Rising Tide North America is planning a massive day of action on April 1st calling for a halt to the burning of fossil fuels. Check out the call-to-action for all the details.

Start planning your action now for Fossil Fuels Day. We’ve got outreach materials and action ideas for you.

If you are interested in doing an action in your town or just getting the word out please contact fossilfools@hushmail.com. And check the international action page: www.fossilfoolsday.org too!

Fred Krupp, president of Environment Defense Fund, defends EDF’s cozy corporate partnerships

Rising Tide North America has launched an online campaign, demanding an end to financial and political relationships between big NGOs and Corporate America. The response (posted below) from Fred Krupp, the President of Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), one of the targetted NGOs, arrogantly shrugs off the accusations.

In his response, Krupp does precisely what the petition writers demand must stop. Instead of “putting these corporation’s feet to the fire”, Krupp praises MacDonalds and FedEx for small changes they have made. Hardly surprising when this is official EDF policy. “Our partnerships with corporations are designed to create new market demand for improved products,” Krupp explains.

“Corporate partnerships” are one of EDF’s four core strategies. These partnerships are so close that EDF sees little or no difference between its own aims and those of its corporate friends. “The environment is our only client,” EDF writes, ever so slightly smugly, on its website, “while businesses are our allies in pursuit of common aims.”

What EDF means by “common aims” is revealed by some of EDF’s alliances. In 2007, for example, EDF was a co-founder of the United States Climate Action Partnership (USCAP). This brings NGOs like EDF together with such corporate stewards of the environment as Shell, Weyerhaeuser, Rio Tinto, Exelon, General Electric, Siemens, General Motors, Ford, AES, Alcoa, Chrysler, Dow Chemicals, Duke Energy, Du Pont and others in a push for corporate-friendly climate legislation.

As Krupp knows, EDF is a major promoter of trading forest carbon. EDF signed on to Avoided Deforestation Partners’ deal between NGOs and polluting industry. In December 2008, to coincide with the UN climate negotiations took place in Poznan, climate activists occupied EDF’s office in protest against its support of carbon trading.

Another of EDF’s four core strategies is “Economic incentives”, otherwise known as a blind faith in the market, regardless of the problem caused by (and faced by) this miraculous market. On its website, EDF explains its REDD policy as follows:

“Our plan would award countries that reduce deforestation with credits to be sold on the international carbon market. This would make the forests worth more alive than dead and keep the 300 billion tons of carbon they store out of the atmosphere.”

Except that it wouldn’t keep any carbon out of the atmosphere. It would convert forest carbon to carbon credits, which would allow fossil fuel burning to continue, effectively guaranteeing runaway climate change. Bad for billions of people and the planet, perhaps, but great for EDF’s corporate chums.

Petition Text

Stop Taking Cash From Corporate Polluters!

Greetings,

As a person who values our environment and believes in conservation, I am writing to demand that your organization stops taking money from corporate polluters or engaging in partnerships with major corporate polluters.

As highlighted in Johann Hari’s article, “The Wrong Kind of Green” (The Nation, 3/4/10), taking money directly from corporate polluters and/or forming corporate partnerships with corporate polluters makes it impossible to trust that you are holding these companies to the highest standards. We need to be putting these corporation’s feet to the fire, and demanding that they stop polluting our air and water, not lauding them for small changes they may or may not make.

We are in the midst of an urgent ecological crisis. This is the time to be strong and stand up to the corporate polluters- not to take their cash and congratulate them. Please be a leader and help re-inspire the environmental movement: stop taking cash from or forming partnerships with corporate polluters.

[Your name]

From: Fred Krupp

To:

Sent: Thu, April 1, 2010 7:00:17 PM

Subject: RE: Stop Taking Cash From Corporate Polluters!

Thank you for your email referring to the recent Nation article on corporate funding of environmental advocacy groups. I appreciate your concerns and that you care enough to write me about them.

As you may have noticed, EDF was not mentioned in the article. Our giving restrictions on corporate donations are designed to avoid conflicts of interest. We do not take contributions from manufacturers, extractive industries or any company that would be impacted positively or negatively by our advocacy. We also do not take money from anyone with whom we are partnering.

