Mike Tidwell writes: Pearl Harbor II is happening now. Let's Fight Back Together



This movement must begin to act right now, this year, next year, every year in a way commensurate with the urgency. When the next Katrina-like hurricane lashes our coastline, there must be nonviolent civil disobedience at the D.C. headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose leadership denies and suppresses the growing scientific link between global warming and more frequent and more destructive Category 4 and 5 storms. Officials in Congress who do not support strong legislative action on this issue should be visited by constituents who refuse to leave their offices until they change their position. Oil and auto industry CEO's must be made aware of the anger many of us feel at their obstructionism and foot-dragging when it comes to moving rapidly to clean energy and clean cars.

Mike Tidwell writes: Pearl Harbor II is happening now. Let's Fight Back Together

No More Waiting
Pearl Harbor II is happening now. Let's Fight Back Together
by Ted Glick
and Mike Tidwell

July 06, 2006

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Have you seen Al Gore's film, "An Inconvenient Truth?" If so, you will understand what you are about to read. If not, you must go. Your life depends on it.

From this day forward we, the authors of this column, understanding the destiny of our planet will be irrevocably determined in the next ten years or less, pledge to endure all hardships and make any personal sacrifices needed to help steer our nation toward a clean energy future and away from the climate chaos and destruction fast approaching from global warming. We will go without food. We will go to jail peacefully and repeatedly. We will surrender any and all comforts and privileges in the coming weeks, months, and years in the name of climate justice and clean energy. And if you love your kids, you will join us to the maximum extent of your ability. Right now.

Expert scientists, journalists and government leaders tell us that we have perhaps 10 years or less to arrest the alarming buildup of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Unless we act now, we face many decades of highly destructive storms, major droughts and wildfires, disastrous sea-level rise, a significant slowing or stopping of the Gulf Stream, the spread of tropical diseases to new regions, massive numbers of environmental refugees, tremendous economic damage and more-in a phrase, climate hell. We must dramatically reduce our use of oil, coal and natural gas and do so now!

Who believes that we have 10 years or less to make this clean energy revolution happen? Al Gore is one. James Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies is another. Pulitzer-prize winning author Ross Gelbspan thinks that we need 70% reductions in greenhouse gases "yesterday." An international task force reporting to Tony Blair concluded in early 2005 that we could reach "the point of no return in a decade." And the list goes on.

But do we in the United States have the social and industrial capacity to retool our lives and our entire economy in just ten years? The answer is a resounding yes. How do we know this? Because we've done it before! In his book, Plan B 2.0, author and visionary Lester Brown looks at what happened in the United States right after the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack:

"The year 1942 witnessed the greatest expansion of industrial output in the nation's history. A sparkplug factory was among the first to switch to the production of machine guns. Soon a manufacturer of stoves was producing lifeboats. A merry-go-round factory was making gun mounts. . . The automobile industry was converted to such an extent that from 1942-1944, there were essentially no cars [for commercial sale] produced in the United States.

"This mobilization of resources within a matter of months demonstrates that a country and, indeed, the world can restructure the economy quickly if it is convinced of the need to do so. In this mobilization, the scarcest resource of all is time. With climate change, for example, we are fast approaching the point of no return. We cannot reset the clock. Nature is the timekeeper."

What will it take for the United States to make the conversion to clean energy in time? How can we develop the political will for a clean energy revolution to save the environment and civilization?

One fundamental answer is found in the historic words of early twentieth century labor martyr Joe Hill: "Don't mourn, organize!" We need local organizations, climate emergency councils, in every nook and cranny of U.S. society, in schools, neighborhoods, workplaces, religious institutions, unions and other associations, government bodies. This is already happening; it needs to be dramatically accelerated and expanded.

This movement must begin to act right now, this year, next year, every year in a way commensurate with the urgency. When the next Katrina-like hurricane lashes our coastline, there must be nonviolent civil disobedience at the D.C. headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose leadership denies and suppresses the growing scientific link between global warming and more frequent and more destructive Category 4 and 5 storms. Officials in Congress who do not support strong legislative action on this issue should be visited by constituents who refuse to leave their offices until they change their position. Oil and auto industry CEO's must be made aware of the anger many of us feel at their obstructionism and foot-dragging when it comes to moving rapidly to clean energy and clean cars.

And we must retain our sense of urgency. We can't let the pressure of the daily grind subvert our determination to step up to the plate, day after day, on this most fundamental of issues, the very survival of the ecosystem upon which all life depends.

Will future generations praise us or curse us? What we do in 2006, in 2007 and the next few years will provide the answer.

Mike Tidwell is a founder of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and director of the U.S. Climate Emergency Council. Ted Glick is a co-founder of the Climate Crisis Coalition and coordinator of the U.S. CEC (www.climateemergency.org).

When this story was posted in July 2006, this was on the front page of PCOL:




Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers

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Jody Olsen is acting Peace Corps Director The Senate confirmed Gaddi Vasquez to head the FAO on June 30. Jody Olsen will be acting Director until the President makes a permanent appointment. Olsen has been Deputy Director of the Peace Corps since 2002. She has previously served as Chief of Staff for two directors, as regional director for North Africa, Near East, and Asia and the Pacific, and as country director in Togo. She served in Tunisia as a PCV.

