From academia to action

Scientists block BC coal train, urge others to take up civil disobedience.

by Alejandro Frid, with addendum by Stephen Leahy

Prominent academics, fed up with governments that ignore science and heed the priorities of corporations, have turned to civil disobedience. James Hansen, a senior climate scientist with NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, led by example last year when he got himself arrested in front of the White House to protest the Keystone Pipeline that would carry oil from the Alberta Tar Sands to the US. That was his third arrest in three years; the previous two involved civil disobedience against the mining of coal, a huge contributor to greenhouse gases.

On May 5 2012, In the wake of Hansen's arrests, Mark Jaccard (a prominent economist, IPCC member, and professor at the Energy and Materials Research Group of Simon Fraser University) got himself arrested in White Rock, BC, for blocking a coal train carrying US coal for export to China via BC ports. There were 12 others with Jaccard, among them a man in his 80s, several men in their 60s and 70s, and a few youngsters like myself and my good friend Lynne Quarmby. Lynne happens to be chair of the Department of Molecular Biology at Simon Fraser University.

Shortly before the arrest, as we sat on the tracks, I told Jaccard that I had been teetering on the decision to come, but his announcement to participate sealed my decision. Jaccard replied that, given what he knew about the climate crisis and the consequences of inaction, it was impossible for him to not be here.

He was echoing sentiments shared by all 13 of us on the tracks. Later, as we were released from jail, Jaccard wondered out loud whether the arrest would affect his ability to travel for work. Then he said something to the effect that, 'You can forever come up with excuses, or you can get real and just do it.'

Civil disobedience has a long-standing tradition of enabling change. It goes back to at least the 18th century, when British citizens organized themselves to protest, continually for about 50 years, until British slavery was abolished. In the early campaign stages, abolition would have seemed as ludicrously impossible as abolishing fossil fuels today. Yet the protests worked. This precedent perhaps indicates that if enough of us were to get involved, fossil fuels could be abolished before runaway climate change becomes inevitable.

Our act of civil disobedience went smoothly. The White Rock detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was a stellar example of decency and professionalism. They were honest communicators who fulfilled their obligations to public safety while allowing us to exercise our democratic rights.

Moments before the arrest, several of us spoke to the surrounding media and observers about intergenerational justice and the millions of people already suffering from climate change today. There were no hasty moves during the hand-cuffing and ride in the paddy wagon. There was no property or personal damage. There were only carefully crafted ideas and deeply held convictions. Fellow protester, Kevin Washbrook, said it best: "Saturday was a good day to be a Canadian citizen."

Yet as buzzed as I am by the success, I am also overwhelmed by how much remains undone. All of you with science careers know what is wrong, what is at stake, and what needs to change. Civil disobedience is a personal choice which carries many potentially serious implications. It is not to be taken lightly. But anyone who understands the current state of the world and the consequences of inaction must seriously consider taking action.

UXBRIDGE May 7, 2012 — Peter Nix, a retiree, spent Saturday May 5 standing on a railway track on Canada's west coast blocking a coal train destined to ship US and Canadian coal to Asia.

Nix was joined by dozens of people near White Rock, British Columbia, in good company as tens of thousands of people around the world participated in the May 5 global day of action to "connect the dots" between climate change and extreme weather.

Jamie Henn, communications director for the US-based 350.org environmental group, predicted "at least 1,200 actions in more than 100 countries." With all the extreme weather disasters and weather records the public is being to realise that climate change is here, says Henn.

"Recent opinion surveys show the more than 60 percent of the US public are connecting extreme weather to climate change," Henn told this reporter. And scientists say the public is not wrong.

"All weather events are affected by climate change because the environment in which they occur is warmer and moister than it used to be," Kevin Trenberth, senior scientist at the US National Center for Atmospheric Research, previously told this reporter.

Last year the US endured 14 separate billion-dollar-plus weather disasters including flooding, hurricanes and tornados.

This year, most of the US and Canada experienced summer in winter with record-shattering heat waves in March. More than 15,000 temperature records were broken in the US, which had its first billion-dollar weather disaster of the year. In most places, the spring month of April was colder than March.

"What kind of future are we leaving for our children if we keep putting more carbon into the atmosphere?" asks Nix.

As a former scientist who used to work for the oil industry in Canada's tar sands, he has a pretty good idea of what's coming unless fossil fuels are phased out. Catastrophic consequences including everything from droughts, floods, forest fires, food shortages, to increases in tropical diseases and political chaos.

"Politicians are not leading. Corporations are only interested in quick profits. They are the real radicals in our society," says Nix, referring to Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver's accusation that environmentalists have a "radical ideological agenda."

"There is no one left to protect the future for our children but the public," says Nix.

Every day, six long trains each carrying up to 10,000 tonnes of coal from the US and British Columbia (BC) travel the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) rail line to the Westshore Coal Terminal at Delta, BC just north of the US border. It is the busiest coal export port in North America.

The climate-heating carbon in the coal exported every year is equivalent to the annual emissions for the entire province of BC of 4.5 million people and many energy-intense industries like aluminium smelting and mining, says Nix.

"We have to stop burning coal. Leading scientists like James Hansen have made that clear," he said.

References
  Alejandro Frid Ecology and Conservation
  Letter to Warren Buiffet
  stopcoal.ca