Actor Mark Ruffalo and Native Renewables founder Wahleah Johns presented Standing Rock Sioux tribal elders with mobile solar panels on trailers, bringing clean power to the protest encampment where the largest gathering of Native Americans in modern history is taking a stand against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Jon WankThe Solutions Project
"This pipeline is a black snake that traverses four states and 200 waterways with fracked Bakken oil," said Ruffalo, co-founder of The Solutions Project, which works to accelerate the transition to 100 percent clean and renewable energy.
"We know from experience that pipelines leak, explode, pollute and poison land and water. But it doesn't have to be that way."
A bill banning hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the Republic of Ireland was voted through the Dáil Éireann (the country's House of Representatives, so to speak) on Thursday.
During a televised debate over the bill, a number of speakers passionately argued that unconventional oil and gas operations have significant adverse effects.
According to the Irish Examiner, the bill's passage is "the first step in enforcing a nationwide ban on fracking and it will give the Government 12 weeks before it goes before further parliamentary scrutiny." The bill has now been moved to the committee stage for further review.
Fracking does not currently take place in the Emerald Isle but three exploratory licenses have been granted. The bill, The Prohibition of the Exploration and Extraction of Onshore Petroleum Bill, was introduced by Dáil member Tony McLoughlin, TD of the Fine Gael party. McLoughlin currently represents Sligo-Leitrim, a constituency that has been marked for potential shale gas exploration.
The legislation initially faced a potential eight-month delay to allow for Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency to issue a report on fracking, but the Government ultimately decided not to table the proposal.
During a televised debate over the bill, a number of speakers—across parties, no less—passionately argued that unconventional oil and gas operations have significant adverse effects, including its threat to human health, that it pollutes water and drives climate change, and would hamper Ireland's emissions targets.
Campaigners for Dalston music venue Passing Clouds will have the chance to buy the building after it was given protected status by Hackney Council.
The independent music hub in Richmond Road has been closed since bosses were evicted in August and thousands have joined a campaign to save it.
And now the building has been made an Asset of Community Value by the town hall, meaning should owners Landhold Developments look to sell the building, the community will be given six months to buy it.
The news will be music to the ears of all involved with the venue, which has been supported by artists including Paloma Faith, Gilles Peterson, Norman Jay and even London mayor Sadiq Khan.
5/6 November: Charter of the Forest weekend celebration presented by New Putney Debates
Come and join in the celebration of historic and ongoing social struggles to secure ways to live equitably and sustainably on the land.
The New Putney Debates is celebrating the anniversary of the Charter of the Forest - the twin charter to the Magna Carta - over the weekend of 5/6 November, as part of the build up for the 800th anniversary of the Charter that falls next year. The Charter of the Forest granted rights to commoners to live from the land; in the forests, chases and commons of England and Wales.
Still relevant and radical today, the Charter granted the idea of a general right to a sustainable existence from the fruits of the commonwealth. The first ecological Charter, it provides for sustainable use of the land, with people over successive generations using it to keep land in common usage.
The upcoming weekend of events which The New Putney Debates collective (https://thenewputneydebates.com ) is organising will explore the history behind the Charter of the Forest agreement and contemporary struggles for land - from the legends of Robin Hood, to fights and struggles to access land for food and against enclosure, and more contemporary social movements for housing, against privatisation and to protect local ecosystems, in the face of encroaching development.
Launching at 2pm on 5th November with a boat trip to Hackney Marshes, which is still a commons, attendees will find out about the history of land use there, including recent efforts by local people to ensure that Olympic regeneration did not ruin the local habitat and to keep land publicly accessible. The Fordham Gallery barge will then return to its mooring in Hackney Wick to exhibit a timeline, from London's early beginnings, of the historic struggles for land and democracy in the city and Thames Valley, up to the end of the 13th century when the Charter of the Forest entered statute together with the Magna Carta.
In the evening, starting at 7:30pm, Fordham Gallery will host a boat party, with Robin Grey leading a sing-a-long of Land and Housing protest songs from folk history, drawing on the show ‘3 Acres and a Cow’. This will be followed by an acoustic set from Pete Deane, Tim Flitcroft and friends, followed by pizza and a land and rebel song set. Please bring along your favourite track to play!
On Sunday 6th November, there will be a guided walking tour, exploring the history and meaning of the Charter of the Forest, starting at Lambeth Palace, where peace accords were agreed between the Barons and the King on 11th September1217, and ending at StPaul's Cathedral, where the Charter was agreed on the 6th November 1217 .
2pm: Boat Trip visit to the Hackney Marshes common land. Meet 2pm at Fordham Gallery Boat, River Lee, White Post Lane, Hackney Wick, E15. FREE
5pm: Opening of the timeline. This shows a history of land-rights and protest in and around London and the Thames Valley, from the first settlement of London to the entering of the Charter of the Forest and the Magna Carta into statute in 1297. Venue: Fordham Gallery Boat, River Lee, White Post Lane, Hackney Wick, E15. FREE
7:30pm until late: Lands & Housing Rights protest song sing-a long with Robin Grey, featuring songs from the ‘Three Acres and a Cow, followed by boat party with acoustic music and pizza, featuring musician Pete Deane, Tim Flitcroft and friends. Venue: Fordham Gallery Boat, River Lee, White Post Lane, Hackney Wick, E15. £5 tickets can be booked at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/boat-party-charter-of-the-forest-celebration-tickets-28145723617
1pm: Walking tour featuring important points in the development of the Charter of the Forest. Meet by the roundabout outside Lambeth Palace at 1pm, ends at St Paul’s Cathedral at about 3:15pm. FREE
☼ Beautiful Tribe! READY FOR SATURDAY!