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The Peace Corps Library The Peace Corps Library is now available online with over 40,000 index entries in 500 categories. Looking for a Returned Volunteer? Check our RPCV Directory. New: Sign up to receive PCOL Magazine, our free Monthly Magazine by email. Like to keep up with Peace Corps news as it happens? Sign up to recieve a daily summary of Peace Corps stories from around the world.

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Changing the Face of Hunger In his new book, Former Congressman Tony Hall (RPCV Thailand) says humanitarian aid is the most potent weapon the United States can deploy against terrorism. An evangelical Christian, he is a big believer in faith-based organizations in the fight against hunger. Members of Congress have recently recommended that Hall be appointed special envoy to Sudan to focus on ending the genocide in Darfur.

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PC will not return to East Timor in 2006 Volunteers serving in East Timor have safely left the country as a result of the recent civil unrest and government instability. Latest: The Peace Corps has informed us that at this time, the Peace Corps has no plans to re-enter the country in 2006. The Peace Corps recently sent a letter offering eligible volunteers the opportunity to reinstate their service in another country.

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Chris Dodd considers run for the White House Senator Chris Dodd plans to spend the next six to eight months raising money and reaching out to Democrats around the country to gauge his viability as a candidate. Just how far Dodd can go depends largely on his ability to reach Democrats looking for an alternative to Hillary Clinton. PCOL Comment: Dodd served as a Volunteer in the Dominican Republic and has been one of the strongest supporters of the Peace Corps in Congress.

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The RPCV who wrote about Ben Hogan Probably no RPCV has done more to further the Third Goal of the Peace Corps than John Coyne with the Peace Corps Writers web site and newsletter that he and Marian Haley Beil have produced since 1989. Now John returns to writing about his first love - golf in "The Caddie who knew Ben Hogan." Read an excerpt from his novel, an interview with the author and a schedule of his book readings in Maryland and DC this week.

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Vasquez testifies before Senate Committee Director Vasquez testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on his nomination as the new Representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture replacing Tony Hall. He has been the third longest serving Peace Corps Director after Loret Ruppe Miller and Sargent Shriver. PCOL Comment: Read our thanks to Director Vasquez for his service to the Peace Corps.

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First Amendment Watch Maine Web Report hit with Federal Lawsuit Website wins trademark suit against Jerry Falwell

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Interview with a Hit Man RPCV John Perkins says that for many years he was an "economic hit man" in the world of international finance whose primary job was to convince less developed countries to accept multibillion dollar loans for infrastructure projects that left the recipient countries wallowing in debt and highly vulnerable to outside political and commercial interests. In this exclusive interview for "Peace Corps Online," Colombia RPCV Joanne Roll, author of Remember with Honor, talks to Perkins about his Peace Corps service, his relation with the NSA, "colonization" in Ecuador, the consequences of his work, why he decided to speak out, and what his hopes are for change.

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PC Program in Chad temporarily suspended Director Vasquez announced the temporary suspension of the Peace Corps program in Chad on April 14 and that all 29 Peace Corps volunteers have left the country. With a program dating back forty years (See Page 4 of the April 1966 "Peace Corps Volunteer"), RPCVs hope that volunteers can return to Chad as soon as the situation has stabilized. Congratulations to the Peace Corps for handling the suspension quickly and professionally.

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Peace Corps stonewalls on FOIA request The Ashland Daily Tidings reports that Peace Corps has blocked their request for information on the Volkart case. "After the Tidings requested information pertaining to why Volkart was denied the position — on March 2 — the newspaper received a letter from the Peace Corps FOIA officer stating the requested information was protected under an exemption of the act." The Dayton Daily News had similar problems with FOIA requests for their award winning series on Volunteer Safety and Security.

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PCOL readership increases 100% Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.

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History of the Peace Corps PCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help.

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RPCV admits to abuse while in Peace Corps Timothy Ronald Obert has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a minor in Costa Rica while serving there as a Peace Corps volunteer. "The Peace Corps has a zero tolerance policy for misconduct that violates the law or standards of conduct established by the Peace Corps," said Peace Corps Director Gaddi H. Vasquez. Could inadequate screening have been partly to blame? Mr. Obert's resume, which he had submitted to the Peace Corps in support of his application to become a Peace Corps Volunteer, showed that he had repeatedly sought and obtained positions working with underprivileged children. Read what RPCVs have to say about this case.

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Military Option sparks concerns The U.S. military, struggling to fill its voluntary ranks, is allowing recruits to meet part of their reserve military obligations after active duty by serving in the Peace Corps. Read why there is opposition to the program among RPCVs. Director Vasquez says the agency has a long history of accepting qualified applicants who are in inactive military status. John Coyne says "Not only no, but hell no!" and RPCV Chris Matthews leads the debate on "Hardball." Avi Spiegel says Peace Corps is not the place for soldiers while Coleman McCarthy says to Welcome Soldiers to the Peace Corps. Read our poll results. Latest: Congress passed a bill on December 22 including language to remove Peace Corps from the National Call to Service (NCS) military recruitment program

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Why blurring the lines puts PCVs in danger When the National Call to Service legislation was amended to include Peace Corps in December of 2002, this country had not yet invaded Iraq and was not in prolonged military engagement in the Middle East, as it is now. Read the story of how one volunteer spent three years in captivity from 1976 to 1980 as the hostage of a insurrection group in Colombia in Joanne Marie Roll's op-ed on why this legislation may put soldier/PCVs in the same kind of danger. Latest: Read the ongoing dialog on the subject.

Read the stories and leave your comments.