Climate Action has been in hiatus for some time, but that does not mean its members have just been lying about. One of the initiatives to come out of Climate Action is Mud Lab. Mud Lab is carrying on the direct action work of Climate Action while at the same time creating the systems we need to exist outside of the control of any Peabody or Arch Coal. Check us out okay!

From work, from school — to the streets!

More info at OccupySTL.org

The October 16 picket of Monsanto World Headquarters by the Gateway Green Alliance, Safe Food Action, people from Occupy St. Louis and several other food activists has been covered locally and internationally.

To see the local facebook page, see this.

A complete set of photos is on the site for the Australian group LINKS.

Today is coincidentally National Day Against Police Brutality. Yay.

The belly of the beast is…plush. As a city of numerous corporate headquarters, we can at least have access to high culture, right?

As the bulky rented searchlight units noisily squirmed on either side of the grand stairs, a steady stream of giddy people approached the block-long red carpet of the Peabody Opera House at Market St and 14th Ave. Last night marked the long-awaited opening of the Opera House, and featured Aretha Franklin and Jay Leno.

The visual effect of the official event gave attendees a feeling of being celebrities themselves; to the West of the grand entrance were bright lights of the photo shoot area whose backdrop was laden with Peabody Energy’s logo, the main founding partner of the Opera House.

Welcome!

To highlight this generous contribution, Climate Action St Louis handed out “Welcome” booklets attempt to intercept the cultural and symbolic currency of Peabody Energy. The contents of the unofficial program guide shed some light on the elements of the coal company’s darker, less scrutinized history as well as on-going detrimental practices. In line with the event, (almost) every booklet was complete with a a small token of the essence of Peabody Energy: coal.

To see a version of our unofficial “Welcome” program, please wait.

To see a longer list of founding partners here.

The bear drew giggles from attendees, valets and passersby alike, but had to be escorted off of the red carpet because the Opera House had secured a permit for extending their private property to the end of the sidewalks on the entire block.

Guests for the evening, holding unofficial booklets about Peabody Energy.

Bear being escorted off the red carpet.

In an STL Today article on the recent Special Session on job creation now in Jeff City, Tim Logan reports

Still, it’s not quite clear what all these planes would carry. The exports that move most through St. Louis — such as coal, grain and scrap metal — don’t fly. U.S. beef, often mentioned as a likely east-bound export, is still banned in China, though experts say that could soon change. There has been talk of shipping high-tech farm equipment, medical devices, perhaps even Asian carp pulled from the Illinois River.

So…what kinds of freight will be moving through St Louis with potential Aerotropolis tax credits? Maybe…. this article has some answers.

The rebels, who now hold power in Tripoli, the capital, have said they think Chinese companies shipped weapons to Qaddafi forces. China has insisted that the negotiations took place without the government’s knowledge and that no arms were shipped.

To the joyful tune of Disney’s Mickey Mouse jingle: M-I-C-China Hub, Aerotropolis!

So many of us in the Saint Louis community spend so much of our lives working towards a more just and sustainable city. Whether this is through fighting against the tide of what exists already that must be changed or stopped, or through creation of infrastructure and new spaces coming from a vision of the world in which you’d like to live.

The seemingly disparate issues we work across more often than not have a common thread that links us together: the sapping away of influence and means into the hands of a very privileged and powerful few. Among those elected to national office, concern for the public good either doesn’t seem to exist, or is constricted to the point of being negligible. The interests of elected officials at every step of the ladder all the way up to the highest office in the land are more reflective of their corporate sponsors then their public constituencies.

Corporate influence is seen in the stripping away of union bargaining power, opening huge swaths of land for coal and natural gas extraction, picking a superstar monoculture of the year at the expense of actually growing real food, or bailing out the most concentrated and powerful financial institutions ever (while in the same breath blaming the victims of their practices for getting kicked out of their homes). This list can go on, but it’s exasperating enough as it is.

All the while we’re told that this is in our best interests because it’s just the way the world has to work and you’re either naive or just plain stupid if you think otherwise. And often it does feel inevitable, that this truly is the way things have to be. This is in fact how the world works and how could it be otherwise?

How do you expect to power everything? How do you expect to feed everyone? Who’s going to give you a loan when you need it? Who’s going to arm your soldiers or build your drones to blow up enough terrorists so that you aren’t constantly terrified? How are you going to bring light and hope to the impoverished of the world? How will you ever retain your freedoms?

