Headlines for September 24. 2008; furnish Admin Faces Congressional Skeptics on $700B Wall St. Bailout; Naomi Klein: "Now Is the Time to Resist Wall Street's Shock Doctrine"; Following Decades of Renowned Activism. Pioneering Children's Rights Advocate Marian Wright Edelman on "Charting a Course for the Next Generation"
Headlines for September 23. 2008; "Race Is Everything in this Case": Rep. John Lewis Urges State of Georgia to Spare Life of Troy Davis Hours Before His Scheduled Execution; Exclusive: Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo on US Relations in Latin America the Iraq War. Liberation Theology and Being the "Bishop of the Poor" ; Following Factional Dispute Within ANC. Thabo Mbeki Resigns as South African President
Headlines for September 22. 2008; Sen. Bernie Sanders. Robert Scheer and Dean Baker on the Proposed $700 Billion Bailout of Wall Street the Largest Government Bailout of Private Industry in US History; Farnaz Fassihi on "Waiting for an Ordinary Day: The Unraveling of Life in Iraq"
Headlines for September 19. 2008; Amidst Wall Street Woes. Labor Activist & Writer Bill Fletcher on "Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice" ; Book: Cheney's Drive for Warrantless Spying Nearly Brought Down Bush Presidency
Headlines for September 18. 2008; Lost Homes. Lost Votes: Are Republicans Trying to Block Foreclosed Homeowners from Voting in Michigan?; Historic 2008 Election Could See Unprecedented Attempts to Bar African American Voters; Battle in Seattle: With A-List Cast. New Film Re-Creates Historic Protest Against WTO
In this special Link TV interview. "Persepolis" filmmaker Marjane Satrapi discusses how she came to create first an autobiographical graphic novel then an Academy Award-nominated enter about her experiences as an Iranian both in her home country and as an exile in Europe. Clips from the film demonstrate Satrapi's moving use of humor and passion to tell the story of an Iran caught between the wish for independence and the strict Islamic state that emerged after the 1979 revolution. Satrapi's be gives a unique perspective on Iranian life behind closed doors where the love of pop music and democracy is at odds with a restricted lifestyle. Through her life story she reveals the similarities between children and adults that always exist even across dogmatic national borders. Excerpts from the novel "Persepolis" appear courtesy of Pantheon. "Persepolis" is in U. S theaters January 2008.
Outside the Box with Peter Coyote: Beyond Big Oil This new schedule explores the many implications of living in an oil-centric society and examines the viability of alternative technologies such as bio-diesel and vegetable oil.
Link TV's documentary Ramadan Primetime explores the unique television programs that people across the Muslim world watch during the month of Ramadan which begins this year around September 23rd. In contrast to the typical images the West has come to associate with the Middle East this 30-minute documentary showcases the specially crafted Ramadan primetime programming shown on dozens of Arabic television channels - entertaining their audiences with a mix of drama music game shows and comedy.
The Peabody Award-winning daily compilation of television news reports from the Middle East including Egypt. Lebanon. Israel. Syria the Palestinian Authority. Iraq and Iran. First consider Up in Air; McCain Puts Off PolitickingAl Jazeera English. QatarAhmadinejad at the UNDubai TV. UAEAhmadinejad Criticizes Unjust Global SystemIRIB2 TV. IranAhmadinejad: AnalysisIBA TV. IsraelNetanyahu Calls for General ElectionsAl Jazeera TV. QatarIsrael Bans Palestinians Under 45 from Al Aqsa MosquePalestine TV. RamallahArmed Groups Attack Peacekeepers in SomaliaAl Arabiya TV. UAECholera Spreads in IraqSyria TV. Syria
The Peabody Award-winning daily compilation of television news reports from the Middle East including Egypt. Lebanon. Israel. Syria the Palestinian Authority. Iraq and Iran. Joint US. Afghan and Pakistani Soldiers to Fight TalibanAl Jazeera TV. QatarSomali Muslim Youth Movement Intensifies AttacksAl Jazeera TV. QatarSudan Says Locates Kidnappers and HostagesAl Arabiya TV. UAEJerusalem Car Crash 'An Accident'?Dubai TV. UAEIran Close to NukesIBA TV. IsraelAhmadinejad at the UNPress TV. IranIAEA: Syria Does Not Have NukesSyria TV. Syria421 Iraqi Families Return to BaghdadAl-Iraqiya TV. IraqMuslims will be majority in Belguim in 20 YearsNew TV. Lebanon
