

whistleblowers

===

http://grist.org/news/tea-partiers-fight-over-solar-power-in-georgia-and-the-solar-fans-win/

<h1 class="headline">Tea Partiers fight over solar power in Georgia, and the solar fans win</h1>

By <a href="http://grist.org/author/claire-thompson/" title="Posts by Claire Thompson">Claire Thompson</a>

</header>

In Georgia on Thursday, the Tea Party scored a victory against the Tea Party by helping push through a plan requiring the state’s largest electric utility to increase its capacity for solar power.

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/12/tampons-confiscated-texas_n_3588177.html?1373658954">Never a dull day in Southern politics</a>, is there? A proposal by Public Service Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald to more than double the amount of solar energy produced by Georgia Power pitted the Tea Party Patriots against the local chapter of Koch-funded group Americans for Prosperity (of the notorious <a href="http://grist.org/news/how-the-koch-brothers-screwed-over-the-climate-even-more-than-you-know/">“No Climate Tax Pledge”</a>). Virginia Galloway, director of AFP for the state, warned the group’s 50,000 Georgia members that the proposal could increase electricity rates by up to 40 percent, and that this “mandate” — as she called it — would “reduce the reliability of every appliance and electronics gadget in your home.” But the Patriots see an increase in the availability of solar as an expansion of the free market and the ratepayers’ right to choose their energy sources.

Those on the left might have a hard time distinguishing between brands of Tea Party, but there are real differences. From the <a href="http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2013-07-08/tea-party-groups-opposite-sides-solar-debate">Athens Banner-Herald</a>:

Disagreement between the two groups isn’t unusual. [Debbie Dooley, national coordinator of the Patriots,] says Galloway is using outdated figures since solar-panel prices have dropped by more than half in the last three years. She also accuses Galloway of being swayed by the fossil-fuel interests that contribute to AFP nationally.

</blockquote>

And, to hear Dooley tell it, AFP’s opposition to solar <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/07/09/2267051/koch-brothers-fund-effort-to-undermine-tea-party-support-of-solar-energy-in-georgia/">may not reflect the will of the people</a> (or at least the people comprising its target audience).

Dooley tells Climate Progress that despite AFP’s misinformation campaign, which “was based on misleading data and was not accurate,” most of the Tea Party activists she works with support the proposed solar plan because they see it as a “way to help protect the environment, give consumers choice and in the long-term help lower their rates.”

</blockquote>

Help protect the environment? Tea Party, are you feeling OK?

The Patriots advocate an all-of-the-above energy strategy, saying in an email to supporters that they “just don’t believe it is responsible to be completely reliant on one or two energy sources to generate needed electricity.” Bubba, for his part, sees the writing on the wall when it comes to the traditional forms of energy on which Georgia Power has long relied. <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/business/energy/article/Regulators-OK-solar-expansion-for-Georgia-Power-4660228.php">The Associated Press</a>:

McDonald called for expanding the renewable energy source as a hedge against environmental rules that might force coal plants offline or future increases in the price of natural gas. …

“We don’t know what tomorrow is going to be with coal. We don’t know what tomorrow is going to be with natural gas,” McDonald said after the vote. “But we know the sun will be shining.”

</blockquote>

The <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/news/2013/07/11/georgia-psc-orders-more-solar-power.html?page=all">Atlanta Business Chronicle</a> has the deets on the new plan:

Commissioners voted 4-1 in favor of a broader long-term electrical generation plan that requires Atlanta-based Georgia Power Co. to increase its solar power capacity by 525 megawatts by the end of 2016.

Of that amount, 425 megawatts would come from large “utility-scale” solar projects and 100 would come from projects small enough to be installed by individual residential or commercial property owners.

Georgia Power already is working to develop 260 megawatts of solar energy through two projects previously approved by the PSC.

But supporters of a motion by Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald to up the ante argued that recent technological advancements have brought down the costs of solar power enough to justify additional investment.

“We’ve got to approach this in a businesslike fashion and try to stay ahead of the curve,” McDonald said after the vote.

</blockquote>

Solar will still make up just a small fraction of the utility’s overall energy mix. Solar providers will engage in a competitive bidding process, with oversight from the Public Service Commission, to ensure that rates don’t go up.

No Republican wants to get on the Tea Party’s bad side. Maybe if solar boosters joined forces with grassroots Tea Party groups across the nation, we could give AFP a run for its money. (Well, probably not literally.)

Claire Thompson is an editorial assistant at Grist.

</section>

===

<a href="http://grist.org/news/yes-men-prank-the-chamber-of-commerce-and-get-away-with-it/">http://grist.org/news/yes-men-prank-the-chamber-of-commerce-and-get-away-with-it/</a>

if you’re going to prank the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, you’d better brace yourself for a long legal battle.

It’s been almost four years since the <a href="http://theyesmen.org/">Yes Men</a> conned reporters into thinking the chamber was finally warming up to the dangers of climate change. The tricksters put up a fake website and sent out a fake press release under the chamber’s name, <a href="http://grist.org/article/2009-10-19-chamber-plays-the-fool-in-yes-men-hoax/">fooling a number of mainstream news outlets</a> into believing that the business group had reversed course and decided to support climate legislation. The Yes Men also held a fake news conference, which went on for a number of minutes before an actual chamber spokesman barged in and busted it up (video is below).