Our partnerships with corporations are designed to create new market demand for improved products. We require that our name not be used in any way without our explicit approval, and the outcomes of those efforts must be broadly available to the public and to competitors of our partners. A partnership with McDonald’s yielded new specifications for chickens that reduced the use of routine antibiotics in chicken feed by an estimated 90%. A partnership with FedEx opened demand for a hybrid electric delivery truck – a truck not previously on the market – that cut greenhouse gases by a third and conventional pollutants by a range of 65-95%. The partnership with FedEx also helped demonstrate the viability of national clean air standards for diesel trucks. In both cases we praised the action of the two companies but were careful not to imply an endorsement of the companies themselves, and the companies provided no funding for these efforts.

I hope this information is helpful to your understanding of our efforts.

Yours truly,

Fred Krupp

President, Environmental Defense Fund

st

Asheville, NC – In response to the North Carolina Division of Air Quality (DAQ) ruling that Duke Energy’s Cliffside coal plant is a “minor source of emissions”, 30 protesters gathered at noon today outside Governor Perdue’s Western North Carolina office in downtown Asheville to demand that she revoke the plant’s permit.

In a demonstration organized by Asheville Rising Tide, protesters set up a bed in front of Governor Perdue’s office with people in business suits representing Duke CEO Jim Rogers, DAQ head Keith Overcash, and Governor Perdue under sheets and covered in money. Banners reading, “Governor Purdue in bed with Duke Energy” and “Stop Cliffside” were held in the background. Protestors also roped off the office entrance with Global Warming Crime Scene tape.

While Beverly Perdue publicly opposed Cliffside during her campaign for the Governorship, following the DAQ’s ruling she sent out a press release defending the decision to classify Duke’s new coal plant as a “minor emitter.”  A report released last month by the Civil Society Institute found that Duke Energy contributed nearly $30,000 to Gov. Purdue’s election campaign and $40,000 to Lt. Governor Walter Dalton. Since the report was released there have been calls for corruption inquiries into the relations between Duke Energy and Purdue. “We know who Governor Purdue and the DAQ are taking their marching orders from,” stated Jill Walker of Asheville Rising Tide. “With this ruling it is clear that they are more interested in protecting Duke’s bottom line than the health of North Carolinians.”

Throughout Duke’s application process, the DAQ, controlled by the Governor’s office, has consistently showed favoritism to the industry they are charged with regulating, at the expense of public health, water conservation, and attempts to curb climate change. “It is absurd that the DAQ could rule that the dirty Cliffside coal plant, which will emit millions of tons of pollutants each year, including greenhouse gases, mercury and other heavy metals, could even be considered a minor source of emissions,” stated local farmer Tobias Wolfe.  “Still, it is not too late for Governor Perdue to do the right thing for the people of North Carolina and call for the cancellation of Cliffside.”

Today’s protest was part of an international day of action called Fossil Fools Day (www.fossilfoolsday.org) that calls for an end to fossil fuel extraction and consumption. Duke Energy is the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the US; if completed, the Cliffside plant would emit over 6 million tons of CO2 every year. According to the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change we have only 6 years to begin reducing emissions in order to avoid catastrophic climate change. There has been growing opposition to the Cliffside coal plant both in North Carolina and nationwide. Last year, NASA’s chief climatologist James Hansen, called on Jim Rogers to cancel the plant.

Asheville Rising Tide is a member of the Stop Cliffside Coalition (www.stopcliffside.org), a coalition of faith-based,social and environmental groups organizing a mass rally and civil disobedience at Duke Energy’s headquarters April 20^th.

]]> http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/wordpress/2009/04/01/asheville-rising-tide-declares-nc-gov-perdue-in-bed-with-duke-energy/feed/ 0 http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/wordpress/2009/03/24/pull-a-prank-that-packs-a-punch-fossil-fools-day-april-1st-2009/ http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/wordpress/2009/03/24/pull-a-prank-that-packs-a-punch-fossil-fools-day-april-1st-2009/#comments Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:53:25 +0000 abigail http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/wordpress/?p=1888

Rising Tide North America and its allies are calling for a day of action against the fossil fuel industry on April 1st 2009…FOSSIL FOOLS DAY!

Confronted with droughts, extreme weather, poisoned waterways and food shortages the fools at the head of the fossil fuel empire continue to plunder the earth, with the governments as court jesters at their side.

A powerful vibrant climate justice movement is emerging world-wide. Coal plants are being shut down. Mountaintop removal is being challenged. Big oil in Canada and other parts of the world are feeling the effects of a new consciousness around global warming. Thousands are in the streets pushing the limits.

