The Activist Beat with Rose Aguilar, host of Your Call on KALW in San Francisco is a weekly roundup of progressive activism that the mainstream media ignores, undercovers, or misrepresents. <\/em><\/p>\nThis week, environmental activists and members of Kids vs. Global Warming and Generation Hot are in Washington DC confronting what journalist Mark Hertsgaard calls climate cranks. These are the people in Congress, the media, and corporate sector who consistently lie about global warming. <\/p>\n
In his new book, Hot: Living Through the Next 50 Years on Earth, Hertsgaard writes: \u201cOur plan is to confront the climate cranks face to face, on camera, and call them to account for the dangers they have set in motion. We will highlight the ludicrousness of their antiscientific views, which alone should discredit them from further influence over US climate policies.\u201d <\/p>\n
Let\u2019s hope they get the media coverage they deserve. <\/p>\n
Over the past month, there\u2019s been a lot of activism on the environmental front.<\/p>\n
On January 3, over 700 people gathered outside the Wisconsin State Capitol to protest the inauguration of newly-elected Governor Scott Walker. In addition to demanding good paying jobs, citizens also expressed their opposition to the Governor\u2019s decision to kill the proposed Madison to Milwaukee high-speed rail line, which would\u2019ve created 13,000 jobs. Governor Walker said the federally funded $810 million project was a symbol of excessive government. He called the U.S. Department of Transportation\u2019s plan to withdraw the grant a \u201cvictory.\u201d <\/p>\n
The first anti-inaugural event in Wisconsin\u2019s history failed to receive coverage in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the state\u2019s largest paper or on most local TV stations.<\/p>\n
Milwaukee Labor Press editor Dominique Paul North told me that if there\u2019s a peace rally or a worker\u2019s rights action, you might find a reporter or two. If the tea party gather five people on the corner, every reporter would be there.<\/p>\n
Ohio Governor John Kasich also refused federal stimulus money for a 258-mile high-speed rail project linking Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, calling it “one of the dumbest ideas” he’s ever heard. The $400 million project would\u2019ve created approximately 8,000 jobs. <\/p>\n
On January 8, hundreds of Ohioans stood in subfreezing temperatures outside a pre-inauguration event at the Columbus statehouse. It was so cold, the bullhorns wouldn\u2019t work. But that didn\u2019t stop citizens from expressing their disgust with Governor Kasich. They also condemned his plans to raise tuition at colleges and universities, repeal the state\u2019s collective bargaining law for public employees, and privatize Ohio\u2019s state prisons. <\/p>\n
The money that would\u2019ve been used for high-speed rail in Wisconsin and Ohio will be divided among other states, including California and Florida. <\/p>\n
Also last month, dozens of Nebraskans gathered on the steps of the Capitol to express their opposition to a proposed $12 billion pipeline that would carry 900,000 barrels of oil a day from Canada\u2019s tar sands to Texas refineries. <\/p>\n
30 members of Congress have written a letter urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the State Department to approve TransCanada\u2019s Keystone pipeline. According to Reuters, if the pipeline is approved the big winners would be the billionaire tea-party funders Charles and David Koch.<\/p>\n
On January 30, police in riot gear arrested 25 people for trespassing as over 1,000 people protested outside a four-day meeting in Rancho Mirago held by the Koch brothers, conservative activists, and politicians \u2013 all climate change deniers.<\/p>\n
Jeff McCall, a 67-year-old retired teacher protesting the meeting told the LA Times \u201cIt\u2019s not who you vote for, it\u2019s how much money you\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n
Activists say they are planning future actions to expose the Koch\u2019s corporate agenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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The Activist Beat with Rose Aguilar, host of Your Call on KALW in San Francisco is a weekly roundup of progressive activism that the mainstream media ignores, undercovers, or misrepresents. <\/em><\/p>\n