The Peabody Award-winning daily compilation of television news reports from the Middle East including Egypt. Lebanon. Israel. Syria the Palestinian Authority. Iraq and Iran. Pakistani President & PM Were Targets of Marriott ExplosionAl Jazeera TV. Qatar15 Hurt in Jerusalem AttackAl Jazeera English. QatarLivni Asked to Form New GovernmentIBA TV. IsraelWill Livni Succeed?Dubai TV. UAEIran Helps to Rebuild the South of LebanonNew TV. LebanonKmamenei Calls for Supporting the PalestiniansAl-Alam TV. IranTourists Kidnapped in EgyptAl Arabiya TV. UAETorture Continues in IraqBaghdad TV. Iraq
The Peabody Award-winning daily compilation of television news reports from the Middle East including Egypt. Lebanon. Israel. Syria the Palestinian Authority. Iraq and Iran. Mosques are not Immune from War in IraqAl Jazeera TV. QatarYemeni President Promises to Hunt Down terroristsAl Arabiya TV. UAECholera Outbreak in IraqAlhurraLivni reaches out to MeretzIBA TV. IsraelAl Qaeda Affliated Group Threatens to contend HamasPalestine TV. RamallahBashar al Assad on IranNew TV. LebanonDelhi gears up to fight terrorismAl Jazeera English. QatarRamadan in FranceDubai TV. UAEIsrael's October affect?Link TV. USA
The Peabody Award-winning daily compilation of television news reports from the Middle East including Egypt. Lebanon. Israel. Syria the Palestinian Authority. Iraq and Iran. Toll in Yemen Rises. Includes AmericanAl Jazeera TV. QatarWho is Tzipi Livni?IBA TV. IsraelLivni wins close vote for Kadima leadershipDubai TV. UAEPalestinians in Iceland?Al Jazeera English. QatarUS Slaps Sanctions on Iranian CompaniesAl Arabiya TV. UAEDeadly Cholera Threatens Iraqi ChildrenAl Sharqiya TV. Iraq
The Peabody Award-winning daily compilation of television news reports from the Middle East including Egypt. Lebanon. Israel. Syria the Palestinian Authority. Iraq and Iran. U. S. Embassy Attacked in YemenDubai TV. UAENigeria: Militant attacks cutting oil productionAl Jazeera English. QatarClashes Rage at Ain al-HilwehAl Arabiya TV. UAEKadima Party Elections Under WayAl Jazeera TV. QatarExit polls: Livni clear winner in Israeli primaryIBA TV. IsraelDarwish Poem's Under Israeli ScrutinyAl-Alam TV. IranFour Iraqi TV Crew Members AssassinatedAl-Iraqiya TV. Iraq
The Peabody Award-winning daily compilation of television news reports from the Middle East including Egypt. Lebanon. Israel. Syria the Palestinian Authority. Iraq and Iran. South Africa Extends Arm to SudanAl Jazeera TV. QatarLehman Brothers Bankruptcy Felt Across the GlobeDubai TV. UAELebanese Leaders Hold Unity TalksAl Arabiya TV. UAEDispute Over a Church in a Lebanese VillageLBC TV. LebanonAin Hilweh: A Family Feud or a Political Struggle?New TV. LebanonNew Commander in IraqAl Jazeera English. QatarNews from IraqAl-Iraqiya TV. IraqEmpowering Communities in JordanJordan TV. Jordan
The Peabody Award-winning daily compilation of television news reports from the Middle East including Egypt. Lebanon. Israel. Syria the Palestinian Authority. Iraq and Iran. Israel Closes Gaza CrossingsAl Jazeera TV. QatarOlmert makes 11th-hour pitch for peace dealIBA TV. IsraelAssassination raises tension as Lebanon seeks to bridge divideDubai TV. UAEUS threatens Iran with new sanctionsPress TV. IranPakistan Denies Interfering with NATOAl Arabiya TV. UAEDeadlock in MauritaniaAl-Alam TV. IranIraqi Families Live on LandfillsAlsumaria TV. IraqFarmers in Rabat show Against Land DevelopmentAl Jazeera TV. Qatar
The Peabody Award-winning daily compilation of television news reports from the Middle East including Egypt. Lebanon. Israel. Syria the Palestinian Authority. Iraq and Iran. Pakistan Launches Wide Scale Operations in Tribal AreasAl Jazeera TV. QatarLebanese Leaders Call for CalmDubai TV. UAEIraqi Agriculture DeterioratesAlsumaria TV. IraqWomen Join Security Forces in IraqAl Jazeera English. QatarIsrael's Paranoia from IranAl-Alam TV. Iran$ 700 M Embezzeled from Jordanian InvestorsAl Arabiya TV. UAESeven Years Post 9-11: Are We Safer?Link TV. USA
