It's Getting Hot In Here

Crossposted from vanwaardenphoto.com

This evening TransCanada held their one and only open house in the vast city of Montreal. The open house was situated in the middle of nowhere in the east industrial area and almost everyone visiting got lost. Surprisingly, for a massive infrastructure project there were few ‘regular’ citizens to be seen. In fact there were more blue shirts in the room all night than ‘regular’ citizens.

But that statement doesn’t tell the whole story. It was clear that the majority of those blue shirts and regular citizens were actually concerned citizens. Save-Canada.com  has been attending these events, dressed in almost exactly the same fatigue as the TransCanada representatives and handing out more information about how this pipeline will impact Canadians and the world.  It seems that the TransCanada people don’t know what to do with them. Throughout the evening Save Canada, and SansTransCanada, their Quebec counterpart, engaged with citizens and even played a little game of ‘pin the spill on the pipeline’.

From my perspective it looks like TransCanada has a long uphill battle ahead. There are a lot of concerned citizens, few actual jobs and they are building an export pipeline. If you are looking for some more information here is one source and click here for more visuals

Every extractive industry deeply affects the relationship between people on the land and their newly manufactured landscape. The incredibly rapid development of the tar sands in Northern Alberta is having a profound affect on the culture, lifestyle and health of the First Nations. Conversely, communities have gained employment, and access to modern health care and services. Is the stability and preservation of a culture better served through attention to traditional lifestyle or to commerce and industry? This multimedia piece on Vimeo explores this story and the consequences of the Tar Sands development on the First Nations of Northern Alberta.

Special thanks to Northern Cree for the music and to all the individuals and groups in Fort McMurray, Fort Chipewyan and Fort McKay that made this possible.

crossposted from photographer vanwaardenphoto.com

UPDATE: Check out the video from Ellard Vasen

This past Saturday, in the little town of Vlaardingen near Rotterdam, an estimated 1500 Scouts gathered to create this aerial image of 10:10. The event was organized by JMA (Jongeren Milieu Actief) in Amsterdam. This is arguably the largest 10:10 image ever recorded. It reminds us of the goal to reduce emissions by 10% in 2010 and how important it is that we to get to work during and after the Global Work Party on October 10, 2010.

What are you planning for 10:10? Check out 10:10global.org or 350.org to find a work party near you or start your own.

Credit: Robert van Waarden

In 2009, millions of people came together around the world to pressure leaders to sign a legally binding and ambitious deal in Copenhagen. Although the final result in Copenhagen was a failure, 2009 was the year that the climate movement exploded. This energy will carry forward and we will continue to build in numbers until sustainability is achieved. This multimedia piece looks at the growth of this movement throughout 2009.

Take a moment and watch hundreds of those around the world taking action and inspiring others in the fight for climate justice.

All images (unless provided by 350.org) ©Robert van Waarden,
Music – “Open Road Kisses” by Small Affairs

©Stuart Matthews

Guest post and photography essay from photographer Stuart Matthews

In November, 2009, I visited Bangladesh to document the impact of global warming on the country and its’ people. I focused on how NGO’s such as Oxfam Great Britain are collaborating with the communities to develop initiatives like the ‘Cash for Work’ program. This provides an income to the individual workers who participate in developing the climate defenses around their community.

Bangladesh has an extremely vulnerable landscape with 80% of its land made up of low-lying deltaic plains with an altitude of only 10 meters above sea level or less. This land is subject to frequent flooding during the Monsoon season, with large quantities of water flowing down the Jamuna and Padma rivers, causing catastrophic erosion along the banks of a fragile, predominantly silt, landscape.

Skip to full slideshow

Continue reading ‘Changing Tides – A Photo Essay on Bangladesh’

©Robert van Waarden

Over 100,000 people converged in Copenhagen on Dec. 12, 2009 to march towards the Bella Center and demand a fair, ambitious, and binding treaty at the end of the Conference of Parties. This gallery is a selection of some of my best images from the day.

Reporting for Project Survival Media in Romania.
By Andrada Farcău with images by Mihai Giurgiu.

©Mihai Giurgiu

Romania was a land of diversity. We used to have four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Now we are having two seasons. So, what can be the reason of changing? It could be a natural transformation, just a temporary phenomena or the global warming. All Romanian people are affected by this change: their lands are not that good as before, their fruit production has problems and people have to fight more against the floods. The Romanian scientists say that we can’t prove yet if one of the causes is global warming or not and if the human race is responsible of it.

Continue reading ‘The Snow Left Us and Moved to Other Places’

“It isn’t 350, but 288ppm is better. “


Video: Ellard Vasen

As the rain fell on downtown Amsterdam, the Netherlands, we reached 288 People Per Museumplein dancing the Charleston in the shape of ‘350 NU’. Translated as ‘350 Now’ it was a fun, electric action that joined over 5000 actions across the globe for the 350.org international day of action. MOVE YOUR FEET for CLIMATE ACTION! – voor een BETER KLIMAAT! was followed by a march through the downtown of Amsterdam calling for 350ppm.

Young and old danced the Charleston, a 1920s swing dance, to communicate their desire for a treaty that commits the countries of the world to a target of 350parts per million CO2.

A photographic gallery of the event can be found here.

Images ©Robert vanWaarden

By: Adaeze Umolu
For More images of Powershift UK

It is the fourth day of the UK Powershift 2009 conference. A group of young people with luggage and carrier bags shuffle with the rest of the crowd headed from the London eye towards the direction of the British parliament. Cheering the green peace activists who are on the roof of the parliament, they cross into parliament square, the one with the huge Nelson Mandela statue and the music begins……

Stop, Rewind: This story begins at the Jubilee Gardens beside the famous London Eye. A young lady, one of the UKYCC coordinators, has announced to the group that what they are about to embark on a fun but serious mission. She told the Powershift group that there was no insurance or permission, that by venturing onto Parliament Square, they might be arrested and could be charged under the terrorist act. However, not one person backed down from what is for many their first act of civil disobedience.

Continue reading ‘Youths in the UK dance in front of the British Parliament’

Three reasons:

1. The principle
2. The permanence
3. I like tattoos.

From the least important to the most important, these three reasons explained…

Reason 3 – “I like tattoos”

Continue reading ‘Why I got “Climate Justice” tattooed on my neck.’