Steve Kretzmann’s Posts

• Money for Nothing, and the Climate for Free

  Obama to propose ending fossil fuel subsidies in Pittsburgh? 3

  Posted 2 months, 1 week ago

  According to a leaked letter, the Obama administration is set to propose ending fossil fuel subsidies next week at the Pittsburgh G20.

• How Much Does a Guilty Corporation Owe?

  The Unsettling Case of Shell Nigeria 0

  Posted 5 months, 2 weeks ago

  After thirteen years and countless hours by lawyers, community members, and activists around the world, Royal Dutch Shell finally settled the Wiwa v Shell case in a New York court for $15.5 million.

  Plaintiffs in the case, which included Ken… Read More

• Loan sharks

  The World Bank offers to loan developing countries the funds to pay for climate change adaptation 3

  Posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago

  What would you say if someone drove a truck into your house, then jumped out and offered you a loan to help rebuild?

  After you stopped screaming at them, which might take a while, you'd demand that they pay for damages that they caused, of course. Over time though, if no one forced the truck driver to pay for the damages, you might be tempted to take the loan. Sure, its a rip-off, but at least you get the money you need to rebuild.

  This is exactly what's happening today with much needed funding for adaptation to climate change impacts… Read More

• Bailing out Bidder 70

  Tim DeChristopher and Utah stand up to Big Oil 4

  Posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago

  I've never been big on rules.

  Neither, apparently, is Tim DeChristopher. He's the young activist who just completely derailed the Bush administration's plans to sell more of our public lands to the oil companies.

  He sat in the lease sale in Salt Lake City on Dec. 19 and "bought" 22,500 acres of public lands right out from under the suits from Chevron and Exxon.

  One small problem -- Tim doesn't actually have the money. It almost doesn't matter, though, because he's monkeywrenched the process so thoroughly that they won't be able to conduct another sale until after the Obama… Read More

• Coal hard cash

  Amid climate talks, World Bank considers $5 billion loan for most carbon-intensive project ever 0

  Posted 11 months, 2 weeks ago

  The race for Most Hypocritical Actor at the climate talks in Poznan, Poland is a crowded one, to be sure, but the World Bank, in one swift move, has taken a commanding lead.

  Late last week, as World Bankers in Poland were lobbying delegates over pierogies and pate, word leaked out of South Africa that the Bank's International Finance Corporation has agreed "in principle" to provide up to $5 billion of our tax dollars to support as many as six additional coal plants.

  If approved, this would be both the largest World Bank Group loan on record and the… Read More

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Steve Kretzmann’s Recent Comments

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  "Oil Aid" and adaptation funding

  International and US agencies such as the World Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation currently spend billions of our tax dollars annually to support the overseas expansion of the oil industry. Do you support ending this "oil aid" and using the funds instead to help developing countries invest in clean energy and adapt to the impacts of climate change?

  http://www.endoilaid.org/On Leave suggestions in comments posted 2 years ago 35 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  who is myopic?

  To the many thoughtful and clear comments here (e.g. geosynchronous and Jim Ricker), let me just add this:

  Renstrom and Perkowitz's convoluted and tortured defense of Werbach rests on this statement: "Nearly two years ago, Adam spoke out in the "Death of Environmentalism" controversy, daring to criticize the movement for its myopia and ineffectiveness. Unable to argue that the movement actually was effective, Sellers and Dudley finally found grounds on which they felt they could challenge Werbach."

  Um, actually, Sellers and I argued quite clearly that the movement is actually quite effective and that Werbach and friends had gotten it wrong more than a year ago.  Read it for yourself here:
  http://priceofoil.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/Winterof...

  Our thesis then (which was recently reinforced by Mark Hertsgaard in the Nation: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060731/hertsgaard) was that it was the leadership (as opposed to the grassroots) of groups like the Club who'd gotten it wrong.  Looks like thats still the case.

  Steve KretzmannOn Why won't America's environmentalists accept positive developments? posted 3 years, 3 months ago 22 Responses