We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Lobby Planet Paris: A guide to corporate COP21

Click here to access the introduction to a pamphlet by the above title published by the Transnational Institute (TNI) based in Amsterdam.

The pamphlet is a guide to how global corporations are attempting to co-opt the efforts of the UN climate talks such as the one now being held in Paris. Global polluting corporations have wormed their way into these meetings with their funding and are subverting them to protect and serve corporate interests of profit and power.


Defending climate justice means exposing the actions of polluting companies and their lobbies to the public. This guide will propel you into the heart of the apparatus built up around the Paris Summit. It will introduce you to the anti-climate lobbyists and their false solutions, and expose the magnitude of the fossil fuel industry’s pressure on governments. It offers a window onto the extent of public subsidies to dirty energy, the multiple public-private collusions, and the numerous forms of speculation on the climate crisis.