06 PM | 25 Sep

Topic for Blog Action Day 2009 is…Climate Change.

BAD press release…

We’re thrilled to announce that after receiving more than 10,000 votes from past Blog Action Day participants, the issue overwhelmingly voted as the topic for Blog Action Day 2009 is…Climate Change!

You can now register for Blog Action Day 09 by going to: www.blogactionday.org

To be a part of this year’s event, all we ask is that you commit to writing one  post, in your own voice, on October 15, on the topic of climate change.

You can learn more about the issue of climate change and see sample topics you might write about — like the connections between climate and clean energy, food choices, green products, health, transportation, and the broader economy.

12 PM | 23 Sep

Fake New York Post makes New Yorkers wakeup to Climate Change

This week nearly a million New Yorkers were stunned by the appearance of a “special edition” New York Post blaring headlines that their city could face deadly heat waves, extreme flooding, and other lethal effects of global warming within the next few decades. The most alarming thing about it: the news came from an official City report.

Distributed by over 2000 volunteers throughout New York City, the paper has been created by The Yes Men and a coalition of activists as a wake-up call to action on climate change.

Although the 32-page New York Post is a fake, everything in it is 100% true, with all facts carefully checked by a team of editors and climate change experts.

“This could be, and should be, a real New York Post,” said Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men. “Climate change is the biggest threat civilization has ever faced, and it should be in the headlines of every paper, every day until we solve the problem.”

The fake Post’s cover story (“We’re Screwed”) reports the frightening conclusions of a blue-ribbon panel of scientists commissioned by the mayor’s office to determine the potential effects of climate change on the City. That report was released in February of this year, but received very little press at the time. Other lead articles describe the Pentagon’s alarmed response to global warming (“Clear & Present Disaster”), the U.S. government’s sadly minuscule response to the crisis (“Congress Cops Out on Climate”), China’s alternative energy program (“ChinaÕs Green Leap Forward Overtakes U.S.”), and how if the US doesn’t quickly pass a strong climate bill, the crucial Copenhagen climate talks this December could be a “Flopenhagen.”

The paper includes original investigative reporting as well. One article (“Carbon counter counts New Yorkers as fools”) reveals that Deutsche Bank – which erected a seven-story “carbon counter” in central Manhattan – not only invests heavily in coal-mining companies worldwide, but has recently entered the business of coal trading itself.

The paper has the world’s gloomiest weather page, covering the next 70 years rather than just 7 days. The “Around the World” section describes the disproportionate effects of climate change on poorer parts of the world, including extreme droughts, floods, famines, water shortages, mass migrations and conflicts. Developing countries will bear the brunt of climate change effects even though they have done very little to cause the problem.

To participate in civil disobedience visit http://BeyondTalk.net and pledge to risk arrest in a planned global action November 30, just before the conference in Copenhagen.

Links:

Fake New York Post: http://www.nypost-se.com/ Video News Release: http://www.nypost-se.com/video City report on climate change: http://www.nyc.gov/html/om/pdf/2009/NPCC_CRI.pdf Wake-up call: http://www.tcktcktck.org/wakeup

11 AM | 23 Sep

World Television launches online video portal on Climate Change

World Television has launched climatetalks.tv, an online video news portal for journalists in the lead up to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15). COP15, the most significant global meeting this year, will be held in Copenhagen between 7 and 18 December.

World Television, which has a long track record in environmental communications, has developed climatetalks.tv in order to host video footage and other multimedia assets related to climate change from a variety of sources to support broadcast, print and online journalists’ stories around the event.

Video footage will be available for download in broadcast-quality from October through until the end of December 2009 and beyond into 2010. In addition to providing the latest stories on the debate, the site also incorporates RSS-feed functionality so journalists can sign-up to receive alerts when new content is added.