The Peabody Award-winning daily compilation of television news reports from the Middle East including Egypt. Lebanon. Israel. Syria the Palestinian Authority. Iraq and Iran. Lebanese Druze Politician AssassinatedAl Jazeera English. QatarRemebering September 11Al Arabiya TV. UAEBTselem: More Palestinian arrive seizedAl Jazeera TV. QatarThe Future of East JerusalemIBA TV. IsraelGeorgian Security Forces Hand Security to IraqisAl-Iraqiya TV. IraqPower Outages Continue in IraqAlsumaria TV. IraqPakistan Condemns go across Border AttacksPress TV. IranSeven Years Post 9-11: Are We Safer?Link TV. USA
by D. Tyhacz for JournalismNow Dahr Jamail is an award-winning freelance journalist. His reporting from Iraq has earned him numerous awards including the prestigious 2008 Martha Gellhorn Award for Journalism the James Aronson allocate for Social Justice Journalism the Joe A....
Reporters share Gellhorn prize The Guardian by: Caitlin Fitzsimmons Monday May 19 2008 Read full article at original posting here Two freelance journalists have jointly won this year's Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism for their reports from the Middle East....
May 17. 2008 For immediate release The prestigious Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism 2008 has been won by Dahr Jamail and Mohammed Omer. In the spirit of the great war reporter Martha Gellhorn these two extraordinary journalists – Dahr Jamail...
The following is testimony presented to Congress by Kristofer Shawn Goldsmith on May 15. 2008. While there were several powerful testimonies by several Iraq veterans all worth watching this one in particular provides a taste of what is actually happening...
The story that isn't being told Rageh Omaar The Guardian March 17 2008 There was also an extraordinary diversity of views about the war and the occupation: independent bloggers such as the excellent Arab-American writer Dahr Jamail operated alongside reporters...
Texas-born Dahr Jamail was outraged that the US media were swallowing the Bush administration's line on Iraq and so with just $2,000 and no previous journalistic experience he set off to find out what was really happening in the country....
April 15 Dahr Jamail - Iraq: Beyond the Green Zone (lecture) -Alternative Radio is a weekly one-hour progressive radio show syndicated on more than 190 stations in the U. S and beyond. cater Date & measure: Tuesdays. 1400-1459ET bring: A68.5 Terms:...
Dahr Jamail author of Beyond the Green Zone Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq Dahr Jamail (Author) Foreword by Amy Goodman Published: 10/01/2007 9781931859479 | $20.00 | Trade Cloth Forthcoming in paperback http://www cbsd com/inventory aspx?id=22349 has just won a James...
(Global beat: September 18. 2008) A global financial crisis forces central banks worldwide to rush in with taxpayer dollars. Will this change the way the world controls money? SOURCES: Russia Today. Russia; Al Jazeera. Qatar; BBC. U. K.; Deutsche Welle. Germany; ABC News. U. S.; SABC. South Africa; CNN. U. S.; NHK News. Japan; BusinessWeek. U. S.
(Global Pulse: September 11. 2008) For more than a half-century lacquer and Korea have been fighting over one small island. Recently the Japanese government laid claim in a new textbook entry. The South Koreans protested violently. Watch Global Pulse and find out the real reasons for the dispute. SOURCES: KBS News. South Korea; NHK News. Japan; Channel News Asia. Singapore; Al Jazeera English. Qatar; Reuters. U. K.; CBS News. U. S.; Russia Today. Russia
(Global Pulse: September 4. 2008) The Republican National Convention became the coming out celebrate for Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as John McCain's vice presidential nominee. A storm of worldwide negative media coverage scrutinizing every controversial detail of her life at times felt like a soap opera. Now as the media are portrayed as the bad guys many speculate it was all a part of McCain's grand campaign strategy. SOURCES: Al Jazeera. Qatar; Press TV. Iran; Tele 13. Chile; TV5. France; BBC. U. K.; FOX News; U. S.; San Francisco Chronicle. U. S.; New York Times. U. S.; The Huffington Post. U. S.; NBC. U. S.
