In climate fight, a time for civil disobedience?

Take the train. Dial down your heat. Write your senator.

Taking those individual steps surely helps in the battle against global warming. But, scientists and advocates warn, it's no longer enough to fend off climate disaster.

Get ready, some of them say, to hijack oil-lease sales (like a college student did in Utah), to climb smokestacks in protest (like Greenpeace activists did in England), to trespass at power plants (like demonstrators plan to do in Washington, D.C.).

It's time, these environmentalists say, for some good, old-fashioned civil disobedience -- the types of nonviolent acts proven effective by the famous (Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks) and the faceless (students at Tiananmen Square, anti-war protesters on college campuses, women suffragists in street marches).

At a recent Environmental Ministry meeting at Salt Lake City's First Unitarian Church that drew more than 300 people, Tim DeChristopher, the 27-year-old University of Utah economics student who disrupted a December drilling-lease auction, called for an "uprising."

DeChristopher didn't use the word lightly, he said, yet "anything short of that will not get us where we need to go."

Heeding such calls, organizers are mobilizing for a mass act of nonviolent civil disobedience March 2 to protest coal-fired power plants and the damage industrial pollution has caused to the planet's climate.

"We're hoping and preparing for
thousands," said Matt Leonard, the Greenpeace coordinator for the event. "It will certainly be the largest such action on climate change in U.S. history. We hope it will be the first of many."

Protesters will gather at the Capital Power Plant in Washington -- source of heat and refrigeration for the entire Capitol complex -- walk on to the property, sit down and thereby break the law.

"Enough is enough. Action needs to be taken," Leonard said. "But to really meet the climate crisis, we need collective action. You can't do that by buying light bulbs and hybrid vehicles."

» Gore's plea: The March 2 demonstration will be the first major protest since former Vice President Al Gore, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, in September called for moral lawbreaking.

"If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration," Gore told the Clinton Global Initiative gathering to loud applause, according to Reuters news service.

Since then, author and environmentalist Bill McKibben and poet Wendell Berry have chimed in. Last month, they wrote an open letter, which has circulated widely on the Web, urging mass civil disobedience against coal in March.

"We will cross the legal boundary of the power plant, and we expect to be arrested," they wrote. "The worldwide daily reliance on coal is the danger; this is one small step to raise awareness of that ruinous habit and hence help to break it."

cont.

But the thought of moving beyond conventional acts -- voting, lobbying, giving up cars -- stumps or scares some would-be activists. Others would never dream of breaking the law.

After the First Unitarian Church meeting, Robert and Amy Matheson said they felt more aware of the enormity of climate disruption but were unsure what to do next. They didn't know what civil disobedience looked like and were wary of it -- given the risks.

"I'm kind of a chicken," Amy Matheson said. "I wouldn't be willing to sacrifice my family, my freedom, my life."

Maybe if he were emotionally invested, Robert Matheson reasoned, he would be less afraid.

» Personal stake: All humans are invested in coal, activists say, even if they don't recognize it.

Coal-industry advocates point out that the United States gets about half its electricity from coal; nearly all of Utah's electricity is coal fired. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates domestic coal could last for over 250 years at current-use levels.

The countries where coal is the primary energy fuel are polluting everyone's lives. Some of the evidence: unprecedented asthma rates in children, the enduring drought in the American Southwest, the worst drought in Australia in 1,000 years, crop failures in Africa, the filthy air on the Wasatch Front, the cheat grass on the Western range and the fires that feed on it.

Growing awareness of coal's downside led a British jury in September to acquit Greenpeace activists who climbed a 650-foot coal-plant smokestack in an attempt to shut it down. The jury reasoned that global warming is causing greater harm than Greenpeace.

DeChristopher saw his own transgression as a step toward Earth's salvation. With climate chaos looming, he said, "How could I not do this? How could I sit by and be complicit in my own destruction?"

The U. student could face federal felony charges and even prison for his protest. Still, he urges more people to do what he did: If an opportunity presents itself, find your voice and stand your ground.

But don't go all out without cause, warned Daniel Kessler, a Greenpeace spokesman in San Francisco. "There's no reason for civil disobedience if another [measure] is more effective."

What's on March 2?
I think that civil disobedience IS needed to an extent, provided that it's actually civil and that it's planned and organized.

Word up.

The issue of doing things on reverse might produce on its outcome unattended consequences. I am all for peaceful and organized protest. Not so sure if that will accomplish the goal effectively as other forms of social actions. However I have to recognize that it is better than doing nothing at all.

stopnoise: if politicians would put the people and this planet first we wouldn't need it. However, when all other routes have been taken to be heard and the proper actions not taken by those spoken to peaceful civil disobedience is the logical next step to be heard. As with women's suffrage, had Wilson listened to the women of America who called for equality and the right to vote instead of ignoring their pleas and using WW1 as a distraction there would have been no need for civil disobedience. But thankfully, because of it and the sacrifices those brave women made women got the right to vote in this country. Done the right way I think it can be very effective. And considering where this world now stands, it has to be.

Greenpeace to the rescue! Count me in!