Laughs were had, feelings were hurt, confusion reigned for the better part of five minutes, and then, of course, the stodgy old men in ties talked to their lawyers and filed the inevitable lawsuit.

On Friday, with court proceedings in the stalled case finally set to get underway, the stodgy old men in ties backed down. <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2013/06/10/chamber-cools-to-lawsuit-on-global-warming-hoax/" target="_blank">From The Wall Street Journal</a>:

The Chamber’s … lawsuit alleged the Yes Men infringed its trademarks, engaged in false advertising and committed cyberpiracy that confused the public about the organization’s policy positions. “The acts are nothing less than commercial identity theft masquerading as social activism,” the lawsuit alleged.

In response, the Yes Men argued the hoax was protected First Amendment speech that criticized the Chamber on a matter of public concern. “The Yes Men deliberately used the Chamber’s logo and service marks to poke fun at it,” the group said in court papers. “Without using the Chamber’s marks, the parody would have lost virtually all of its force and purpose.” …

An updated version of the Chamber’s lawsuit would have been due in court Monday. In dropping the lawsuit, the Chamber cited “the age of the case,” and the fact that it had taken control of the domain name the Yes Men previously used for their fake web site.

</blockquote>

===

Local elections in Washington state are big deal for coal industry and global climate

By John Upton

Bellingham, Wash., coastlineMatt RayBellingham in Whatcom County, Wash., could soon be seeing a whole lot of coal.

The adage “think global, act local” rings remarkably true in Whatcom County, Wash., a rural area in the northwestern corner of the country.

==

Strange bedfellows: drone strikes, cfaa, TP Occupy, so left and right want to limit gov't power, but different motives/fears?

===

<a href="http://www.macfound.org/press/press-releases/13-nonprofits-recognized-exceptional-creativity-and-effectiveness-awarded-15-million-each/">http://www.macfound.org/press/press-releases/13-nonprofits-recognized-exceptional-creativity-and-effectiveness-awarded-15-million-each/</a>

===

eg

The so-called "Monsanto Protection Act," a controversial provision protecting the biotech giant from litigation, has found an unusual critic in the tea party.

The provision, Section 735, was slipped anonymously into the Senate version of the continuing resolution as part of the Agricultural Appropriations Bill, subsequently passed by the House and signed into law by President Barack Obama late last month.

Since then it's <a href="http://jezebel.com/5993018/whats-the-monsanto-protection-act-and-why-is-it-all-over-facebook" target="hplink">ignited an advocacy firestorm</a>, with 250,000 people <a href="http://gawker.com/5993042/what-is-the-so+called-monsanto-protection-act-is-it-eeeeeevil" target="hplink">signing a petition</a> opposing the provision and <a href="http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/call/obama_signs_monsanto_protection_act_label_GMOs/" target="_hplink">Food Democracy Now</a> network organizing a protest at the White House last week. Critics -- including members of the tea party -- have expressed dismay, not only at the provision's contents, but at the secretive way in which the biotech rider was introduced.

"It is not the purview of Tea Party Patriots to comment on the merits of GMOs -– that is a discussion and debate for experts and activists within that field," <a href="https://www.teapartypatriots.org/2013/04/corporate-giant-gets-immunity/" target="_hplink">wrote</a> Dustin Siggins, who blogs for Tea Party Patriots, on the group's website. "From the perspective of citizens who want open, transparent government that serves the people, however, the so-called 'Monsanto Protection Act,' Section 735 of the Continuing Resolution, is one heck of a special interest loophole for friends of Congress."

The Center for Food Safety is placing blame for the measure's covert introduction with the Senate Appropriations Committee and its chairman, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.). "While there are no definite fingerprints for whoever is responsible for the rider, the earmark was allowed under the direction of Senator Barbara Mikulski," the center <a href="http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/press-releases/1906/center-for-food-safety-denounces-dangerous-biotech-earmark-in-senate-passed-spending-bill" target="hplink">wrote on its website</a>. Most lawmakers appear to have been unaware the provision was even included in the C.R., <a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/03/27/how_the_monsanto_protection_act_snuck_into_law/" target="hplink">according to reports</a>.

Last week, Mikulski's office <a href="http://www.mikulski.senate.gov/media/pressrelease/3-28-2013.cfm" target="_hplink">issued a statement</a> distancing the senator from the provision. "Senator Mikulski understands the anger over this provision. She didn't put the language in the bill and doesn't support it either," the statement reads. "As Chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Mikulski's first responsibility was to prevent a government shutdown. That meant she had to compromise on many of her own priorities to get a bill through the Senate that the House would pass. "

The provision's impact is unclear, since the underlying spending bill expires Sept. 30. Siggins argues in his <a href="https://www.teapartypatriots.org/2013/04/corporate-giant-gets-immunity/" target="_hplink">lengthy Tea Party Patriots post analyzing the issue</a> that it sets a "dangerous precedent." He concludes:

<blockquote style="">This all can be boiled down into a single, common phrase: a special interest loophole, and a doozy at that. We are used to subsidies, which give your tax dollars to companies to give them advantages over competitors. We are used to special interest tax loopholes and tax credits, which provide competitive and financial benefits to those with friends in Congress. And we are familiar with regulatory burden increases, which often prevent smaller companies from competing against larger ones because of the cost of compliance.

However, this is a different kind of special interest giveaway altogether. This is a situation in which a company is given the ability to ignore court orders, in what boils down to a deregulation scheme for a particular set of industries.

</blockquote>

</div>