MARCH ON CHICAGO'S CLIMATE CRIMINALS:
November 30, 2009 - 11am - Federal Plaza in Downtown Chicago

• PRESS RELEASE: Global Day of Action to Expose Climate Criminals, Shuts Down the Chicago Financial District

• View Pictures, Video and media from the N30 action!

• Read "Taking Action Against Carbon Trade: What the Clouds Say" by Rachel Smolker

• See Reportbacks from the other N30 actions around the globe!

• Please donate for legal fees! (see 'Donate' link on left)

• Download the Flyer/Schedule for the Moblization: JPG or PDF

• Attend the workshops / trainings prior to the event

• For more information or to help with organizing, or if you are coming from out of town, email chicago@actforclimatejustice.org or call 773.343.2939

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On Nov. 30th, one week before the UN climate negotiations begin in Copenhagen, Chicago community groups will take part in an international day of action for climate justice.;

We will march to the Chicago Climate Exchange, the first and biggest carbon trading institution in North America, and along the way we’ll pay visits to Chicago’s other top climate criminals.   Join us to demand environmental justice at home and REAL solutions in Copenhagen.

Shut down Chicago’s coal-fired power plants!
No more carbon trading and other false solutions!
REAL Solutions to the Climate Crisis Now!

 

This Call to Action is Sponsored by:

• Climate Pledge of Resistance (CPR for the Planet)
• Eco-Justice Collaborative
• Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO)
• Rainforest Action Network Chicago (RAN)
• Rising Tide North America
• Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization (PERRO)
• Mobilization for Climate Justice

 

Join the N30 Action on Facebook!

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Tuesday Nov. 24: Teach-In: The Problems with Carbon Trading

Saturday Nov. 28: Shutting Things Down to Open Things Up: Organizing for Power, Organizing for Change

Sunday Nov. 29: Activist Trainings, Meetings, and Presentation

 

 

 

Ten years ago, a movement of movements converged in Seattle for a historic victory against corporate globalization.  Today, the fight for climate justice is a continuation of that same struggle.  As the world’s biggest companies and their friends in government continue to fight a transition to more just and sustainable ways of living, climate change threatens to turn our world upside down with water shortages, crop failures, sea level rise and ecosystem collapse.  A million species face extinction by the end of the century, and the people who have contributed least to the problem will continue to be the hardest hit.  What can be done at this critical juncture, with our future at stake?   

Throughout history, social change has come about when regular people get fed up with business as usual, get organized, and take to the streets. If we leave the solution to climate change up to politicians and benevolent corporations, then we will lose – not just a political battle, but the life-support systems of the planet. Time is running out to avert the worst impacts of climate change; the time to act is now.   

A broad coalition of organizations working for social, ecological, racial and economic justice has come together under the banner of the Mobilization for Climate Justice. Join us as we organize mass action on climate change on November 30, 2009!  November 30 (N30) is significant because it both immediately precedes the upcoming UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen and is the ten-year anniversary of the successful shut-down of the World Trade Organization in Seattle, when people came together to demonstrate the power of collective action.   

Urgent action is needed around the Copenhagen climate talks.  The new international climate agreement (if there is one) will likely be nothing more than business as usual—sacrificing real emissions reductions in favor of market-based approaches that enhance corporate profits while delaying a transition away from fossil fuels.  

The current approach to climate change in the UN, and in the US Congress, is based on the creation of a new market in carbon emissions.  Carbon trading (aka “cap and trade”) and carbon offsets do not address the root causes of global warming, nor do they reduce emissions. They are designed by and for corporations, and are a dangerous distraction that should be abandoned.  We also reject other false solutions like nuclear energy, industrial agrofuels, "clean coal," and half-baked attempts at re-engineering the Earth’s atmosphere ("geoengineering").   

We urgently need to implement real solutions like ending excessive consumption, keeping fossil fuels in the ground, re-localizing production and consumption, and drastically reducing greenhouse emissions.  We must also protect the rights of workers, displaced peoples, and others affected by the transition. None of this is on the agenda for the Copenhagen talks, but it’s what we’ll be fighting for in the streets.   

Join us in taking a stand for real, just and effective solutions to the climate crisis!  We will pay a visit to several climate criminals with offices in downtown Chicago, including the Chicago Climate Exchange, the first and biggest carbon trading institution in the US.  We will also be calling for environmental justice and the shutdown of the Crawford and Fisk coal plants in Little Village and Pilsen.  The struggle for climate justice begins at home – join us in demanding real solutions in Copenhagen and in Chicago!