Two activists were just arrested for locking down at the Bank of America building in Richmond, VA. The action was part of the Southeast Convergence for Climate Action. Please donate to their legal fund! Thank you! 
Contact Asheville Rising Tide at ashevillerisingtide at gmail (dot) com
Posted Nov 9th, 2008
Read original article on TIME.com [HERE]
Wednesday, Nov. 05, 2008
Taking On King Coal
By Bryan Walsh
Nothing could sway the Dominion 11 from their mission–not the cops and certainly not the prospect of free food. Early on the morning of Sept. 15, activists from a range of environmental groups formed a human barrier to block access to a coal plant being built by Dominion in rural Wise County, Virginia. As acts of civil disobedience go, this wasn’t exactly Bloody Sunday. The police took a hands-off approach and even offered to buy the protesters breakfast if they unchained themselves. (They declined.) But the consequences were far from trivial. The activists who had formed the barrier to the construction site were arrested and charged with trespassing, and they eventually paid $400 each in fines. That’s nothing, of course, compared with the punishment the Dominion plant will inflict on the environment. If completed, the plant will emit 5.3 million tons of CO2 a year into the atmosphere, roughly the equivalent of putting a million more cars on the road.
The future of coal will dictate the future of the climate. Plants in the U.S. that burn this low-cost, high-carbon fuel account for about 40% of the country’s greenhouse-gas emissions, not to mention other air pollutants. Right now there are about 600 coal power plants in the U.S., and an additional 110 are in various stages of development. Without ways to capture the carbon burned in coal and sequester it underground, new plants all but guarantee billions of tons of future carbon emissions and essentially negate efforts to reduce global warming. “Business as usual can’t continue as long as coal is destroying the climate,” says Hannah Morgan, 20, one of the Dominion 11. “We are not going to back down.” Continue Reading »
Posted Sep 15th, 2008
Members of Asheville Rising Tide traveled to Wise County to support this inspiring action organized by local Wise County residents, Earth First!ers, and anti-coal campaigners. As we listened to events in the Gulf unfold in the wake of Hurricane Ike, it seemed appropriate to be acting in solidarity with community activists at the ground zero of climate change, a new coal-fired power plant fueled by mountain top removal coal blasted out of the surrounding mountains. We hope this escalation will contribute another step toward building a mass movement against coal extraction and burning everywhere…
Monday, September 15th
Wise County, VA-At 6:00am this morning around 30 people from across the country blocked the entrance to the construction site of Dominion Virginia’s new coal-fired power plant in Wise County, VA. Continue Reading »
Posted Jul 11th, 2008
Asheville, NC Today Asheville Rising Tide’s billionaire bloc descended on Bank of America’s regional headquarters to demand that BoA continue to invest their money in coal. The Billionaires for Coal carried signs reading “More Profit, Less Mountains” and sipped on dirty (coal) martinis to applaud BoA for its funding of mountaintop removal coal mining as well as the new generation of dirty coal plants. The Asheville Police Department did an excellent job of blocking access to the bank entrance and the ATM surely scaring off a number of bank customers.
Two days before, activists with Croatan Earth First! visited three Bank of America branches in Raleigh and Chapel Hill. The activist entered the banks raising a ruckus and handing out fliers to customers until being forced to leave. The motley crew of billionaires then proceeded to demonstrate outside and informing the public of BoA’s dirty deeds. A few weeks before several activists were detained by police in Charlotte, NC (BoA’s hometown) for hanging anti-coal poster’s in the neighborhoods of several BoA executives homes. After intensive interrogation, they were let go without charge (remember kids, never talk to cops).
