Buenas noches de Cancun, where Day 1 of COP16 ends in a mishmosh of mucha confusión, conexiones pobres de Internet y los problemas de transporte that befuddle the mind, even of the most seasoned climate negotiator.
Adopt a Negotiator? How about find one? Coercing one to talk to you on the record? No small feat, considering the fact that those press credentials I was expecting were not forthcoming on my arrival last night. Turns out my stint as a member of tck's official reporting team affords me "Observor" status. Meaning I get coveted access to Cancunmesse, the spectacular array of COP16 side events and unlimited access to the hundreds of NGOs huddling under one roof in this huge new convention complex.
No small feat, catching an interview with official delegates, who are already separated from the press in the official Moon Palace talks four miles away. Still, they all have to pass through Cancunmesse at least twice a day as they shuttle off behind the Mexican government's extraordinarily 'military curtain.'
Ah, but quizá they have no idea what they are in for when they grant an old school reporter even limited access. In New York, to get a story you had to have cahones grande! For me, that meant the work day began en route to work.
continued at Daily Kos....
People from around the world will not sit in silence while the U.S. fiddles with providing real solutions to climate change impacts. There is a growing movement to push for accountability of governments who fail to take action; a fossil fuel industry that peddles widespread death, sickness and the destruction of economies and environment; and climate deniers who obstruct comprehensive climate change laws with campaigns of lies and disinformation. Citizens are filing lawsuits while countries and activists advocate prosecution of climate change criminals, discuss proposals for international forums for prosecutions and litigation to obtain damages for harm under existing precedent. 
Supervisors of Giumarra Vineyards in California 
Is racism ok when it happens in an environmental context? Whitman's upset that Chevron could not proceed with its project to upgrade a refinery in California that is a major source of pollution. The refinery is located in a minority and low-income community. Studies have shown that decisions to locate polluting facilities in low-income and minority communities are not mere happenstance. The community already suffers high rates of illness and disease and a horrible quality of life. Chevron wanted to upgrade its facility without clearly disclosing what type of crude would be refined, but indications are that the upgrade would allow it to 
"Environmentalists often say that we are the one species the earth could very well do without. That's so well-accepted among the people of my tribe that it seems to go without saying.
Welcome to Apache Leap. The elders tell of a time when invading U.S. soldiers sought to abduct the Apache people, herd them onto reservations, and steal their land. The people fought valiantly, but were woefully outnumbered. When the end came, the Apache warriors chose to retain their honor rather than surrender to thieves and thugs: They leapt off the peak to their deaths below, joining the spirits of their ancestors and depriving the Army of prize captives. 
In recent years, a growing meme that immigrants are bad for the environment has taken hold, fueling a rabid minority's xenophobic paranoia with good old-fashioned eco-angst about carrying capacity and population bombs.
California AB 32 is the Global Warming Solutions Act signed into law in 2006. AB 32 focuses on climate change and includes an environmental justice provision to address the killing and harming of poor and minority communities that is now the status quo. Prop 23 is a ballot measure to nix AB 32. Some newspaper editorials oppose Prop 23, but the most recent July polls show a slim majority of no votes. One 
Thanks to the 
In December, one of the 
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Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) says Democrats killed THE comprehensive climate bill because Americans "reject further