But more needs to happen. It’s time we ask ourselves, how serious are we about stopping climate change?

Climate change threatens our very survival, and weather chaos is increasingly upon on us – it is up to us to launch a global uprising against the fossil fuel industry.

Your good fight is coming soon, step right up! On April 1st, 2009 join thousands of people around the world and begin to unmask and disarm the fossil fuel empire. We would be foolish to act otherwise.

For over a century, they have been fooling with our lives. From oil extraction to coal combustion they have poisoned our air, polluted our water and ruined our climate. Now, we’re going to unmask these dangerous jesters.

Target a local fossil fool – See the clowns investing in coal? The carbon offset contortionist or the oily strong man? – and join with thousands around the world in taking one step closer to dismantling the fossil fuel industry.

Find a fossil fool in your community and pull a prank that packs a punch.

Need some ideas? We have LOTS of them for you…check out our 15 Actions to Bring Down the Fossil Fool Empire

Contact us at fossilfools (at) risingtidenorthamerica.org for info or support (media, outreach, etc)

Related Link: http://www.fossilfoolsday.org

** Fossil Fool Day of Action Guide to Fossil Fooleries NOW ONLINE! **

The International Rising Tide network and its allies are calling for a day of action against the fossil fuel industry on April 1st 2008…FOSSIL FOOLS DAY!

Confronted with melting ice caps, unprecedented species extinction, droughts, and extreme weather the fools at the head of the fossil fuel empire continue to plunder the earth, with the governments as willing court jesters at their side.

Been feeling like the level of climate activism in North America hasn’t matched the severity of the climate crisis? Well- so have we.

It’s time we ask ourselves, how serious are we about stopping climate change?

Let’s look at what we know:

• The fossil fuel industry has been fooling with our lives (From extraction to combustion they have poisoned our air, polluted our water and ruined our climate).
• Governments act as willing court jesters at the side of the fossil fuel empire.
• The most appropriate response to climate change is to keep fossil fuels in the ground.

Let’s look at what we can do:

• Come together and take action to unmask and disarm all the fossil fools.
• Take steps in dismantling the fossil fuel empire.
• Acknowledge that we need to perform actions that meet the seriousness of the problem.

Climate change threatens our very survival, and weather chaos is increasingly upon on us — it is up to us to launch a global uprising against the fossil fuel industry.

Your good fight is coming soon, step right up! On April 1^st, 2008 join thousands of people around the world and begin to unmask and disarm the fossil fuel empire. We would be foolish to act otherwise.

For over a century the fossil fuel industry has been fooling with our lives. From extraction to combustion they have poisoned our air, polluted our water and ruined our climate. On April 1st, 2008, we’re going to unmask these dangerous jesters.

Target a local fossil fool … See the clowns investing in coal? The carbon offset contortionist or the oily strong man? … and join with thousands around the world in taking one step closer to dismantling the fossil fuel industry.

Find a fossil fool in your community and pull a prank that packs a punch.

Need some ideas? We have LOTS of them for you…check out our Fossil Fool Day of Action Guide to Fossil Fooleries or contact us at fossilfools@hushmail.com

March 25, 2008

**For Immediate Release**

Contact:
Monica Vaughan, Rising Tide North America
541-521-1832 / fossilfools@risingtidenorthamerica.org

Online: www.fossilfoolsday.org

APRIL FOOLS DAY ACTIONS TO TARGET FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY
Over 100 actions planned to confront Dirty Energy, demand a Just, Green Energy Future

Who: The actions have been called for by the international Rising Tide network, youth and students with the Energy Action Coalition, and Rainforest Action Network.

What: “Fossil Fools Day” is an international day of protest focused on climate change and energy issues. Actions being planned so far include Critical Mass bike rides, green job rallies, protests and civil disobedience at power plants, energy companies, urban sprawl developers, Bank of America mass account closures, car dealer “adoptions,” no coal photo petitions alternative energy expos, and more.

When: April Fools Day, April 1st, 2008.

Where: Protests are planned in over 100 locations throughout the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

Why: Leading climate scientists warn that dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions must begin immediately to avoid catastrophic climatic shifts, yet most policy proposals consist primarily of goals that are decades off. Fossil Fools Day will bring about creative, and often confrontational, actions reflecting this urgency. Activists will be demanding a rapid transition away from fossil fuels and toward the localization of energy, food, and economic systems for a just, sustainable future.