Posted May 25th, 2008
May 25, 2008 - Charlotte, NC Today, activists with Asheville Rising Tide broke ground on a new 800 Mw clean energy power plant in Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers front yard. The power plant will tap into a previously unexplored energy source known as hot air which has been found in large concentrations at Roger’s residence, 330 Eastover Rd, Charlotte, NC. “The hot air emitting from Jim Rogers mouth has been around for quite some time, but the last couple of years has seen an exponential growth of this untapped energy source as Rogers parades around the country calling for greenhouse gas reductions while building the dirty Cliffside coal plant. This was simply an opportunity we couldn’t pass up,” said Jill Rockingham, chief engineer for the project. Continue Reading »
Posted Apr 23rd, 2008
April 23 Charlotte, NC Today activists with Asheville Rising Tide, Rainforest Action Network, and Croatan Earth First! hit the streets of Charlotte, NC to protest Bank of America’s annual shareholders meeting. Bank of America has seen an escalating level of protest in the past year for its funding of the coal industry. Bank of America has provided billions of dollars in loans to companies including Massey Energy, Arch Coal, and Alpha Natural Resources which are responsible for the practice of mountaintop removal coal mining in southern Appalachia. In addition Bank of America is funding a number of new coal plants including Duke Energy’s Cliffside power plant in Western North Carolina. Continue Reading »
Posted Apr 1st, 2008
At 6:30 this morning, North Carolina residents locked themselves to bulldozers to stop the construction of Duke Energy’s massive Cliffside coal-fired power plant being built 50 miles west of Charlotte, NC. “In the face of catastrophic climate change, building a new coal plant is tantamount to signing a death sentence for our generation,” said local farmer Matt Wallace, while locked to a bulldozer. The concerned citizens also roped off the construction site with “Global Warming Crime Scene” tape and held banners that read “Coal Fuels Climate Change” and “Social Change, not Climate Change.”
We’re actively looking for donations to get people out of jail!
Posted Mar 20th, 2008
The North Carolina Student Climate Coalition is hosting a Fossil Fools
Dayrally at Freedom Park (1900 East Blvd.) in Charlotte, North
Carolina on
Saturday April 5th at 11:00am to 1:30pm*.Join students, politicians, grassroots organizations, people of faith and
climate change experts in a demonstration to stop Duke Energy’s expansion of
the Cliffside coal-fired power plant in Rutherford County! The proposed
plant will emit 5.5 million tons of CO2 annually and will cost ratepayers
$2.4 billion dollars. The air quality permit lacks a hard cap on mercury and
is a threat to public heath. With 45% of children in Western North Carolina
diagnosed with asthma, burning more coal and emitting more pollution, even
with new technologies, is a practice of the past. We need Duke Energy–the
third highest contributor to global climate change in the country–to invest
in the future. Through energy efficiency and renewable energy, we can
responsibly take on the climate crisis that our planet faces and also meet
the population’s energy needs. Continue Reading »
Posted Feb 5th, 2008
This summer, join people from throughout the southeast and beyond for the second annual Southeast Convergence for Climate Action. After the resounding success of last year’s convergence we are excited to continue the struggle for climate justice in the southeast with an engaging week of workshops, strategizing, and direct action! This year’s convergence will be hosted in Virginia where communities are fighting uranium mining, nuclear power, mountaintop removal coal mining, and new (as well as old) coal plants. Once again we will unite to fight the coal industry’s stranglehold on our region while rejecting the deadly nuke industry’s attempt to position themselves as the solution to the climate crisis.The convergence is a place to strengthen our movement, network with new allies, and take action against dirty energy while working to build a sustainable world. Workshops will include: community organizing, direct action 101, debunking false solutions to climate change, blockades, sustainable living systems, media, disaster response, fighting nukes and coal, and much more. The convergence will culminate in an empowering action to show that the southeast is serious about tackling climate change.
For more information check out: www.climateconvergence.org
Email: risingtide@mountainrebel.net
Posted Nov 17th, 2007
Posted Aug 20th, 2007
On Monday, August 13, a total of 6 nonviolent activists were arrested at the Southeast Convergence for Climate Action and at the direct action following it (see Southeast Convergence for Climate Action shuts down Bank of America, police use electric shock on defenseless protestors). We spent $4,000 to bail them out. Several people lent us the money, but we need to get donations to pay them back, as well as to pay further legal fees and, eventually, to fund further direct actions.
You can make checks payable to Rising Tide North America, and make sure to write “southeast convergence action” in the memo field. Mail checks to: Rising Tide North America, PO Box 16851, Asheville, NC 28816
Posted Aug 2nd, 2007
**For Immediate Release**
CONTACTS:
Randall Pfleger, 828-242-1094
Mary Olson, 828-301-8818
August 8 and after, 303-929-9713
seconvergencemedia@gmail.com
Southeast “Convergence for Climate Action” to combine low-impact living with high-impact civil disobedience
What: The Southeast Convergence for Climate Action will be a week of trainings, workshops, and strategy sessions focused on building a no-compromise movement against the fossil fuel industry and “false solutions” to climate change like nuclear energy, “clean coal,” and carbon trading. The convergence will culminate in a massive day of direct action against fossil fuels and for climate justice.