(Global Pulse: August 28. 2008) The Democrats gather in Denver to sell Barack Obama to the nation. The $100 million spectacle of the Democratic National Convention seemingly blinds U. S media to rising political upheaval around the world. Did everyone buy into the hype and hoopla of the Democrats' big show? SOURCES: Russia Today. Russia; Al Jazeera. Qatar; KBS News. South Korea; BBC. U. K.; Deutsche Welle. Germany; Press TV. Iran; CCTV. China
(Global Pulse: August 14. 2008) Long-simmering tension over a disputed region erupts in fighting between Russia and Georgia. Each side claims to be the victim of the other's aggression. Is Russia re-asserting its military might for the world to see or did Georgia over play its military hand? SOURCES: Russia Today. Russia; Al Jazeera English. Qatar; BBC News. U. K.; Deutsche Welle. Germany; Press TV. Iran; ABC News. U. S.. Fox News. U. S.
(Global Pulse: August 8. 2008) Everyone's seeing green. With high oil prices and moves to contend global warming many around the world are coming up with new ideas to combat high energy prices. SOURCES: Deutsche Welle. Germany; CNN. U. S.; KBS. South Korea; Russia Today. Russia
(Global Pulse: August 7. 2008) While the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan dominate most war news coverage there is another war raging much closer to the United States. The Mexican police and army are waging a battle against the cash rich and weapons-heavy drug cartels with 2008 being one of the bloodiest years to date. While U. S news usually portrays the confrontations as a Mexican problem threatening to move north. Latin news sources paint a picture of U. S demand driving the cartels to do whatever it takes to move the drugs north. SOURCES: NBC News. U. S.; CNN; U. S.; BBC News. U. K.; Galavision. Mexico; Univision. U. S.; Al Jazeera. Qatar; Telesur. Venezuela
(Global Pulse: July 31. 2008) China promised journalists complete freedom at the Olympics. But the press found that crashing Beijing's great protect of censorship was an Olympic sport in itself. Did media control doping and a "tough love" charm offensive tarnish China's Olympic gold? SOURCES: CCTV. China; Al Jazeera. Qatar; BBC. U. K.; DW-TV. Germany; TV5. France
(Global Pulse. July 24. 2008) Barack Obama toured the lay East and Europe on a fact finding voyage surrounded by world and domestic media. While every step Obama took was documented and scrutinized worldwide is anyone covering John McCain? SOURCES: CNN. U. S.. Al Jazeera English. Qatar; The Media Line. Israel; BBC. U. K.; Deutsche Welle. Germany; Asia Today. China; JohnMcCain com. U. S.; The Daily Show with John Stewart. U. S.
(Global Pulse: July 17. 2008) Iran surprises the world with two rounds of missile tests. But the U. S has a diplomatic surprise of its own. Can a U-turn in the White House be the first step in ending the Iran nuclear crisis? SOURCES: Press TV. Iran; Al Jazeera. Qatar; BBC. U. K.; CNN. U. S.; Fox. U. S.; NBC. U. S.; ABC. U. S.; Wall Street Journal. U. S.; Deutsche Welle. Germany
Power handshake. (Alastair give/AP) Apparently even an advanced economy like Britain needs help when it comes to nuclear power. Concerned about its promises to reduce harmful emissions the British government is throwing its weight behind nuclear energy - and now it’s allowing France’s electricity giant. EdF to take over Britain’s main nuclear generator. British Energy [...]
Watch out for the circling birds. (Mary Altaffer/AP) There’s a lot of finger-pointing happening on protect Street this week. With so much paper determine lost - and now real jobs as well - members of Congress aren’t the only ones looking for scapegoats. Those recriminations won’t do much to alter the future of the [...]
Now hold on just a minute! (Lauren Victoria Burke/AP) Congress clearly isn’t overjoyed with the furnish administration’s bailout plan. They’ve also discovered that if you don’t say yes right away you can actually think about stuff that’s not in the two-page proposal cooked up by the Treasury and the Fed over the weekend. So [...]
Committee to save the world? (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) It’s amazing what a little lobbying can bring home the bacon. Foreign banks were afraid they’d be left out of Washington’s big bailout so they used the weekend to put a little compel on the Treasury. Now as Nelson Schwartz and Carter Dougherty write. Washington’s deal will also apply [...]