###

Who are the fossil fools in your Neighborhood?

Anywhere you live, fossil fools are going to be engaging in destruction, poisoning of communities, and other filthy, climate changing business. Most of us live (sometimes ignorantly) in the shadow of toxic, combustion or extraction activities. Even if you don’t live near these points of destruction, unless your living off the grid, your utility company gets most of its energy from fossil fuels…and that’s despite any photos of wind turbines or solar panels on their website, or “green” options they are more then happy to charge you extra for on your bill.

If you’re not sure who they are, the first step to taking action on the fossil fools in your community is finding them!

Here are a few leads to pursue:
1. New Coal Plants: This one is good, with much (!) more details here.
2. Proposed Liquefied Natural Gas Import Terminals
3. Proposed Oil and Natural Gas Pipelines
4. Oil Refineries.
5. Existing Coal Plants #1 and #2.
6. Local electricity provider information (also check your bills to find out who you get your electricity from, and then follow the link on the previous link to “eGRID” for company specific info)
7. Mountaintop removal mining sites near or connected to you
8. Target the Tar Sands

15 Ideas for Fossil Foolery on April 1

Need information on how to pull off any of these actions?
Want us to help you get media attention for your action? Let us know.
We can provide help and trainings for any and all non-violent direct actions targeting the fossil fools in your community described above.
Contact us at fossilfools@hushmail.com! 

1. Stop the pumps

As the main public face of the oil industry not to mention the fact that they are everywhere, gas stations are a great place to highlight the connection between car culture, climate change, and environmental justice. Aside from being one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases, there is not an oil company on this planet that has not been party to human rights atrocities. Whether it is Shell killing environmental activists in Nigeria or ChevronToxico dumping toxic waste on indigenous lands in the Amazon there are plenty of examples to make the connection between the destruction of the Earth and these companies’ assaults on human rights.

Consider such tactics as blockading the entrance to a gas station, locking down to gas pumps, or having a die-in in front of the gas station. It is quite easy to gain access to the roof for a banner drop with the use of a extension ladder. It should also be noted that all gas stations have safety shut off buttons that will shut off gas pumps in case of an emergency, which are generally located on the outside of the station. If a global climate meltdown isn’t an emergency, we don’t know what is!

2. Stick it to the Biofools

While we’re on the topic, agrofuel expansion is being touted as a solution to climate change, but agrofuels are actually a distraction from rejecting car culture at best. At their worst they use massive amounts of fossil fuels and pesticides to produce, waste enormous quantities of fresh water, and are one of the leading causes of deforestation in the global south.

In addition to going after research institutions taking corporate money to expand the production of industrial agrofuels, target your local large-scale industrial bio-refinery, be it for ethanol, biodiesel, or other proposed biomass facility. Try finding them at www.ethanolrfa.org/industry/locations/
or www.distill.com/usa.html

If there’s no bio-refinery or financiers of bio-foolery in your area, you can research what agribusinesses are located in your town and target their offices or facilities with creative civil disobedience such as banner hangs, office demos, blockades, or creative street theater. Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge,
Dreyfus, and Monsanto.

Or perhaps there is an ethanol or biodiesel fuel pump in your neck of the woods?

3. Spank a bank

It would be nearly impossible for the fossil fuels industry to continue extraction and build new energy facilities without the financing of the world’s largest banks. Billions upon billions of dollars are handed out to the world’s largest polluters by these financial institutions. Fortunately there is a growing international effort to get these banks to withdraw all funding of the fossil fuels industry.

In the United States, groups such as Rainforest Action Network, Mountain Justice Summer, and Rising Tide North America have been targeting Bank of America and Citi for their financial support of the coal industry, and in particular companies practicing mountaintop removal coal mining. There have been over 100 actions against these banks ranging from branch occupations, to street theater, and banner drops. In England activists have targeted the Royal Bank of Scotland in similar fashion for its funding of the oil and gas industry. Even if you can’t pull a crowd together for a protest, a few people with “out of order” signs can shut down dozens of ATM machines owned by these banks in a matter of hours. Make sure there is a message in fine print on these signs about the banks role in climate change.