When: August 8-14 (The 13th is reserved for direct actions and other protests.) Media are welcome to attend the convergence on Friday the 10th for site tours and interviews.
Where: On private land near Asheville, North Carolina. Directions available on request.
Why: Climate Chaos is here. In the face of rising sea levels, melting ice caps, government inaction, and corporations profiteering from market-based “solutions” that don’t work, regular people must act. The Convergence aims to promote a just, rapid transition away from fossil fuels; support the efforts of communities that are fighting dirty energy developments in their backyards - including new coal and new nuclear power plants; encourage non-violent civil disobedience as a means for challenging dirty energy and empowering the movement to stop climate change, and increase networking and strategizing amongst the diverse social justice and environmental movements fighting climate change, its false solutions and the energy industry.
Who: The Southeast Convergence is being organized by Southern Energy Network, Rising Tide, the Nuclear Information Resource Service (NIRS), and Energy Justice Summer. See our website for a list of co-sponsors.
Background: With mountain top removal coal mining ravaging the mountains and communities of Appalachia, a host of new dirty coal plants proposed for the region, and the nuclear industry attempting to re-establish itself as a “solution” to climate change, the Southeast is rapidly becoming a national sacrifice zone for cheap electricity. To counter this onslaught of dirty energy projects, the Southeast convergence will bring together a wide variety of people to share skills in community organizing, direct action, indigenous support work, sustainable living skills, grassroots disaster relief, and much more.
The Southeast Convergence for Climate Action is taking place in conjunction with a West Coast convergence targeting liquefied natural gas and a Camp for Climate Action at London’s Heathrow Airport. Each convergence location has been strategically chosen to support existing local organizing efforts against the fossil fuel industry.
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Posted Jun 8th, 2007
Posted May 31st, 2007
Friday June 8th is the International Day of Action Against Climate Change and the G8 (www.risingtidenorhamerica.org for more info). To celebrate this day of resistance Asheville Rising Tide will be hosting a Critical Mass against Climate Criminals. After riding through town we will pay a visit to a climate criminal. Bring a bike, noismakers and flags.
Meet @ 4:30 pm, Aston Park (Corner of Hilliard@ South French Broad)
Posted Apr 3rd, 2007
Posted Mar 21st, 2007
Check out this link to a commercial funded by CIBO, the Council of Independent Business Owners in Asheville…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO5ex4NWnls
Posted Mar 16th, 2007
Google Earth Highlights Destruction
By BetaNews Staff, BetaNews
March 12, 2007, 12:48 PM
[original article]
While Google Earth has primarily been touted for its uncanny ability to take users on a tour of the world’s most beautiful sights right from their desktop, a new feature added Monday highlights the immense destruction human beings leave in their wake.
Environmental advocacy group Appalachian Voices has joined to Google to deliver a special interactive layer for Google Earth that tells the stories of over 470 mountains that have been destroyed from coal mining, and its impact on nearby ecosystems. Separately, the World Wildlife Fund has added the ability to visit its 150 project sites using Google Earth.
INSTRUCTIONS on How to See Mountain Memorial in Google Earth’s “Featured Content” Menu
Once you have Google Earth open on your computer, open the “featured content” folder in the “layers” menu at the bottom left portion of your screen. The first item inside the “featured content” menu is called “Global Awareness.” Open that folder and you will see a folder called “Appalachian Mountaintop Removal” with a little blue and white flag icon net to it. Check the box next to this folder to turn on the layer and then double-click the icon to be taken to the memorial. Clicking on “User’s Guide” will help you make the most of your visit to the National Memorial for the Mountains.
Posted Feb 6th, 2007
Posted Feb 5th, 2007
- Double-sided factsheet about Woodfin power plant and climate chaos: Woodfin Power Plant - Climate flyer
- Quarter sheet flyer for Valentine’s Day call-in to the Buncombe County Commission on the Woodfin plant February 14th (includes commissioners’ contact info): No Love for Fossil Fuels
Posted Jan 31st, 2007