Party over? (Richard Drew/AP) lay Eastern wealth funds be to have lost their taste for American assets as Heather Timmons and Keith Bradsher write. Some of them are choosing to look for new investments in calmer climes like Europe. This isn’t an entirely new trend since funds have been diversifying into securities denominated in [...]
Not your father’s battery-powered car. (Paul Sancya/AP) On Tuesday. General Motors celebrated its 100th anniversary with the introduction of the road-ready Chevrolet Volt which will go on sale in less than two years. It’s a powerful electric car (with a small gasoline-driven generator) that can go up to 40 miles on battery alone with a [...]
Too tall to fall. (Mark Lennihan/AP) Last night the Federal Reserve Board made history. Not only did it extend an $85 billion credit to American International Group the world’s biggest insurer it also became a 79.9 percent shareholder in the company. Clearly. AIG was deemed too big to fail. Should the American government. [...]
Let the sparks fly! (Eugene Hoshiko/AP) If you evaluate the rest of the world is worried about what’s happening on Wall Street you’re right. In China which depends on the United States and other wealthy countries as export markets the government is taking the trouble seriously. So seriously in fact that it is abandoning [...]
It’s all well and good if you’re a managing director…. (David Karp/AP) How many of you loyal readers remember Wang Laboratories? Once upon a time back in the 1980s. Wang was a major player in the world of powerful personal computers. Some pundits even thought the company could corner the nascent PC market. [...]
Where do we put the union label? (Eugene Hoshiko/AP) China’s dash through economic history whose rapid pace I’ve written about before is continuing right on schedule. Recently it was in the period that occurred in the United States from about 1900 to 1910: limitless migrant labor poor workplace conditions and shoddy or even dangerous products. [...]
Wow just heard this consider on Carbon Trading on Democracy Now! (see below) that just reeks of ‘Profit Motive’ and thus an incentive to look for the cheapest solutions at the expense on the community and the environment.
Charge the companies for every single pollution that they emit. Yes government intervention that comes from the local populate. I propose that the local business must give an environmental impact study to the local community. The citizens are oblige to read it since it provides them the safety information they need for themselves and their children.
The study must also be examined by the local environmental scientist that must be independent that is they get no money from any lobby. The people then decide and verify whether the pollution being imposed by them is something they want to receive or not. The company must obey or faced being shut down. All companies face the same scrutiny.
Finally price is paid by the R/D of company and cannot come from the consumer determine. Every price on G/S must be analyze seperately from the pollution they produce thus making the company owners who will get the profits from the G/S liable for all pollution imposed on the community.
(warning rant below this)*No free lunch then no free fucking environmental degradation that my children’s children will have to pay! Fuck that–I pay interest on every freaking loan I take & this fuckers can’t pay for their extraction from not only the laborer but the consumer and then the environment itself! Fuck that!*(rant ends here)
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will vote today on a bill promoting carbon trading which sets greenhouse gas emissions limits and allowances for each industry and then creates a system to trade the allowances. Critics argue that carbon trading actually delays the crucial process of big polluters reducing their emissions. We host a debate between Annie Petsonk of Environmental Defense and Daphne Wysham of the Institute for Policy Studies.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will vote today on climate change legislation written by Senators Joseph Lieberman and John Warner. The bill is called “America’s Climate Security Act.” It aims to combat global warming by using a cap-and-trade system popularly known as carbon trading. This involves setting greenhouse gas emissions limits and allowances for each industry and then creating a system to trade the allowances. Under the Kyoto Protocol countries can trade emissions credits and companies can earn credits by paying for emissions-reducing and clean energy projects in developing countries. Despite the US government’s opposition to the Kyoto Protocol. California. New York and New Jersey embraced carbon trading Tuesday as they joined European governments. Canadian provinces and New Zealand to launch a forum known as the International Carbon Action Partnership. Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore and institutions desire the World Bank and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change also support carbon trading as a viable market-based solution to contend global warming. But critics argue that carbon trading actually delays the crucial process of big polluters reducing their emissions.
Rising Tide North America is one organization that opposes carbon trading. Activists from this group disrupted a Carbon Markets Insights conference held in New York on Monday. Posing as delegates they took to the stage and denounced carbon trading as “a sham approach to the fossil fuel crisis.”
Protesters or “Greenwash guerrillas” from Rising Tide North America intervening at a carbon trading expo in New York.