Valid questions, for the most part, and all that have fabulously perfected answers right on the tip of many a CEO’s tongue. Such answers range from plausible at first glance to obviously catastrophic to anyone without a corporate jet to fly one away to safety. The answers from these corporations all boil down to basically one premise: get out of our way, you’re blocking the path to progress that we are bulldozing through this earth. Give us more of what we need and we’ll set things right, the way God intended. Nearly half the nationally elected officials in this, the most powerful country that has ever existed, absolutely agree. That’s the way things have to be so best to get used to it …

… OR! You say to “hell with that!” Because you see how the world is functioning right now is crazy and it absolutely must stop. Because you realize that while the world may function in idiotic ways, it does not, in fact, have to. Because it hasn’t always worked this way, and the sooner it gets in line with some semblance of reality the better. Thankfully there are plenty of people like yourself who are either willing or are already working on either pushing back against the onslaught of corporate influence or creating things and spaces in such a way as to diminish the capacity for corporate influence altogether. Whether you’re out there creating barter circles, starting bike co-ops, taking the fight to your capital building, taking the fight to the streets, growing your own food, creating community gardens and other community spaces … these are all key pieces in developing a more just and sustainable world.

Of the many lessons to be learned from the recent Wisconsin protests, a really textbook example of the influence of corporate power and thought, is this: it was not enough. More people and more ideas are needed. This can come from working across our different issues to find the common causes within them. This can come from having a shared vision. We can’t work in isolation in the sometimes narrow scope of our own work, important thought it may be. We can’t solar cell and wind-turbine our way into paradise and we most certainly won’t be led there by any President whose first priority is to a system that places profit at the very heart of human existence and the grotesque financial system that keeps it afloat at whatever cost.

The Convergence is meant to bring all sorts of people together who see the value in uniting and better understanding how our struggles are not as disparate as they might seem. To understand what does a sustainable and just world look like and not just through one set of eyes. Environmental and social justice activists, low-income and workers rights advocates, immigrant and indigenous rights advocates … all will be present because all have their experiences and visions for what we’re working towards to share.

We will be looking at the intersections between oppression, economic and environmental justice, and the need for direct action and organizing to address these concerns. The Convergence will be 4 days of workshops, trainings, discussion, and direct action targeted at understanding and changing the institutions that threaten the future of the planet we live on. We hope to see you there!

For more information and ways to get involved see

http://convergence2011.org/

Climate Action Saint Louis
Instead of War Coalition
Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment
Rising Tide North America

Mountain Justice Spring Break 2011 is just around the corner and registration has just opened. People from across the nation will be meeting to plan and act on issues related to the coal industry, mountain top removal, and environmental justice during the week. Plus you get to go hiking in the mountains!!!! (We all need a break from Saint Louis every now and then.)

This March 13 – 20, Mountain Justice Spring Break (MJSB) will bring together coalfield residents, college students, environmentalist and concerned citizens who are interested in learning more about mountaintop removal coal mining and cultivating the skills and visions needed to build a sustainable energy future in Appalachia. Through education, community service, speakers, hiking, music, poetry, direct action and more, you will learn from and stand with Appalachian communities in the struggle to maintain our land and culture.

WHAT? Mountain Justice Spring Break 2011
WHEN? March 13 – 20, 2010 (come for a few days, or the whole week)
WHERE? Hawkwind Earth Renewal Cooperative and Healing Arts Center, located in northeast Alabama
HOW? Register today! Registration is based on a sliding scale donation of $50 – $500

Several Climate Action members will be attending, and if you are interested in going and carpooling drop us a line at stlclimateaction@gmail.com

For more info: http://www.mjsb.org/

The Burning Kumquat, Climate Action, and Greenpeace Saint Louis are showing two films that speak on the importance of our food system and the corporations that have such huge impacts on them.

The Future of Food talks about food globalization, genetically modified crops, and some of the key firms involved in the global food scheme. The World According to Monsanto specifically gives some history and insight into the current goals of one of our most famous Neighbors, Monsanto.

Please feel free to join for one or the other or both. Both screenings will be free and open to the public!

We are going to be meeting this Saturday at 3 PM instead of the usual time. Also we will be holding it outside of the World Community Center for a nice change of pace.

For information on the location of the meeting email stlclimateaction@gmail.com. There will be food and a dog!

Companies are gearing up for a surge in longwall mining efforts in Illinois. The above video is an ~3 minute peek into what people are now spending so much of their time fighting against. It’s based in Illinois in part because when people talk about America being the Saudi Arabia of coal, they often have a huge portion of Illinois on the mind.

Make no mistake, all of that land will be rendered useless if it’s for the purposes of making a quick buck. We need to come together to fight back against this before all the companies that have spent decades destroying Appalachia train their sites a little closer to home.