GJEP Press Conference Thursday 11:30am: Blocking the Road to Rio+20

Media Advisory 7 December 2011

Global Leaders Denounce Green Economy as a Market Disaster on Steroids

More Land Grabs and Speculative Financial Bubbles on the Horizon, Social Movements Warn

–photo ops—creative visuals—photo ops—

Durban, South Africa–As COP17 draws toward a close, and in the run-up to the Rio+20 Environmental Summit, Global Justice Ecology Project, an international organization based in the United States, is convening global leaders from the climate justice, Indigenous Rights, peasant farmers and forest protection movements for a press conference at the Kosi Palm room in the ICC at 11:30am on Thursday, December 8, 2011.

Speakers will condemn the Green Economy as the green-tinted regurgitation of a failed and unjust economic model predicated on the expansion of the controversial REDD offset scheme to every square meter of the Earth–including oceans, soils, agriculture, and biodiversity.

Uncle Sam and his team of economic clowns will also speak out on behalf of the Green Economy and the 1% global elite that it is designed to serve.

Contact: Jeff Conant–Global Justice Ecology Project Communications Director

<jc> +27 (0)7 362 30619

CEE Climate Economic Empowerment by Comrade Fatso

C.E.E. (Climate Economic Empowerment)

By Comrade Fatso

Comrades I’m sure you’ve heard of the crisis in the world today

Floods in France, disappearing islands and droughts in Zimbabwe

How do we deal with all our carbon emissions rising

With global warming, increased instability and insane petrol pricing

Comrades I would like to announce my brand new policy

I call this policy C…E…E…

Its simply entitled Climate Economic Empowerment

How to make money from mother nature and from the environment

Because climate is the new bling

The new diamonds, the new shiny, spangly thing

We’ve run out of ways to make money for a living

But, comrades, now we have carbon markets and carbon trading

So will we save the planet? Hell muthafukking no!

But we’ll have the biggest, most fantastic party til we hit ground zero

So lets co-opt the NGO’s and some scholarly scholars

Coz we wanna go green like freshly minted US dollars

So in that sense yes we are the real green party

Because nature is time and time is money

So give us your money and give it to us by the tonne

Put it in my bank account – it’s called the Green Climate Fund!

Press Release: Tar Sands Pushers Welcomed to UN Climate Negotiations

PRESS RELEASE

December 6, 2011

CONTACT
Emilie Novaczek
Media Liaison, Canadian Youth Delegation to COP17
emilie
Durban: 076.772.4054
International: +27.76.772.4054

TAR SANDS PUSHERS WELCOMED TO UN CLIMATE NEGOTIATIONS

Durban, South Africa (6/12/11)–Members of the Canadian Youth Delegation and the Indigenous Environmental Network held a welcome party to formally receive Environment Minister Peter Kent and his tar sands pushers to the UN climate negotiations. As conference delegates entered the negotiations this morning, the welcoming committee handed out samples of tar sands on behalf of Kent, along with tourism brochures for Canada’s scenic tar sands.

Canada’s refusal to commit to a binding climate agreement has made it a pariah state at the negotiations. Members of the Canadian Youth Delegation and the Indigenous Environmental Network hope their humble gifts will make the tar sands pushers feel right at home.

“Canada’s cozy relationship with oil industry has inhibited them from making real progress at these negotiations,” said Karen Rooney. “It’s clear that they have chosen to put the needs of polluters ahead of people.”

Over the past few months, Canada has been lobbying foreign governments to weaken both their climate policies and fuel quality standards to protect the trade of tar sands oil.

Meanwhile, the health and livelihoods of many Indigenous communities downstream from the tar sands continue to be threatened due to toxic tailings and the destruction of the boreal forest.

“Indigenous communities have been turned into sacrifice zones in Canada to feed our fossil fuel addiction. We are here to stand up for those communities against Canada’s pollution peddling and support just climate solutions,” stated Ben Powless, of the Indigenous Environmental Network.

A press conference will follow at 3:30pm in the Kosi Palm press room in the ICC.

-30-

Photos freely available at: http://bit.ly/v1A3vR

World Business Summit Press Statement

After 3 long days of intense talks on saving the world, the corporations have come to a solution that solves all the climates problems, Markets!

The Dangers of REDD+

Corporate Clowns support the Green Climate Fund

Call for Mass Action: 2 December, 2pm, Speakers’ Corner, Durban

THE PLANET IS WARMING UP. AND SO ARE WE.

In preparation for the mass march on the Global Day of Action this Saturday, December 3rd, the call has been made for a mass, non-violent, “warm-up” action tomorrow, Friday, December 2nd.

Context: Despite overwhelming evidence of the accumulating impacts of climate change, despite the widely recognised fact that current “most likely” scenarios will lead to the deaths of almost 200 million people across Africa alone within the century, “negotiators” inside the ICC continue to horse-trade for profits, carbon markets, and the bad-faith lies of a so-called “green economy” – dooming generations of people in developing countries to increasing misery, insecurity, and worse.

We say: NOT ON OUR WATCH.

EVENT: Mass demonstration against the Conference Of Polluters
LOCATION: Speakers’ Corner – Corner of Samora Machel and Bram Fisher
DATE: 2 December 2011
TIME: 2pm
VOLUME: Very, very loud

Delegations are expected from the Democratic Left Front, the Rural Women’s Alliance, Climate Justice Now!, Climate Action Network, and allied movements and formations from around the world.

If you’re in Durban, be there and bring friends. If you can’t be in Durban, please send solidarity messages and distribute this call as widely as possible.

ANOTHER WORLD IS NECESSARY.

—

John Treat
International Solidarity Representative
Global Call to Action Against Poverty – South Africa (GCAP SA)
Post: PO Box 140, Melville, 2109, South Africa
Street: 14 First Avenue, Melville, South Africa
Web: http://www.whiteband.org
E-mail: john.gcapsa
Phone: +27 (0)11 482 3708
Fax: +27 (0)11 482 6941
Mobile: +27 (0)72 202 7950
Skype: johntreat