Category: The environment

Atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, etc – everything about life and the state of this planet

Marching again for fossil fuel divestment at U of T

Tomorrow, Toronto350.org and UofT350.org are holding our second march in support of fossil fuel divestment. The one we held back in November 2014 involved about 200 people.

Right now, Toronto’s weather is pretty miserable. After today’s dentist appointment I swung by MEC to get a waterproof silicone cover to protect my backpack (better than my crude black garbage bag cover) and some ‘Darn Tough Vermont’ merino wool socks.

Hopefully, tomorrow’s evening weather will be OK and we will see a strong turnout. The march is timed to coincide with a meeting of the Governing Council, who will hopefully be walking out of Simcoe Hall at the same time as we have people giving speeches there.

Open thread: Trudeau on climate

Now that he has been elected Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau is going to have to make some crucial decisions on climate: how much fossil fuel infrastructure he will allow (including for export); the degree to which he will promote zero-carbon energy; whether he will establish a price on carbon; how he will engage internationally; etc.

Oil prices below break-even

The Guardian is reporting that global oil prices are at less than half of the cost of production in Saudi Arabia, contributing to a budget deficit of 20% of GDP.

For the same reason raising fossil fuel prices with a carbon tax is expected to reduce demand, it can be expected that lower fossil fuel prices will lead to more usage. At the same time, low oil prices could be the result of global economic weakness, in which case the amount of fossil fuel consumed may not rise much even with falling prices. In the longer term, low oil prices almost certainly reduce investment in the development of new oilfields, pipelines, refineries, and so on. Given the urgent need to stop investing in such projects to control climate change, low oil prices may be at least partly desirable from a climate change perspective.

Trudeau and Suzuki

Justin Trudeau apparently dislikes being reminded about the science of climate change and the implications for Canada’s bitumen sands:

The environmentalist advised Trudeau about accepting the internationally agreed target for a two-degree rise in global temperature means that 80 per cent of the oil sands would have to stay in the ground.

Suzuki said Trudeau didn’t take the criticism lightly and the conversation turned sour.

“He said: ‘I don’t have to listen to this sanctimonious crap.’ I proceeded to call him a twerp. But I realized that he’s playing politics.”

We are eventually going to need politicians who are willing to say that exploiting any significant portion of Canada’s remaining fossil fuel resources would have intolerable global consequences, and that it is simply unethical to proceed along that path. Even if you ignore ethics, the global community ultimately isn’t going to allow Canada to be a rogue carbon state, so major new investments in fossil fuel production will prove to be wasted.

“Sanctuary” dedication

At Massey College today a magnificent new sculpture was unveiled in the quad: a bronze cast of birch branches made by Camilla Geary-Martin.

The artwork is dedicated in part to Ursula Franklin — a remarkable Senior Fellow of the College — as well as the late Boris Stoicheff.

“Toxic Tour” of Sarnia’s chemical valley

On Saturday, the Aamjiwnaang First Nation brought in about 200 people by bus to witness firsthand the petrochemical complex that surrounds their reserve.

A number of Toronto350.org members took part, partly as a means of showing solidarity and support for aboriginal communities who are resisting fossil fuel development and climate change.

Hedges and Fithian on non-violence

Chris Hedges’ worthwhile new book Wages of Rebellion includes some interesting discussion about the role of nonviolence in activist movements, and the justifications and criticisms deployed about it. He quotes Lisa Fithian’s “Open Letter to the Occupy Movement” to explain why non-violence is a more inclusive approach:

Lack of agreements [to be non-violent] privileges the young over the old, the loud voices over the soft, the fast over the slow, the able-bodied over those with disabilities, the citizen over the immigrant, white folks over people of color, those who can do damage and flee the scene over those who are left to face the consequences.

It’s a good addition to the common justifications for non-violence: that violence is inherently ethically unacceptable, even for a good cause and against the violent; that violence is ineffective at creating political change; and that challenging governments and corporations using violence involves confronting them in the way where they are most powerful.

“The Tyranny of Structurelessness”

Since incorporating as a non-profit, Toronto350.org has been going through some serious growing pains, particularly when it comes to governance and decision-making structures. The group seeks to be profoundly democratic, with open membership and a philosophy where people choose their own level of involvement. At the same time, we have been experiencing difficulties deciding which individuals or sub-groups should make particular decisions, and through what method.

In order to help play a constructive role in the group’s evolution, I have been reading about non-profit and NGO governance, both from an official and legal perspective and from a more theoretical one. Jo Freeman’s 1970 article “The Tyranny of Structurelessness” makes some interesting points about groups that are consciously or unconsciously becoming more formalized:

For everyone to have the opportunity to be involved in a given group and to participate in its activities the structure must be explicit, not implicit. The rules of decision-making must be open and available to everyone, and this can happen only if they are formalized. This is not to say that formalization of a structure of a group will destroy the informal structure. It usually doesn’t. But it does hinder the informal structure from having predominant control and make available some means of attacking it if the people involved are not at least responsible to the needs of the group at large. “Structurelessness” is organizationally impossible. We cannot decide whether to have a structured or structureless group, only whether or not to have a formally structured one. Therefore the word will not be used any longer except to refer to the idea it represents. Unstructured will refer to those groups which have not been deliberately structured in a particular manner. Structured will refer to those which have. A Structured group always has formal structure, and may also have an informal, or covert, structure. It is this informal structure, particularly in Unstructured groups, which forms the basis for elites.

Toronto350.org has had some sort of formal structure for a long time. Initially established as a University of Toronto club, there has long been an elected executive and a constitution which, among other things, defines their roles. Still, one of the main challenges facing us now is professionalization and working out a more effective division of labour. In order to achieve those things without abandoning democratic ideals, we need to take ideas like Freeman’s seriously.