Coal, Wendell Berry, Bill McKibben and the new civil disobedience

There is an updated website for the event at Capitol Climate Action.

On March 2nd, scholar and author Bill McKibben and writer/farmer/activist Wendell Berry are organizing a mass act of “civil disobedience” against a coal-fired powerplant in Washington D.C. near the White House. This could be the first large non-violent demonstration against climate change in history, and could mark a new era in the way American society, at least, will confront major ecological issues. In an article on Alternet the reasoning is clear. They explain:

* Coal-fired power is driving climate change. Our foremost climatologist, NASA’s James Hansen, has demonstrated that our only hope of getting our atmosphere back to a safe level — below 350 parts per million CO2 — lies in stopping the use of coal to generate electricity.
* Even if climate change were not the urgent crisis that it is, we would still be burning our fossil fuels too fast, wasting too much energy and releasing too much poison into the air and water. We would still need to slow down, and to restore thrift to its old place as an economic virtue.
* Coal is filthy at its source. Much of the coal used in this country comes from West Virginia and Kentucky, where companies engage in “mountaintop removal” to get at the stuff; they leave behind a leveled wasteland, and impoverished human communities. No technology better exemplifies the out-of-control relationship between humans and the rest of creation.
* Coal smoke makes children sick. Asthma rates in urban areas near coal-fired power plants are high. Air pollution from burning coal is harmful to the health of grown-ups too, and to the health of everything that breathes, including forests.

Berry has spoken much in his writing about the destruction inflicted on the Kentucky landscape whereby the entire tops of mountains are blown off with dynamite in order to easily extract coal deposits from underneath (a method that is eerily similar to the extraction of bitumen from the Athabasca Tar Sands). The mountaintop is blown off, and large bulldozers, shovels and dumptrucks are sent into the rubble to carve out the coal deposits, so there is no wonder why coal is a target, if even for that single reason.

At the same time, coal power is one of the greatest contributors to carbon emissions–in the U.S. over 41% of emissions are caused by the burning of coal. Yet, carbon emissions are only one dimension of ecological destruction by burning coal. Not only does one 150 mega-watt coal plant emit the same amount of CO2 as 300 000 cars, coal is also responsible for releasing deadly and toxic mercury into adjacent ecosystems, wreaking havoc on plants and wildlife. Burning coal also releases massive amounts of sulphur dioxide–one of the main components in acid rain. Coal is clearly one of the most environmentally destructive sources of energy that we know–moreso than petroleum and natural gas by far.

Is this the future of ecological activism? Can’t we just legislate coal out of existence? It is certainly a possibility. However, the forces behind the burning of fossil fuels are not just another industry, and legislation may not be enough. Many of the companies producing coal, such as British Petroleum, dwarf the GDP of many countries. Keeping fossil-fuels on the table in perpetuity is in the best interest of these corporations and there will surely be opposition that can route change via the legal system–which, unfortunately, does not ensure justice.

Without going too deeply into the subject, it is quite clear that climate change is one of the first truly universal, planet-wide issues that have confronted the earth. While the struggle for Indian independence, the Civil Rights movement and the destruction of Apartheid have been the most notable non-violent campaigns waged in the history of the world, none had directly affected every single member of our earthly ecological community. While Lyndon Johnson signed the Equal Rights Act in 1965, ending legal discrimination against African-Americans, it did not ensure justice for African-Americans. While African-Americans no longer faced legal obstacles to full citizenship, much of the population lived, and currently lives in third world socio-economic conditions. The law was important and useful, but the powers of segregation, bigotry and economic control still remained (and still remains) out of the grasp of many African-Americans.

Climate change is certainly different than racial discrimination, but the power structure still remains. If something is not done to shift this change, to demand better energy alternatives, the problem will not simply go away. Non-violent resistance can help force immediate alternatives.

Since all people in the world face this threat of climate change, all forms of action will be necessary to end this all-pervasive evil. Citizens of both the western world and the underprivileged world can be empowered by the knowledge that taking up arms may not be the only answer to shifting global economic power and preventing ecological catastrophe. The uncertainty of a carbon-free world may be terrifying to some and outright threatening to others. Yet, it is clear that the alternative will be an even greater catastrophe for us all.

Photo of the Capitol Power Plant, Washington D.C. courtesy Susan Walsh with the Associated Press.

Tagged as: Activism, Bill McKibben, carbon, civil disobedience, climate change, coal, Energy and Transportation, Environment & Such, global warming, wendell berry