Interpretation of C.S. Lewis termed fascinating-but-wrong — Pg. 17
December 2011
Vol. 8, No. 1
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2 banks’ stance on coal triggers ire of protesters
Massive use of windmills urged as safer alternative
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From Staff Reports Occupy Asheville’s Rally for Clean Energ drew 50 to 70 participants on a sunny and mild mid-afternoon Nov. 1 in Pritchard Park in downtown Asheville. The nearly 75-minute event began with a rally, during which several speakers addressed and fired-up the crowd, followed by a march to Royal Bank of Canada (RBC Bank) at 8 O’Henry Avenue, and concluded with a march to Bank of America, across from Pritchard Park at 68 Patton Ave. The contingent picketed at each bank. The two banks were singled out because they allegedly are key financiers of the fossil fuel industry, such as coal, and of building more oil pipelines. The protesters contended that the banks’ funding of coalburning is exacerbating global warming. At least five people were arrested for trespassing on BofA’s property. The Daily Planet was able to immediately identify four of the five arrested, including Amber Lee Williams, Steve Norris, Caleb Shaw and Thomas Beckett. During the rally, Cecil Bothwell, a member of Asheville City Council and a 11th District congressional hopeful, told the crowd, “We’ve got to change our habits.” Bothwell peppered his talk with references to an address the previous night in Asheville by environmental activist Bill McKibben. (See story below). Earth’s population faces “climate change that our crops won’t be able to handle ... We’re going to see many of our cities in seacoast areas going underwater.”
As for what people can do, Bothwell said, “Well, one thing that we’re not doing in this state is allowing windmills on ridgetops ... More than that, we need to get windmills off-shore. We’ve got really good wind off the coast of North Carolina” for wind-energy generation. What’s more, he said, “We need more solar” energy production. He credited the
Asheville Independent Restaurant Association for pursuing an initiative to emphasize solar-energy generation. Bothwell added that such efforts show that “we’re ahead of the curve here in Asheville.” Ultimately, he said, “The whole thing is ... We need to walk and ride bicycles more — a lot more” to reduce global warming. Noting that he was the only councilman
to vote against the construction of a parking garage on Biltmore Avenue, Bothwell said such facilities just attract more motor vehicles, when fewer are desired in the city. “Walk, when you can. Bicycle, when you can. Carpool, when you can. A lot of the answers are really simple ... Consume less,” Bothwell said in closing. See PROTESTERS, Page 9
By JOHN NORTH Renowned environmental activist and author Bill McKibben outlined the looming dangers of starvation and social unrest — as a result of climate change — and ripped the fossil-fuel industry for poisoning the atmosphere during a Nov. 30 address in UNC Asheville’s Lipinsky Auditorium. McKibben, who spoke for an hour to a standing-room-only crowd of more than 600 people, was introduced as the author of about a dozen books, most notably “The End of Nature.” He grew up in Massachusetts, served as editor of his college newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, and later wrote for The New Yorker magazine. When he walked onto the stage, he was greeted with a standing ovation at the event hosted by the Moving Planet Coalition. “It is, as always, an enormous please to be here in Asheville,” he said. “This is a good, important and powerful place.” He then offered an apology in advance because “you won’t get that great of a
speech” because McKibben said he was “worn out” from his travel schedule. Besides, he added with a wide grin, “I’m a writer, not a speaker.” However, based on the audience response, including several occasions of major applause and a standing ovation when he finished, the crowd was delighted with his address. Later, McKibben fielded questions from those present. Recognizing that many of those present already know lots about global warming, he said, “I know I’m not needed at all and y’all know exactly what to do.” (He is the founder of 350.org, a grassroots climate advocacy group claiming to have coordinated 15,000 rallies in 189 countries since 2009.) He noted that in his 2010 book, “Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet,” he deliberately changed the spelling of “Earth” to signify that human beings have changed the planet in so many ways that it no longer resembles the planet most people thought they knew.
Regarding global warming, he said, “It’s the scale of the problem that dictates the response ... The story of the last 20 years is, it’s tracking much faster than we projected ... Now, we’re into something else — and the only question is how far it’ll go. “So far, we’ve raised the temperature of the earth by about a degree,” but he said another degree rise is imminent if people continue to burn coal, oil and gas. He added that many scientists predict a 4- to 6-degree increase by the end of the century, based on current trends of fossil fuel usage. McKibben also reviewed a number of other related concerns, including significantly more wattage in the atmosphere, seawater that is 30 percent more acidic than it was 30 years ago and 40 percent less ice in the Arctic than several decades ago. He added that 19 nations set all-time temperature records last year. One manifestation of the problem, McKibben said, is “the way water is moving around the planet ... Warm holds more wa-
ter than cold.” He also said the atmosphere has suffered a precipitious drop in vapor in the last 30 years. “It got over 100 degrees in Moscow in August” for several consecutive days. Never in recorded history had the temperature reached such Bill McKibben a high level in Russia’s capital city, McKibben said. The Russian heat wave, and accompanying concern about crop failure, prompted grain prices to soar worldwide — “and they’ve stayed up” ever since. See ACTIVIST, Page 20
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The Dec. 1 protest rally and march ended in front of Bank of America along Patton Avenue in downtown Asheville,
Daily Planet Staff Photo
where at least five people were arrested for trespassing on the bank’s property.
Activist accuses oil firms of occupying earth’s atmosphere
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For more Lindy photos, see Page 7 Daily Planet Staff Photo
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