Annie Petsonk. International counsel with Environmental Defense a leading national environmental advocacy organization. She has participated in the development of climate policy since the inception of the climate treaty talks and works to develop international laws that provide economic incentives for environmental protection. Annie Petsonk supports carbon trading.
Daphne Wysham. Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. She is also the founder and co-director of the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network and a member of the Durban Group for Climate Justice. Her investigate drew attention to the disproportionate ratio of fossil fuel investments by international financial institutions like the World tip. Daphne Wysham is opposed to carbon trading.
AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to carbon trading. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will vote today on climate change legislation written by Senators Joseph Lieberman and John Warner. The bill is called “America’s Climate Security Act.” It aims to combat global warming by using a cap-and-trade system popularly known as carbon trading. This involves setting greenhouse gas emissions limits and allowances for each industry and then creating a system to change the allowances.
Under the Kyoto Protocol countries can trade emissions credits and companies can acquire credits by paying for emissions-reducing and clean energy projects in developing countries. Despite the US government’s opposition to the Kyoto Protocol. California. New York and New Jersey embraced carbon trading Tuesday as they joined European governments. Canadian provinces and New Zealand to launch a forum known as the International Carbon Action Partnership. Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore and institutions like the World Bank and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change also support carbon trading as a viable market-based solution to contend global warming. But critics argue carbon trading actually delays the crucial process of big polluters reducing their emissions.
Rising Tide North America is one organization that opposes carbon trading. Activists from the group disrupted a Carbon Markets Insights conference held in New York Monday. Posing as delegates they took to the stage and denounced carbon trading as “a sham approach to the fossil fuel crisis.” This is a cut of their presentation at the conference.
ACTIVIST 1: We have a very special guest for all of you here as the cutting edge of market-based solutions to climate dress. We present to you a deed to the next frontier that is literally over all of your heads.
ACTIVIST 2: “This indenture made on the 30th day of October in the year of our ennoble two thousand and seven on behalf of the secretary of the sky bestows the full and rightful ownership of all parts of the atmosphere to the Carbon Traitors of Carbon Market Insights.” Generations of the future –
AMY GOODMAN: Protesters or as they call themselves “Greenwash guerrillas” from Rising Tide North America led away after intervening at the carbon trading expo in New York.
Well today we entertain a debate on carbon trading. Joining me here in Washington. D. C. two environmentalists both committed to fighting global warming. Annie Petsonk is international counsel with Environmental Defense a leading national environmental advocacy group. She has participated in the development of climate policy since the inception of the climate treaty talks and works to develop international laws that provide economic incentives for environmental protection. Annie Petsonk supports carbon trading. Daphne Wysham is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. She is also the founder and co-director of the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network and a member of the Durban Group for Climate Justice. Her research drew attention to the disproportionate ratio of fossil fuel investments by international financial institutions desire the World Bank. Daphne Wysham is opposed to carbon trading. We welcome you both to
Annie why don’t you start off by saying why you support carbon trading? And explain it in the process.
ANNIE PETSONK: The global warming problem is an urgent one and we don’t have time to continue putting global warming pollution into the atmosphere. If we want to get countries companies and local communities to look for and implement effective opportunities to cut greenhouse gas emissions wherever they can find them — in the home in the office in the school — we’ve got to give people economic incentives so that it becomes in their financial self-interest to cut global warming pollution now. That’s what carbon trading does. Implemented effectively it can be a huge help along with other policies in getting our nation to step up to the plate take some leadership and tackle this problem.
ANNIE PETSONK: Sure. In cap-and-trade every polluter is given a mandatory limit on their greenhouse gas emissions. You get a certain amount of pollution; that’s all you’re allowed to emit. Essentially the government opens a tip account for you and puts a certain amount of allowances to emit pollution in your bank be. If you can sight a way to reduce your pollution below your allowable level you have some extra pollution allowances that you can save for the future or to sell to someone else. If someone comes to you and says. “Hey. I’ve got a great idea for how you can cut emissions,” you can implement that idea save emissions and then essentially have a valuable commodity that will be increasing in value in the future since we have to cut a lot more pollution in the future in order to prevent global warming from really becoming dangerous. And that gives you an economic incentive to look wherever you can to find better cheaper faster ways of cutting global warming pollution. So you need two things: a mandatory cap on emissions put there by government and an incentive program that allows anybody to come up with better cheaper faster ways to cut pollution and alter money.