I watched a six hour BBC thriller on DVD last night called "State of Play" which "brings light to to shady dealings between the government and major corporate powers" - that is, addressing the issue that government is owned by the very corporations that are intent on destroying our kids, us, and the natural world in the name of greed and power - it is all so sick. Clearly the writer, Paul Abbott, understands our government is bought and paid for by oil, coal, military industrial complex and big agri business.
The people we are dealing with are clearly narcissistic, psychotic, selfish , simply put - sick and warped, their heart's and minds absolutely disconnected - how do you reason with insanity!? They are intent, along with their expensive "Public Relations" machinery to take us on a one way road to hell if we don't stop supporting them....
We have many positive alternatives to choose from, this is what is so frustrating about this psycho group and most of mainstream media which refuses to highlight the solutions to our problems.
Chaotic times (as we are in now) are a grand opportunity to make change, and as we sit here and watch business after business crumbling, the laying off of thousands of people each day, we can re-create a world where all people (including these fear filled group of people who think they need so much) can have an equitable life in a clean world.
A lot more people are going to have to wake up and realize they have been duped, government does not have their best interest at heart for the most part (they are married to the corporation after all), and that true leadership will come from collective humanity and the choices we all make in the immediate future... Am glad to see this March 2 event occurring.

I will not be able to make it to Washington on March 2nd.

Perhaps I can do something locally to protest in my area. I'll look into it.

this is the coldest winter since the great depression yet the ecostremist still talk of global warming how are we going to survive the coming IceAge

Even though it's too late to change, I'm all down for it. Since we're all about to be wiped out, or at least bottle-necked like a motherfucker, why not riot? Let's do it.

Good points, time to rebel, nonviolently and doing some protesting at the time, of course, I cannot participate in such a event on March 2....Glad to see everyone prepared and ready to start a huge demand for the protection of the environment, time for change....this time, on our own terms...

I'm assuming this is part of powershift 09?
http://www.powershift09.org/

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

I'm always down for some trouble making, but even if there is some legislation passed, the biggest problem will still be implementation, which still falls on the door step of the people. I think a more effective way to affect climate change is 1. spread awareness, 2, support environmentally responsible products and services and 3 stop being greedy. The change, as always must come from the people and once the economics support this change, the market will follow suit. And if that doesn't work, then we start busting bottles over people's heads, hahahah... i kid, i kid... well, kinda...

Goals are key and must be reached across the world with the help of everyone.

Seems pointless so soon into the new administration? Lets see what Obama does to address the situation first. The opportunity to address the infrastructure is actually a blessing in disguise as it allows for more Green development. Results will not be obvious at first and this could hurt Obama's case, but we should wait and see before we protest...

I agree with this 100%! This is absolutely the most important issue the world faces today. The destruction of our planet trumps everything else, even if it is a bit vague and seemingly far off.

Major changes in our environmental policies have to be made NOW and our politicians just don't get it. They simply refuse to do anything that might cost them votes. Better to spew a bunch of rhetoric about it and do nothing than to enact policies that cost companies millions and possibly put people out of work even if we do destroy our planet and insure poverty, war, and devastation for our children and grandchildren.

This sort of civil disobedience, directed properly and en masse, is precisely what is needed to open these idiots' eyes and let them know we are dead serious about saving our planet and species. How ridiculous is that last statement, btw? WE HAVE TO GET TOGETHER AND BREAK THE DAMN LAW TO GET OUR LEADERS TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT OUR IMPENDING DOOM! What a joke!!!

PROTEST NON-VIOLENTLY AND THEN PROTEST SOME MORE!!!!!

I was around in the 60's even though I was still a kid and I did learn about armed insurrection and that's all these bastards understand. Put a bullet through the head of a few CEO's and they take note. Stand outside and protest and they sick the dogs on you then go back to their evil plans to take your money.
I'm not stuck on non-violent ways. Brutal violence the only thing these creeps understand because they sure will use it in a hot minute on you if you try to get in their way. Maybe Ted Kazinsky was trying to tell us all something.

WE ALL SHOULD JUST PLAN TO MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN IN OUR COMMUNITY ON MARCH 2!
IMAGINE! EVERY NEWS STATION WITH THE SAME LOCAL STORY ON THE SAME NIGHT! iTS HISTORY GUYS! AND ITS OUR TIME!
CAN SOMEONE CREATE A WEBPAGE FOR LOCAL SIGNUPS!?!

LETS SEE WERE IT GOES FROM HERE...

This post is horribly written. The tag line makes noe sense. Your discription has no ultimatium to finish you "I Say" statement. An what the hell is happening on March 2?

I have seen a lot of good come out of peaceful rebellion. That certainly dates me but the demonstrations of the 60s made a difference. It's sad to say that we may have to do that again.
I would like to beleive that our new President will address this issue front on and we will not have to resort to defying the law to make a point. If nothing is done by the new administration, then, yes, this is a good idea and I will certainly consider making the trip to DC.

At least the t-shirt says "man made." I know that dozens of prominent scientists have stated their collective opinion that humanity contributes signficantly to the problem of global warming, but even if we accept for the moment the premise that our actions are NOT contributing to global warming, I find appalling the notion that global warming is out of our hands if it is not "man-made." I see no moral or ethical difference between that statement and a statement such as "we should not use medical means to save children dying of disease if the disease is not man-made." REGARDLESS of the cause, if current warming trends continue we are going to see human suffering on a scale that even the most depraved among us would find umimaginable today. We are aware of the problem. Therefore we have a moral and ethical obligation to reduce and hopefully minimize the human suffering that will result -- both by doing what we can to mitigate the causes of the crisis as they become increasingly clear, and to plan for the most orderly possible transition to life in warmer temperatures -- including rising seas, violent storms, shifting crop patterns and almost certainly reduced crop production during and perhaps even following the transition, etc. If the warming does not stop, of course, eventually no amount of planning and implementation will help. But that does not absolve us of our current obligations. Just sayin'