Advertise Your Sustainability

Make a statement through your bag. I choose to advertise sustainability. Check out my new favorite bag!!!

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Protest Chevron AUG. 15th Richmond California

Time for some ACTION!!! This weekend groups from all over the Bay area will be convening at the Richmond BART Station to protest against Chevron and make sure they don't forget how they are polluting not only Richmond, California but places where Black, Brown and Yellow people live all over the world.

Organizer and U.S. Campaign Coordinator for the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives Ananda Lee Tan states, “People, not corporations, should drive the critical climate talks in Copenhagen,”

The protest at the Chevron Refinery on Saturday will begin at 11:30 AM with a festival and rally at the Richmond BART Station at 16th Street and MacDonald Avenue. It will include a march to the Chevron oil refinery and a non-violent civil disobedience action that could result in arrests.

But hey Checktheweather.net is not co-signing on anyone going out and getting arrested if you ain't got the bail money.

Not in the Bay? You can still make a difference RIGHT NOW Click on this link to send a letter to Chevron and see a picture of an old, ugly yet very rich white guy whose playing a role in giving your cousin asthma and contaminating the planet.

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What is the True Cost of Chevron?

Now what does Chevron have to say?


On buses, on television and billboards across the nation people have been bombarded with advertisement saying things like "I will reuse more" or "I will drive my car less". The advertisements are from Chevron, one of the largest producers of oil around the world. A group of local and global environmental groups including Amazon Watch, Global Exchange, Justice in Nigeria Now, Rainforest Action Network, Richmond Progressive Alliance and West County Toxics Coalition having gathered together to launch a response campaign called The True Cost of Chevron to combat the polluting company and address what they see is hypocrisy in Chevron advertisements.

 The group recently released a report The True Cost of Chevron:  An alternative annual report. The report was published soon  after Chevron reported its 2008 earnings of $24 billion, making  it the second most profitable corporation in America. The true  cost of Chevron argues that Chevron didn't get there by just  selling a lot of Gas. They got their profits on the backs of poor  people in the US and around the world, contaminating vital water  and placing life endangering toxins into the air. The $24 billion profits Chevron made last year is more than the Gross Domestic Products of over 150 countries.

Chevron has dedicated a whole section of their website to what they call "Human Energy Stories." Here they discuss how it's going to take all of us to fight climate change and what the corporation is doing to not only use less dirty energy but also how they are working to put a portion of their work into community service. In the Community and Society section they write: "The places where we operate and the people that we work with are the communities we call home so we make an effort to make them better places."

So how does Chevron see making communities better places to live? Is it by cleaning up from nasty oil spills? Doing bio-remediation projects to decontaminate the land around the oil refineries or helping to pay for the medical expenses of the people who are getting cancer, miscarriages and respiratory illnesses? NO! Of the 24 BILLION dollars Chevron made last year they donated 160 million to community programs around the world. None of the programs address the climate and environmental justice concerns brought up by the True Cost of Chevron campaign. However, They are giving back by donating to schools and HIV/AIDS research, one of the only mainstream diseases that has not been explicitly linked to environmental toxins. Not that that is a bad thing, but we wonder, what would happen if Chevron spent some of the estimated 50-100 million dollar advertising campaign to just really Clean Up The Mess They Have Already Made Across the World.

I mean really Chevron "will you join us?"

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What Does it Mean to Be Black in America?

Recently CNN aired the 2nd edition of Black in America hosted by Soledad O'Brien. The piece featured stories from various members of the black community. Theroot.com and blackweb20.com hosted a watch party at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC. The sites gathered together a host of young black professionals, including checktheweather.net co-founder, Kari Fulton for a panel to discuss the documentary and if they thought it translated to their own realities of being Black in America. Fulton takes a unique approach at looking at the documentary by connecting the issues back to our environment, the one topic Black in America never really discussed.

Check out the Video of the discussion here:




Soledad O'Brien was also watching the live feed of this discussion, Check out an interview with Soledad discussing the controversial documentary series:



Oh and to our Latino homies: Don't worry CNN is getting ready to generalize then summarize your culture too. Latino in America comes out this October

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What is Green The Block?

Check out this Article from Checktheweather.net co-founder, Kari Fulton about the Green the Block Campaign. This article was originally posted on theroot.com click on the link to see a question and answer session on the Green the Block program with Council on Environmental Quality advisers Van Jones and Christine Glunz:

Green The Block: Coming to a Hood Near You!

On August 4, 2009 Rev. Lennox Yearwood of the Hip Hop Caucus and Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins of Green For All sat in a room surrounded by a diverse group of notable national leaders: Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, and Department of Energy Under Secretary Kristina Johnson to announce a campaign that is sure to change how America looks at going green. Green the Block is a national campaign and coalition led by the Hip Hop Caucus and Green For All working to ensure that low-income communities and communities of color have the resources and platforms needed to access the benefits and opportunities of the growing clean-energy economy. Rev. Yearwood calls this "our lunch counter moment of the 21st century." I call it about damn time.