DAPHNE WYSHAM: Well you know this is a nice abstraction but what we should be looking at is how carbon trading is playing out in reality. If you look at the EU emissions trading system that was up and running — has been up and running for several years we see that emissions are actually up for greenhouse gas emissions as are profits. Profits are up for the nuclear industry for the coal industry and the average consumer is paying more.
Now the EU emissions trading system they’ve begun to make changes in that system; however essentially what carbon trading does is it turns the earth’s carbon cycling capacity into property that is to be bought and sold in a global market. And by turning carbon into a commodity we’re essentially taking the earth’s ability to support a climate conducive to life and human societies and passing it into the same corporate hands that are destroying the climate.
So you know one of the problems with the parameters of the climate debate is that for too long NGOs have been sort of promoting solutions that have been operating in a vacuum of you experience analysis of other issues fundamental issues around who profits who pays democracy cater. All of these sorts of things are rarely debated. And as a prove we have a very narrow sort of political space in which we’re now discussing how we move forward on the issue of climate change.
AMY GOODMAN: But explain exactly how it works. I mean. ExxonMobil is given a certain amount of carbon credits allowed to emit a certain amount of greenhouse gases and if they want to do more who do they trade with?
DAPHNE WYSHAM: Well they can trade — it hasn’t taken place yet domestically because we don’t — what we have is basically — the US is not signatory to the Kyoto Protocol. But ExxonMobil can trade with itself if it has operations in a developing country eventually. For example. Chevron is now pushing for gas flare reduction projects in the Niger Delta to count as carbon credits under the CDM. Now this is a process that’s illegal. It’s been illegal in Nigeria.
DAPHNE WYSHAM: The gas flaring yeah. And the international community and other institutions have been putting pressure on Nigeria to stop this gas flaring. However if this carbon credit moves send as planned. Chevron and the World Bank and some other study international corporations will actually profit from reducing gas flares essentially getting a acquire for doing what should be illegal.
ANNIE PETSONK: We’ve had great experience with cap-and-trade for controlling air pollution in this country since 1990 when Congress passed the Clean Air Act amendments. We put a cap on acid come down pollution and adopted this kind of system to cut acid rain pollution from coal-fired power plants. So in that program we essentially put the training wheels on the bicycle and learned how to ride the bicycle. That program has cut acid rain pollution far faster than industry and many environmentalists predicted could be done. And it’s done so at a fraction of the cost that people projected.
Setting up a carbon trading system for the world and for the United States is more complicated. There are more polluters. I accept with Daphne that companies should not be allowed to get credit in a developing country which has no caps on emissions for doing what they were supposed to do anyway. That would be like me saying to you. “Amy. I was planning to eat some cheesecake next week but I’m not going to eat as much cheesecake as I was actually planning to do. I was going to break my diet and eat a little extra. And I’ll sell you my extra cheesecake credits.” You would then ask me. “Oh. Annie how much cheesecake were you actually planning to eat next week?” And of cover. I’ll tell you I was planning to eat it breakfast lunch and dinner and sell you my extra cheesecake credits for what I don’t actually eat. We don’t like that system. We don’t evaluate it’s a workable system. And one of the reasons why we’re looking forward to the markup in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee today is that the bill now being considered there doesn’t act that system. It’s better than that.
DAPHNE WYSHAM: I tend to be with that perception as do quite a few number of groups. Friends of the Earth has recently produced an analysis on the windfall profits in the Lieberman-Warner global warming bill and according to their calculations. 38% of the giveaways the free giveaways in this bill would benefit the fossil fuel industry over the lifetime of the program. That’s — and roughly $268 billion of that would go directly to the coal industry alone.
DAPHNE WYSHAM: Well you know one of the failures of the EU emissions trading system is that they essentially — the governments essentially gave the right to pollute to certain industries. They set the tap high and as a result industry was able to emit as much as they had been emitting in the past and make a profit buying and selling these emissions rights. Similarly in this — and there was no auctioning.
Now in the current Lieberman-Warner account there is some auctioning but about 50% of all of the permits are just being given away for free. Now these permits are valuable. They are basically being turned into a commodity. So now what we have is essentially the most carbon-intensive of the fossil fuels the coal industry is one of the largest beneficiaries of the Lieberman-Warner bill. And an additional $522 billion will potentially go to what they call zero and low carbon energy technologies. Now if we are optimistic we would say. “Wonderful! That’s going to go to renewables.” However the legislation is vague. It could go to either the fossil fuel industry for carbon capture and storage which is a very expensive and unproven technology or it could go to the nuclear energy. And that is not specifically ruled out in this legislation.