Saturday 22nd October @ the Hive Dalston - from 6pm: The Urban Shamans Pyramid 4:
★ Many Activities before the Live Tribal Trance Dance, as ● Raw Cacao, ● Eco-Friendly Hemp Info Stand, Markets, ● Face Painting, ● Meditation Suspension Device, ● Projections, ● CDs, ... And Many Special Guests, Artists and Activists ... and more
★ See you at 6pm, make the best out of your Experience!
THIS IS A FUNDRAISING EVENT FOR our Big Community Project ONENESS PYRAMID USM, the Land for All the Tribes in London!
Aho!
Today Friday 14th at the Bank of No Money, 90 Deptford High Street from 8pm till 1am: Open Mic, Acoustic music, surprise guests, DJ set!! Donation bar and door.
Amazonbeat and Native Spirit Film Festival this sat oct 15th.film,music,art & workshops.connecting to south american indigenous and environmental issues plus amazing music evening.@Hivedalston,260 kingsland rd,e8 4dg.2-11pm FB:Amazonbeat
Dear friends, next weekend come along to FreeMovement.2 a benefit for migrant solidarity groups in Greece and the balkans and the harsh repression they are facing. Saturday 15th, 10pm to 4am at the yard theatre, Hackney Wick. £4 B4 MIDNIGHT, £6 AFTER, Free for asylum seekers and ex UKBA detainees. With sets from Cindy Looper, Ratkat, Repoman and Ellen... Expect dark tunes you can dance to x
Freelance journalist based in New York, and regular IRIN contributor
NEW YORK, 6 October 2016
Records detailing as many as 181,000 rounds of depleted uranium munitions shot in 2003 by American forces in Iraq have been unearthed by researchers, representing the most significant public documentation of the controversial armament's use during the US-led invasion.
A council has tried to forcibly evict a group of homeless people from the centre of Leeds by taking them to court. The Labour-controlled city authority also wanted an injunction to stop them living anywhere else. But the council has come under heavy criticism, because the people are not on private property, but sleeping in tents, in public spaces.
The court, however, has granted the group of around 60 homeless people six weeks on another site in the city, and ordered Leeds city council to ensure that the people are accommodated in this time.
A battle of statistics
Leeds “Tent City“, as it is known, was originally set up on 21 September outside the city’s art gallery. It consists of salvaged tents and sleeping bags from Leeds’ summer music festival. When it moved to its second site in Park Square, which is home to many of the city’s law firms, the council stepped in with court action. But today’s ruling will see it move again, to the former site of the international swimming pool.
Leeds Homeless Action Group (LHAG), who have organised the Tent City, claim they are providing a safe space for the city’s homeless, as well as protesting against the lack of action by the council to tackle homelessness. It is continuously staffed by volunteers, who distribute donated clothing, food and hot drinks to homeless people sleeping in the tents.
Saturday, April 9 was the first-ever day where more electricity was generated in the UK by solarthan by coal. May 2016 was the first-ever month. The three months from June through to September was the first-ever quarter. And now the six months to September is the first half year.
The UK's pioneering community energy project, Westmill Solar Park and Wind Farm in Oxfordshire, England.Richard Peat via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND)
These firsts reflect the changing face of UK electricity supplies, with solar capacity having nearly doubled during 2015. They also reflect historic lows for coal-fired generation, driven by changes in wholesale energy markets and the carbon price floor. Carbon Brief runs through the numbers.
The occupiers of the wealthy property guardians Camelot HQ have released a statement in response to recent mainstream media misinformation over their ongoing occupation raising awareness of the growing UK housing crisis.
Squatters occupying the former headquarters of a property management company that works to keep squatters out of empty buildings say they have rejected the offer of a deal to end their protest.
The group moved into the former head office of Camelot Europe in Shoreditch, east London, a week ago to highlight housing inequality. The company provides property guardians who look after empty buildings, generally at lower rents. The squatters say property guardians do not get a good deal from companies such as Camelot and do not have full tenancy rights. The activists say they also want to shine a light on Britain’s homelessness crisis.
Frank Freeman, one of the squatters, said at the time: “We are doing this on behalf of dispossessed, homeless people and guardians who are being exploited. We hope to run art workshops, yoga classes and exhibitions. London is built on culture, but artists and creative people can no longer afford to live here. It is becoming a sterile and unaffordable place.”
Camelot’s chief operating officer, Mike Goldsmith, offered the squatters a deal: leave the occupied building in return for permission to use it as an arts and culture space. However, on Monday the squatters did not attend a meeting with Camelot bosses to discuss the offer, and said they had rejected it.
Freeman, 29, said: “The occupation continues and we will resist any attempts by Camelot to remove us. Hundreds of activists have come down to the building to support us and our new neighbours have been very supportive too.
“What Camelot didn’t make clear when the deal was first offered was that we had to agree to a number of restrictions. The first would have been to remove any displays about the issues of homelessness and property guardianship – the reasons for occupying this office in the first place. We want to see sustainable solutions to the housing crisis, such as use of 3D printers to build houses made of hemp.”
‘From TV shows like Benefits Street showcasing Britain’s poor as if they were a circus act to the use of ‘shirkers and strivers’ by politicians, prejudice is increasing.’ Photograph: Advertising Standards Authority/PA
This week Nottingham city council’s poster campaign on homeless begging – suggesting that money to beggars funds booze, drugs, and fraud – was banned by the Advertising Standards Authority for being discriminatory. The ruling is good news, but the fact that these posters existed at all is indicative of the way in which it has become increasingly acceptable to berate the less well-off. From TV shows like Benefits Street showcasing Britain’s poor as if they were a circus act to the use by politicians of language like “shirkers and strivers”, such prejudice is increasing.
The UK's pioneering community energy project, Westmill Solar Park and Wind Farm in Oxfordshire, England.Richard Peat via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND)