As a Youth Climate Justice activist and now the Green the Block Program Coordinator with the Hip-Hop Caucus, I see this campaign as so much more than the White Jouse press conferences, the celebrity good deed or the hip new green campaign. Green the Block is a movement to regain control of our communities and our economy. For far too long, people of color and low-income communities have lived in the shadow of dirty polluting industries, continuously getting the short end of the environmental and economic sticks.

This campaign is a bold message that we are fired up and ready to go. From the Barrios of Los Angeles to the hoods of New York City to the Navajo Nation's reservations all the way to the suburbs of Maryland, organizations are signing on in droves ready to Green the Block. We will work together to make sure our communities are not left behind in the emerging green economy. We want to bring environmental justice and clean, green jobs to our communities. Furthermore, we want to show America and the world that we are ready to be leaders and investors in the Clean-technology industry. Through Green the Block we will work to make sure our country creates a clean energy economy that is strong enough to fight pollution and poverty at the same time.

The only thing we need now is you. On Sept. 11th the Green the Block Coalition will join President Obama's United We Serve campaign in hosting service and awareness events all over the country. To find out what eco-friendly service events are going on in your city or to volunteer visit Greentheblock.net. At Greentheblock.net you can also find out more information on the Green the Block Coalition and how you can sign up your organization. We hope you can join us on September 11th and as we grow the Green the Block movement. Remember this is bigger than hip hop and deeper than politics; it is about saving us from pollution and poverty today and this planet for generations tomorrow.

-Kari Fulton

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Reposted from http://environmentaladvocate.wordpress.com

By Kirin Kennedy
Green Jobs, for many people, the messages that President Obama, spoke about of a clean green economy for all, seem to have slipped by at the passage of the American Clean Energy and Securities ACT. The picture shown above, is a perfect depiction of what is actually going on in under-served communities. In today's world, there is a promise of a renewed America, that gives even the underprivileged a chance to advance from poverty to wealth. At least that was how the story was told just eight months to a year, ago. What is disheartening is that the ideal green job for the low skill worker does not exist. In fact according the National Conference of Mayors, there will only be 11% of green jobs available to those with less then a college degree. So for example in a city like Philadelphia where it has been laid out in the mayor's new green and econmic plan, only 300 federally funded green jobs will enter philadelphia. Which means that only 30 jobs will go to those of under-served communities. In addition, this does not leave room for a true green economy. Not only that but , what about those who are convicted felons, who trying to turn their lives around? How does green jobs fix all of the social issues that plague under-served communities? these are all issues that have not been quite thought out by those in power or they have been simply ignored. Green justice is a inclusive solution to creating a fair, clean and just Planet, but at this rate those in the underclass, again will be left out of the equation. Leaving them to the their own devices for survival. I say that it is time for Americans to remind the politicians and large environmental groups who they actually serve and that is the people. As it is our responsibility to provide these jobs to those who would benefit the most, the underclass. As I walk around Philadelphia and look at the citizens who struggle every day to meet their basic needs it is disheartening to find out that green jobs are not available to them either. I really hope that as this plan is laid out by organizations like Green 4 All and other green job oriented programs begin to enter our cities, and fight for climate legislation. That these organizations remember the constituents they work with, and protect them. Will work for green job, interesting sounds like a hopeless cause unless we the advocates for human and civil rights fight for green jobs for everyone. I say all of this to say that it is imperative that we find jobs to fix the larger social issues witin these communities and the first way of creating a safer, and cleaner enviornment is not by keeping those whose communities are overlooked out of the equation, but by grafting them in.
PEACE

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Who Was Ken Saro Wiwa?

Environmental Activist, Ken Saro Wiwa


Ken Saro-Wiwa was more than just your average activist, He led one of the most monumental non-violent direct actions against dirty oil in history. businessman, novelist and television producer Ken Saro-Wiwa gathered with the Ogoni People of the Niger Delta of Nigeria to stage Non-violent protests against Shell oil and the Nigerian Government for the human rights violations associated with the Oil Fields on Ogoni Land.




Through his leadership The Ogoni People were able to successfully remove Shell from their land. In 1995, After many years of protests, actions and the controversial deaths of 4 Ogoni leaders, Ken-Saro Wiwa was imprisoned by the Nigerian Government and executed.

The Ogoni People sued Shell and the Nigerian Government over Saro-Wiwa's death and recently Shell settled the case for 15.5 million dollars.

For more information on Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni People visit:

http://remembersarowiwa.com

Also check out this video!

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