WILLIAM BURNS
Senior fellow at the Santa Clara Law School focusing on international environmental law, Burns said today: “The U.S. government is claiming that it is willing to engage in international negotiations to address climate change; however, it continues to resist binding commitments despite the fact that voluntary efforts have proven to be an abject failure over the past few decades. Moreover, while the U.S. is arguing that it can’t make commitments unless major developing nations such as India and China also do so, it is working behind the scenes to persuade these nations to resist binding commitments. It’s an incredibly cynical policy.”

Burns is also editor-in-chief of the Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy and co-chair of the International Environmental Law Committee of the American Society of International Law.
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AFSAN CHOWDHURY
A journalist based in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Toronto, Canada, Chowdhury is director of the film “Climate Change: Does Anybody Care if Bangladesh Drowns?” Excerpts from his documentary are available online.

He said today: “People are used to thinking of what climate change is doing in the long run. But in a country like Bangladesh and a lot of countries, climate change has already happened, the devastation has already occurred. It’s so very easy to ignore Bangladesh when it drowns, it’s so easy to ignore the poor when they drown. The bad news? This is going to happen more and more. Climate change will make it a regular part of life.” Chowdhury is also director of advocacy and human rights at the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee.

TYSON SLOCUM
Director of Public Citizen’s Energy Program, Slocum said today: “The coal and oil industries continue to dominate American energy policy at the expense of record energy prices for households, huge profits for fossil-fuel companies and mounting evidence that the world’s nations must work cooperatively to stop climate change.”
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ANNE PETERMANN
ORIN LANGELLE
Co-directors of the Vermont-based Global Justice Ecology Project, Petermann and Langelle are in contact with numerous environmental activists from around the world at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia, who they can help arrange interviews with. The group put out a recent news release, which stated: “‘Indigenous peoples are not only marginalized from the discussion, but there is virtually no mention of indigenous peoples in the more than 5 million words of UNFCCC documents,’ argued Alfred Ilenre of the Edo People of Nigeria.

“This is occurring despite the fact that indigenous peoples are suffering the most from climate change and climate change mitigation projects that directly impact their lands.

“Indigenous peoples are here in Bali to denounce the false solutions to climate change proposed by the United Nations such as carbon trading, agrofuels and so-called ‘avoided deforestation’ that devastate their lands and cause human rights violations.

“‘This process has become nothing but developed countries avoiding their responsibilities to cut emissions and pushing the responsibility onto developing countries,’ stated Fiu Mata’ese Elisara-Laula, of the O Le Siosiomaga Society of Samoa. ‘Projects like REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing countries) sound very nice but they are trashing our indigenous lands.'”
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TED GLICK
Glick is coordinator of the U.S. Climate Emergency Council, which is conducting a sit-in Tuesday morning, December 11, beginning at 10:00 a.m. inside the office of Senator Mitch McConnell. Glick said: “McConnell is the Senate Minority Leader who orchestrated the Friday morning Republican vote against the House-passed Energy Independence and Security Act. We must demand that the Senate include both the 15 percent by 2020 Renewable Electricity Standard for utility companies and a Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit in the energy bill.

“A recent Zogby poll found that 77 percent of Republicans, 85 percent of independents and 92 percent of Democrats agree that utilities should be required to produce some of their energy from clean sources such as wind and solar.” Glick is on the 98th day of a liquid-only “Climate Emergency Fast.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167.