For additional resources check out http://dirtymoney.org/

4. Kick corporate research off your (or anybody’s) campus

Universities, in collaboration with corporations, are developing new technologies using fossil fuel extraction and burning. Many schools in coal states have research facilities dedicated to the perpetuation of this dirty fuel, while schools in oil states like Texas focus on petroleum. Chances are that any major university will be involved in some aspect of perpetuating our addiction to fossil fuels. Capitalizing on the need for alternative energy sources many universities are raking in big bucks setting up agrofuels research centers. Not only will agrofuels not create meaningful reductions in greenhouse gases, they create a host of new environmental and social problems. BP’s $500 million facility proposed for UC Berkeley is already meeting strong resistance. Do some research, get creative, and kick the fossil fools in the butt and then off your campus.

5. Deflate or die

People in Sweden and France have developed a creative means of protest against gas guzzling SUVs. They simply let the air out of the tires, rendering them immobile. Thousands of tires have been deflated immobilizing hundreds of vehicles which has generated much media attention and awareness on global warming.

The act is pretty simple and does not involve property damage. All one does is take off the valve cap and place a small pebble on top of the valve and screw the cap back on. If the pebble is placed correctly, it will press down on the air valve when you screw down the cap, thus releasing the air. To our knowledge there is no law against releasing air from car tires, though we aren’t going to guarantee it’s without risk. However in Belgium, one of many countries where this tactic is catching on, the Justice Minister recently had to admit there is nothing illegal about it! Make sure you leave a note on the car explaining your action.

6. Fry the friendly skies

Air travel is one of the fastest growing sectors for greenhouse gas emissions, as well as one of the most extravagant uses of fossil fuels. We need to combat air travel. Protests can be organized at airline offices as well as airports. Many of the US’s largest airports are considering major expansions, which means even more airplanes polluting the air. While tight security at airports creates a number of logistical problems, they also contain some advantages such as a tendency to overreact to any situation out of the norm with a resulting disruption of airport business. Private airports, catering to the extremely wealthy, are also outstanding targets for action and send a clear message that short haul flights for the rich have got to go. Travel agencies are a great, easy place to do an action; activists in the UK regularly U-lock their doors or otherwise blockade them. Due to the danger to both airplane passengers and yourself we discourage doing anything to interfere with airport runways. While this is largely uncharted territory in the US, activists in Europe have been at it for years. Let’s bring that trend on over here!

7. Offset this!

As the reality of climate change becomes ever more real, people and businesses are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. This is undoubtedly a good thing. Unfortunately there are those out there who would rather make a fortune off the climate crisis rather than actually do anything to help. Enter carbon offset companies. These companies take people’s money, and promise to “offset” all or a portion of the greenhouse gas emissions they create by paying to plant some trees or install efficient light bulbs in some developing country. The problem is this does very little to actually reduce carbon emissions while making people think they can continue to live their exorbitant lifestyles. The bottom line is that carbon offset companies perpetuate the notion that we can continue to burn fossil fuels and fight climate change at the same time. A number of actions have been taken against the carbon offset industry such as office occupations and creative street theater. Many major US cities have carbon offset companies in them. A quick internet search will reveal if you’ve got one in your town.

8. Resist road expansion

More roads mean more cars, plain and simple. Instead of reducing our dependency on automobiles the government focuses on building a never ending web of roads. New roads devastate natural ecosystems, disrupt animal migration, and open up previously untouched areas to new development, and encourage more and more cars to hit the road. Many communities are already resisting new road projects from Arizona to DC. In Indiana activists have mounted fierce opposition to Interstate 69, otherwise known as the NAFTA superhighway. They have disrupted public meetings, held street demos, and even evicted the planning offices for the highway by throwing all of their contents on the curb!

9. Bikes not Buicks!

Critical Mass is a time honored protest against car culture and an excellent way to get large crowds out for mass civil disobedience with relatively low risk. For a Critical Mass, all you have to do is get together a group of bikers and take to the streets. The idea is to take over all lanes of traffic to create an empowering atmosphere for bicycles while temporarily impeding automobile traffic. It helps to have a few people at the head of the ride leading the mob if you have a route you want to stick to. But a ride without a planned route can be just as fun. Critical Masses can also be and excellent way to get a bunch of people to a protest target in a short amount of time. Consider having your Critical Mass end at a local climate criminal. Or make is a take a tour of all the fossil fools in your town.

human rights atrocities. Whether it is Shell killing environmental activists in Nigeria or ChevronToxico dumping toxic waste on indigenous lands in the Amazon there are plenty of examples to make the connection between the destruction of the Earth and these companies’ assaults on human rights.

