There was a conflict of sorts in my inbox last week.
Wednesday heralded the arrival of the latest Ethical Corporation newsletter, the subject line for which read "Effective environmental activism all but abandoned in the US", and which pointed recipients to an early July post from Peter Knight of Context America suggesting "Environmental groups have all but abandoned a push for better policies in preference for encouraging their supporters to pursue futile personal green efforts, aided and abetted by marketers flogging supposedly green goods."
Surrounding Ethical Corporation's missive? Multiple emails pronouncing the biggest investment in grassroots activism in, well, forever: Michael Bloomberg's $50 million contribution to in the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign.
Knight is a smart, seasoned observer in the sustainability space. Bloomberg didn't make billions by throwing away tens of millions on lost causes. What's going on?
Shifting tactics
I've posited for a while, and especially since COP 15 in Copenhagen in late 2009, that civil society organizations generally, and environmental non-profits in particular, would be (and should be) much more aggressive in terms of campaigning in coming years.
My simple analysis is this: On the road to Copenhagen, a well-reasoned bet was made by many environmentalists that cooperation, dialogue and partnership with government and industry leaders created the greatest chance that a robust "framework for climate change mitigation beyond 2012 [would be] agreed" in Denmark and widely implemented by governments worldwide.
Betting's risky, and this was a big one that missed. COP 15 ended without an accord, and international climate negotiations have been in disarray since, with the very capacity for great multilateral deal-making in question.
But Copenhagen's very failure seems to be the impetus behind new, successful campaigns (and campaign styles). 350.org, committed to "building a global movement to solve the global climate crisis" by educating and empowering individuals, has modeled how new movements might thrive, simultaneously and powerfully expressing itself online, through all forms of media and by rallying far-flung supporters for in-person days of action (next up: the September 24, 2011 Moving Planet event). And the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign? It's been an astonishing bootstrap success already, which with Bloomberg's support might be a game-changer.
Be Like Mike(s)
Even without their own iconic commercial, the partnership between New York City's dynamic mayor and Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune looks sure to be successful. If it is, we can expect it to grow and attract support, and to be emulated by other organizations determined to address climate change or championing other sustainability issues.
According to the Sierra Club press release, with Bloomberg's support, Beyond Coal (which has already stopped more than 150 new coal-fired plants) expects to "effectively retire one-third of the nation's aging coal fleet by 2020, replacing it with clean energy." This means cutting coal production 30 percent by 2020 -- and mercury pollution from coal by 90 percent by the same date -- while replacing a majority of coal with clean energy.
This is to be accomplished by increasing the number of Sierra Club campaign states from 15 to 45, and the number of full time Sierra Club staff working on the campaign from 100 to 200, all while endeavoring also to grow the organization's active member and support base from 1.4 million to 2.4 million people. So stay tuned -- this movie is coming to a theatre near you.
Let the Sun Shine In
You may want to 'Be Like Mike(s)' because you directly support Beyond Coal's objectives, but there is another reason too.
In an age when Astroturf NGOs with anonymous financial backers are created to give the illusion of legitimacy to dubious political and commercial positions that can't generate genuine grassroots support, there is no hiding (and no effort being made to hide) a $50 million contribution from one of America's richest men and most prominent politicians to the Sierra Club (which is 119 years old, and the largest grassroots environmental organization in the United States).
And hurrah for that, for while societal policy and leadership must be formed from diverse and (as with climate) often competing worldviews, democracies require transparency to enable choice and meaningful citizen engagement. Simply put, those opposed to action on climate too often fail to live up to this standard. Love 'em or leave 'em, Bloomberg and Brune are modeling transparency. Positions aside, we'd be better served if everyone engaged in the climate debate would follow suit.
Photo courtesy of the Sierra Club.
The Sierra Club's "Beyond
The Sierra Club's "Beyond Coal" campaign pursues an "end justifies the means" strategy that actually harms our environment in at least one significant way: By maintaining a drumbeat of well-financed advertising and publicity about "toxic coal ash" and pushing for its designation as a "hazardous waste," the Club is threatening to destroy efforts that safely recycle millions of tons of coal ash every year. This recycling effort saves natural resources and energy, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cement production by more than 10 million tons per year. But don't expect to learn anything about that on the "Beyond Coal" campaign web site. They don't even acknowledge that coal ash recycling exists. So much for "transparency to enable choice and meaningful citizen engagement."
In my search for
In my search for "transparency to enable choice and meaningful citizen engagement." I followed the link to Recycle First's website to learn who was making this comment in support of coal ash recycling. It led to the "Citizens for Recycling First" website, a promotional site for coal ash recycling.
Coal ash recycling sounds very environmentally sound but is laden with potential health problems. Coal ash is not just "solid materials left over from the combustion process" as the Recycle First website states, but is the stuff collected by pollution control equipment designed to keep mercury and other toxic substances out of our air. Whether one can safely take these substances out of the coal fired power plant emissions and put it in the concrete, wallboard and carpet backings in our schools, offices and houses is a hotly debated topic and deserves careful scrutiny. Check out our blog for
http://www.pharosproject.net/index/blog/mode/detail/record/76/fly-ash-in...
http://www.pharosproject.net/index/blog/mode/detail/record/96/common-car...
Who are these Citizens? Despite an offer on the site to have your name published if you support coal ash recycling, I could only find one Citizen listed on the site: "John N. Ward serves as Chairman of Citizens for Recycling First. John was described in a December 26, 2006, Wall Street Journal article as a “used coal salesman.” He has more than 12 years experience in the marketing of coal ash for environmentally beneficial uses. Now a consultant to the energy industry, John is a former board member and past president of the American Coal Council. He served on the National Coal Council as appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Energy. He is a former chairman of the Government Relations Committee of the American Coal Ash Association and participates in numerous industry groups related to the manufacturing and use of construction materials."
The levels of metals in coal
The levels of metals in coal ash are similar to or lower than the levels of the same metals in the materials coal ash replaces when it is recycled. Continuing to attack coal ash as inherently "toxic" won't result in less metals in building products -- it will only result in more coal ash going to landfills and more greenhouse gas emissions from activities like cement production.
Of course, Citizens for Recycling First is a promotional site for coal ash recycling! I've included my biography right on the web site because I am proud of the 15 years I've spent actually working to improve the environment through coal ash recycling and so are the 1,500+ individuals -- mostly small business people in the recycling business -- who support Citizens.
--John Ward