Green Options

In a demonstration of increased surveillance on protest groups in Britain, police arrested 114 people for alleged conspiracy to commit criminal damage and aggravated trespass at a coal-fired power plant.

Huh? What kind of protest involves 114 people “conspiring” to enter and vandalize a power plant? Sounds like a few dozen were involved in logistics, and the rest had volunteered to go along for the ride. Does their willingness to participate really constitute conspiratory thought?

About 500 activists blocked coal shipments into Australia’s Hunter harbour yesterday by paddling kayaks and homemade rafts made from milk crates and innertubes into the water.

The action, which lasted 11 hours, is the fourth successful blockade against shipments of coal into Australia. More coal is received at that particular harbor than any other in the world.

The five Sea Shepherd crew members on board the Steve Irwin found Tasmanian police back at their ship a few weeks after they had confiscated all their video material from the latest campaign. But this time, the police arrived to protect the crew.

“Someone called in a bomb threat about 20 minutes ago, stating that it would detonate in 30 minutes,” a police officer told the crew. “You therefore have 10 minutes left.”

Over 2,500 people from across the country gathered at the Capitol Power Plant today and blocked all five entrances to the plant for almost four hours.

Operators did not attempt to enter the facility, leaving the plant without human attendants and inoperable for the day. NASA scientist James Hansen, Robert Kennedy, Jr., Bill McKibben, Wendell Berry, and Daryl Hannah were among the participants who risked arrest to make this statement against coal power.

About 100 activists from the group Climate Rush gathered at a five-star hotel and unfurled a banner reading “No New Coal Awards” before being hauled away by police.

Fifty officers prevented the activists from entering the ballroom itself, but the action disrupted the envent nonetheless. The activists came dressed to impress, wearing dresses and tuxedos just like the coal industry executives inside.

Did the Capitol Climate Action succeed before it even began?

Well, sort of.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sent a letter to the Capitol Architect asking the Capitol Power Planet to switch from coal to natural gas by the end of 2009. The proposal has been made in the past, but shut down by pro-coal legislatators.

Global warming deniers and conservative politicians have fallen into a frenzy after Dr. James Hansen recorded a video in support of the upcoming Capitol Climate Action, a well-coordinated act civil disobedience coming up this Monday.

“If he wants to have a demonstration concerning global warming, coming to the Capitol is not a right choice,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-CA. “The bottom line is if Hansen wants to protest global warming, he should go to the National Cathedral and take it up with God rather than going to Capitol Hill.”

Environmental activist Marie Mason has been sentenced to an unprecidented 21 years in prison for her role in an arson that caused $1 million in damage to a GMO research lab at Michigan State University.

Mason’s arrest stemmed from last year’s dumpster discovery of personal items and plans that linked to Mason’s former husband, Frank Ambrose. Ambrose cooperated with the investigation and received a lighter sentence of 8 years.

Sea Shepherd, the controversial direct-action anti-whaling group featured on Animal Planet’s Whale Wars, is currently facing retaliation from the Japanese whaling ships in the form of what Sea Shepherd calls a “military grade weapon system that sends out mid to high frequency sound waves designed to disorient and possibly incapacitate personnel.”

If their description is accurate, the Japanese are acting out of accordance with international law by deploying military weapons in the Antarctic Treaty Zone. But breaking international law wouldn’t be anything new for the whalers, who by some interpretations should not even be in the Antarctic at all.

After camping near the Barley Barber Swamp for a week, 17 activists were arrested yesterday for trespassing and resisting arrest. The group, all members of Everglades Earth First!, say they were camping out to convince Florida Power & Light to open the swamp to the public due to increasing concerns that their nearby coal plant is draining the swamp of its water.

According to Earth First!, independent scientific studies have shown the swamp’s water level to be decreasing dramatically every year, but FPL denies the accusation and says they have maintained appropriate water levels under an agreement with the South Florida Water Management District.

Friendly words from the police last week have done nothing to dissuade Tasmanian activists from continuing their nonviolent protests in the island’s forests. Seven protesters were arrested each on Tuesday and today, while one activist remains in a tree despite the warrant that has been issued for her arrest.

One week ago, Tasmanian police caused an outcry from conservation groups when they publicly named anti-forestry protesters as a make-believe terrorist group threatening the airport in an otherwise typical drill. The Wilderness Fund complained to the police that forestry protests in the country have always been nothing but peaceful in their opposition to clear cutting.