Consider such tactics as blockading the entrance to a gas station, locking down to gas pumps, or having a die-in in front of the gas station. It is quite easy to gain access to the roof for a banner drop with the use of a extension ladder. It should also be noted that all gas stations have safety shut off buttons that will shut off gas pumps in case of an emergency, which are generally located on the outside of the station. If a global climate meltdown isn’t an emergency, we don’t know what is!

10. Banner Drops, Billboard Liberations, and other guerilla messaging

Unfurling a banner (for example, over a highway overpass, parking garage, or roof) is an easy action anyone can take with little effort. Banner drops when well timed will get the message out to tons of people, even though they rarely stay up for more than 30 minutes before being removed by security of some sort. And if you’re feeling a little more adventuresome you can get the message out for hours by choosing a hard to reach location…or by a bit of extra scheming:
Billboard Liberation – the act of taking over a billboard and replacing the annoying advertisements with more important messages – can be an extremely effect way of getting attention to climate issues. Rising Tide North America took over a well known billboard on a major road in the photo at left, getting thousands of looks from drivers and a story in the newspaper – and the oil plant was cancelled!
Balloon Banners – for indoor banner hangs in offices or businesses with high ceilings a helium balloon banner can be up for quite some time and is easy to construct.
X marks the spot – Take your banner hang to the source: hang it on a Coal Silo, Smokestack, at coal importation port/train station, or an oil refinery and it’s likely to get a ton of attention. The harder it is to get up, the harder it will be for them to get it down!

11. Direct Action at the point of destruction

We strongly recommend taking actions directly to the point of destruction. There are few more actions more empowering and attention grabbing then blocking access to a coal or oil-fired plant, coal mine, pipeline construction site, or liquefied natural gas terminal. Having a lot of people is useful for an action like this, but most important is a site with one entry way that can be blockaded using civil disobedience and/or a more sophisticated blockade. In the summer of 2006 Rising Tide and Earth First! blocked the single access bridge to a Virginia coal-fired power plant when someone U-locking themselves to a coal truck while another person took up a perch in a platform suspended by a rope crossing the bridge. The action shut down access to the coal plant for the better part of a day, got a ton of media attention, and no one was arrested when the protesters agreed to leave after media arrived. Of course a big, fun rowdy protest at a site like this is great too!

12. Take it to the HQ

If you live in an urban area, there’s a good chance you’ve got the head quarters of energy companies of some sort in your area. After doing some research and figuring out who the fossil fools in your community are, if you’re like us, you’ll probably find it hard to resist wanting to pay a little fossil fool day visit to their place of business. Energy companies hate the negative publicity a big rally brings, but even more annoying and disruptive to their climate destroying efforts is a nice blockade of the entry way of their business. In Portland, Oregon following the 2007 Convergence for Climate action, activists wheeled out 3 giant concrete filled barrels with arm holes, which activists locked into disrupting entry to the headquarters of Pacific Power for the day while dozens of friends had a festive dance party and handed out hundreds of leaflets about Pacific Power’s salmon-killing dams and coal-fired power plants.

If you want to get a bit closer to the dirty business of the fossil fools, an office occupation may be in order. With some proper scouting, you’ll probably be shocked to learn just how easy it is to get into CEO’s offices. You might want to bring some lock down devices, and perhaps a bucket of coal as office warming gifts.

13. Home is where the heart of the fossil fool is

If you’re more of an evening person, or just want to make your meetup with your chosen fossil fool a little more personal, a home visit may be in order. It can be tricky finding out where they live. If you’re lucky, a “Reverse name search” might work (try www.anywho.com). A surprisingly useful place for researching people – for many reasons! – is the Federal Election Commission search (www.fec.gov/finance/disclosure/norindsea.shtml). Often times when people make major donations to candidates (which by law must be reported) they include their home address on their filings. You can use county tax records to find out where a person lives too. Many counties have an online search database, and all of them have the information on file at the courthouse. Often organizing a big rally at a fossil fool big wig’s house is action enough to get a lot of media attention (not to mention their neighbors attention) especially if you bring a great party songs and games. A banner hang on someone’s roof makes things a bit more interesting. [We caution against doing anything that could be construed as destroyed personal property.] Wanted posters hung in the neighborhood warning neighbors of a dangerous climate criminal living nearby can help get the word out as well.