So we have problems with this also because it essentially is a tax on the working poor. It’s not a tax on the very corporations that are causing the problem.
DAPHNE WYSHAM: Well because we ordain see the windfall gains. Instead of having those go to say subsidize an increase in the price of power or to public transportation or to other incredibly important solutions to the climate problem we will see billions and billions of dollars worth of profits going back to the very industries that are causing the problem.
ANNIE PETSONK: We believe that the Americas Climate Security Act that’s going to be voted on this morning in the Environment and Public Works Committee is a very good first go. Is it perfect? No. Are senators moving to improve it? Yes. Senator Lautenberg announced yesterday he wants to broaden the coverage of the bill so that more parts of the economy come under that cap on fossil fuel emissions. We think that’s a good thing. He’s also proposing to put into the bill a provision that says let’s look at how much global warming we’re seeing. You know the governors of the Southeast states are meeting today here in Washington to try to figure out what to do about their dwindling wet resources in the face of the worst drought the Southeast has ever seen. We’ve got to act now; they recognize that.
ANNIE PETSONK: Atlanta could run out of water. So what Senator Lautenberg has proposed to do is to put a provision in the bill that requires Congress to keep looking back at the science and see: if those caps on pollution need to be tightened it ordain alter them. The bill does start out for about half of the polluters who are covered by making them purchase allowances not get them for free. And over time it increases the amount they have to purchase and it reduces the amount that the government gives them for free. That’s a sensible approach. Could it be faster? Yes. But it gets us started and that’s the most important thing because we don’t have time to wait.
DAPHNE WYSHAM: Can I just — you know. I think it’s important to take some specific examples. I think it’s instructive to look at for example the World Bank which I have been monitoring for over ten years now. Now they have invested over fifteen times as much in fossil fuels as renewable since 1992. Originally it was a hundred to one. Now they are getting into the carbon trading merchandise. The US Treasury back in 1997 said this is a clear conflict of interest for a financial institution to both profit from financing fossil fuels and profit from carbon trading. They’re actually charging somewhere on the order of 13% commission on all carbon trading transactions. Now what the World Bank could have done and should have done instead of getting into the carbon trading market is they should have set a higher energy efficiency standard they should have stopped subsidizing fossil fuels they should at the very least be calculating their climate footprint which they are not doing. So they’re calculating the carbon credits but they’re not calculating the carbon debits.
Now if you globalize that particular copy and look at how that would play out with bank after bank whether it’s Citibank or the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development or other public or private banks you see how these banks are going to be gaming the system. They will be profiting from selling — from giving loans to the likes of Chevron and then they’ll be profiting again from charging a equip on the CO2 that is captured from those operations in developing countries or potentially in the US.
So you know what I think populate need to understand is yes the time is urgent. We be to take action very soon on this issue. However we need to learn the lessons from the failures of the EU emissions trading system. And the bill that’s on the Senate floor this morning is not the best way to move send. It’s a corporate giveaway and we be to do exceed. Boxer needs to hear from people on this.
AMY GOODMAN: measure word. Annie Petsonk on this. Is this just a corporate gift a subsidy a giveaway?
ANNIE PETSONK: If America doesn’t take the lead beginning to tackle our global warming pollution — excuse me — other nations won’t either. I strongly support getting rid of fossil fuel subsidies for big coal-fired power plants in China and India and in the US. We’ve got to start. We cannot afford to delay. This bill is not a corporate subsidy or giveaway. It’s a first go in getting America on a track to a cleaner energy future and a safer climate.
AMY GOODMAN: Fifteen seconds. Daphne Wysham then what’s your alternative since you are so critical of this?
DAPHNE WYSHAM: Well. I think you know what we have is a political opportunity here. We know that the President is going to veto any kind of legislation that comes from the Senate. He has made clear his opposition to any kind of legislation –
DAPHNE WYSHAM: Even Lieberman and Warner. So why aren’t the Democrats — why are they just — why are they kowtowing to furnish? Why aren’t they pushing forward the most aggressive piece of legislation that they can get as a benchmark and say this is what we’re going to be pushing for in the next administration? And you know we can do better. We should be debating these issues. We should be setting much more stringent targets at least 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. This bill gets us nowhere near that. And so that’s my concerns with it.
AMY GOODMAN: Daphne Wysham and Annie Petsonk. I want to thank yo |
