Who are the Climate Leaders?
An Article for Red Pepper

Professional climate activists often concentrate on the task of negotiating global emissions reduction targets. But dealing with climate change also means finding practical political means of keeping fossil fuels in the ground. However brilliantly the world theorizes ways of getting carbon out of energy, it is also going to have to get energy companies out of fossil fuel deposits. As climatologist Jim Hansen notes, burning the Earth's remaining coal, oil and gas "would guarantee dramatic climate change, yielding a different planet from the one on which civilisation developed."

To be successful, climate movements must therefore be empowered and informed by grassroots movements fighting oil and gas pipelines in places like the Niger Delta, South Wales, Chana district in Southern Thailand and Rossport in Ireland. While most official responses to climate change are stuck in the past, such communities are looking to the future.

Related articles of interest:

• Privatization of the Air Turns Lethal Pay-to-Pollute Principle Kills South African Activist Sajida Khan
• Gas, Waqf and Barclays Capital A Decade of Struggle in Southern Thailand
• A Death in Durban Capitalist Patriarchy, Global Warming Gimmickry and our Responsibility for Rubbish
• The Struggle of Villagers in Chana District, Southern Thailand in Defence of Community Land and Religion against the Trans Thai-Malaysian Pipeline and Industrial Project (TTM) 2002-2008
• Uncertainty Markets and Carbon Markets Variations on Polanyian Themes
• Carbon Trading How It Works and Why It Fails
• How Carbon Trading Undermines Positive Approaches to the Climate Crisis
• Carbon Trading A Critical Conversation on Climate Change, Privatisation and Power
• Why Investment Matters The Political Economy of International Investments