14. Share the love…

Please don’t leave any fossil fools forgotten this April 1. There are many, many companies tied up in the fossil fuel empire. If you live somewhere where companies like Halliburton, Dynergy, Bechtel, or General Electric, which specialize in providing critical construction and other “energy services” for fossil fools around the world, be sure to share some foolery with them as well.

15. Don’t listen to us!

The best idea is the one you and your community comes up with. Plan something great whatever it is. Don’t forget to drop us a line and let us know what it is!

16. Bonus ideas!

Here’s a few more late breaking ideas! Got some more? Let us know fossilfools@hushmail.com

ACK! this is a lot to think about!
Planning a direct action for the first time might seem a little scary when you think about having to deal with cops and the threat of going to jail. A common misconception about direct actions is that lots of people – or even anyone – will get arrested. In reality, typically, when police arrive at an action, which can be anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours, they take a couple of minutes to assess the situation before they actually start taking action. Even then they will more often then not issue warnings of arrests before actually doing it. It is quite easy for a small (or large) group to disrupt a company for a good while and when the cops show up, you just leave!

There are also plenty of support roles to be filled that don’t require getting arrested, such as media spokesperson, photographer, and handing out flyers to people passing by. In fact some times the people trying to get arrested don’t, because the company you targeted wants to avoid drawing attention to what they are doing. That being said, anything could happen, cops are an unpredictable bunch, and you should always be prepared for arrests.

Need information on how to pull off any of these actions?
Want us to help you get media attention for your action? Let us know.
We can provide help and trainings for any and all non-violent direct actions targeting the fossil fools in your community described above.
Contact us at fossilfools@hushmail.com!

(Also, check out our links to action planning resources!)

SUVs/4×4s
Attach bumper stickers with “I’m polluting for nothing, honk at me”
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3jxl0_klaxonne-moi_politics
http://www.klaxonnemoi.org/Accueil.html

Carbon capture and storage
Pointing out the ridiculousness of carbon capture and storage (which is being touted in the UK as a way to make new coal OK)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6eh2_airpollue-film_fun

Targetting the Tar Sands

Every single day over 1 million barrels of oil are taken out of the tar sands. The tar sands located in northern Alberta represent the second largest oil reserve in the world but getting that oil out of the ground comes at an incredible cost. The tar sands, if fully developed, will destroy an area as large as the state of Florida. In the process they will suck the Athabasca river dry, destroy 149,000 sq km of Boreal forest, and single handedly ensure that Canada fails to meet its international obligations under the Kyoto protocol.

The tar sands are the dirtiest source of oil under development anywhere in the world. It takes 3-5 times as much energy to get a barrel of oil from the tar sands as it does from conventional means. In addition, the tar sands use 3-5 barrels of fresh water for every barrel of oil produced. The majority of that water can never be placed back into the natural environment. Instead it will sit in huge toxic tailings ponds – two of which are already visible from space.

POSSIBLE ACTIONS:

Hold an Oil Addicts Anonymous (OAA) Meeting: The first step in breaking any addiction is to admit that you have a problem. With so many people in denial why not hold your own OAA meeting at your local gas station, politicians office, car dealership or oil headquarters. It’s not that difficult a few chairs, some coffee and doughnuts and a public address system and your ready to go.

PLEDGE or INVOICE DELEVERY: Most Fossil Fools are fond of saying ‘bigger is better’ so why not make your own pledge testing a companies or politicians rhetoric or an invoice for the amount it will cost the planet if these companies keep blocking climate action. Simply blow it up and deliver away.

Check out one delivery at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoQkVYn0gCU&NR

OIL ENFORCEMENT AGENCY (OEA): Sometimes when companies refuse to do what they need to do for the good of the planet and the country an agency needs to step and start laying down the law. The OEA is just such an organization. So join the fight, dawn your best security outfit and take to your local office, dealership, powerplant, or gas station. Tape off the scene off the crime, start your own climate investigation and most importantly protect the public

Hold your own Greenwash: A lot of fossil fools like to make grand statements about the climate to the public and then do exactly the opposite. Why not put those statements in perspective by holding your own green wash? Get a bunch of buckets of soap, some green food colouring, take to your local target and greenwash away.

Billionaires for tar sands/coal: Why not join the other side? Become the only people that benefit from this development – the incredibly uber wealthy. Take on a fabulous name like Bill O’Naire or Annita Subsidy, dress to the nines (hopefully with a nice smoke stack top hat), dawn a british accent and cheer on those that destroy the planet.