UK Guardian: ‘The last five years have not been great at Greenpeace’ – ‘Are they losing their nerve?’

Dawn was breaking when the campaigners used slingshots to fire ropes on to the rig. But as they began to scale the Prirazlomnaya, aiming to unfurl a banner denouncing Russia’s attempts to drill for oil in the Arctic, their hopes of another successful Greenpeace “action” swiftly faded. They had been anticipating high-pressure hoses that sprayed freezing seawater at intruders. They weren’t prepared for balaclava-wearing soldiers shooting at their inflatable boats.

One soldier grabbed the rope used by one of the climbers, slamming her body repeatedly against the rig. They captured two other activists. Then the Russians demanded to board the Greenpeace ship. But the Arctic Sunrise’s captain, Peter Willcox, fearing his boat would be seized, resisted.

“I said, ‘Well, go ahead – open fire. But don’t hit that silver tank back near the stern because that’s gasoline and that’s going to blow us all up.’ They must’ve been thinking, ‘Who the fuck is this idiot?’ And then I was sitting in jail thinking, ‘Who was that idiot?’ But the adrenaline gets flowing.”

Willcox’s account of his 2013 jailing, alongside 27 other Greenpeace activists and two journalists, might resemble a terrifying gangster film – except that the gangsters were in government. His memoir also documents four decades of peaceful direct action against everything from whaling off Peru to incinerator ships in the North Sea, and shows how many protests eventually trigger policy change. But it’s harder to detect positive outcomes from the jailing of the “Arctic 30”. Although Greenpeace went on to successfully oppose Shell’s drilling in the Arctic, other companies have continued, and millions of barrels of oil continue to flow from the far north. As a new political era dawns, bringing the prospect of unprecedented US-Russia collaboration over the Arctic’s exploitation, Willcox is clear that the fight against climate change is only just beginning.

“I’m not sure I’ve held on to my optimism,” says the 63-year-old American, when we meet in London between his continuing missions skippering Greenpeace ships on “actions” around the world. “I’m not stopping work. I’m not giving up. I don’t want to give Planet Earth to [Trump’s nominee for US secretary of state] Rex Tillerson. But my optimism is not very high right now. Not when you’ve seen what I’ve seen.”

Peter Willcox and others leaving the Arctic Sunrise in Murmansk after its seizure by Russian authorities.
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Willcox and others leaving the Arctic Sunrise in Murmansk after its seizure by Russian authorities. Photograph: Dmitri

Exxon Ordered to Turn Over 40 Years of Climate Change Research

MASSACHUSETTS — (CNN) ExxonMobil has lost a key battle in an investigation into whether the oil giant misled the public about the dangers of climate change.

A Massachusetts judge ordered Exxon on Wednesday to hand over more than four decades of the company’s climate change research.

The court rejected Exxon’s emergency motion to kill the demand from Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who is investigating allegations the company ignored internal scientific research going back to the 1970s.

The ruling came on the same day that longtime Exxon boss Rex Tillerson was being grilled by Congress about the company’s climate change tactics at his secretary of state hearing. Tillerson, who stepped down last month as CEO after a decade in charge, repeatedly ducked questions about the issue from U.S. Senators.

Asked if he lacks the knowledge to respond or is simply refusing to answer, Tillerson said, “A little of both.”

Last April, Massachusetts demanded Exxon turn over documents going back to 1976 related to the company’s study of carbon emissions and the effects of those emissions on the climate.

This week Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Heidi Brieger upheld the attorney general’s demand.

“Exxon must now end its obstructive tactics and come clean about whether it misled Massachusetts consumers and investors about what it knew about climate change, its causes and effects,” the Massachusetts attorney general’s office said in a statement.

However, Exxon didn’t immediately signal whether it’s going to comply with the order.

“We are reviewing the ruling to determine next steps,” Exxon said in a statement.

Exxon is still awaiting a ruling in Texas, where the company has filed a complaint arguing that the Massachusetts demand for documents violates its federal constitutional rights.

In Wednesday’s ruling, the Massachusetts court declined to put the proceeding on hold until the Texas court rules.…

Physicist Dr. Lubos Motl worried that Rex Tillerson is not strong climate skeptic

Rex Tillerson, a lukewarmer, stands out like a sore thumb in the new era

Donald Trump has said that global warming was a hoax invented by the Chinese in order to weaken America. And believe me, Trump isn’t a great fan of China so this link between China and the man-made global warming movement wasn’t meant to be a compliment for the latter.

He has chosen numerous folks for his administration whose climate realist credentials seem indisputable: Scott Pruitt for the EPA, Cathy McMorris Rodgers for the Interior Department, and Rick Perry for the Department of Energy. Given the fact that Rex Tillerson has served as a CEO of ExxonMobil, you would think that it’s similar with this guy. Except that it’s not.

All climate jihadists who have been fighting “climate change” and ExxonMobil should notice: If you have a relative ally in the Trump administration, it’s the former CEO of ExxonMobil! 😉 What an irony. Don’t get me wrong. He is not as superficial and insane as his predecessor – he should be an improvement relatively to John Kerry. However, his views are mixed.

Christian Science Monitor’s section on climate solutions wrote

His zeal isn’t clear, but Tillerson calls climate change a ‘threat’

AGW is a threat, Tillerson says. On the other hand, in a testimony to the lawmakers (video), he said that the global warming wasn’t an imminent threat to the U.S. national security, a statement by which he differs from the Democrats’ party line, and he stated that there are mixed opinions in the scientific literature when it comes to the relationships between CO2 and unpleasant weather events (e.g. in Syria – and let me say that the suggestion that the mess in the Middle East was due to the “weather” is both arrogant and silly).

I must say one thing. Donald Trump seems to make rather radical changes but his team isn’t supposed to be an ideologically uniform group of Yes men and I surely think it’s right. Moreover, Tillerson has some experience with international relationships as well as with applied science and engineering – and those can be useful for his new job although I am not quite sure whether the engineering part is ideally exploited by the Department of State.

Tillerson’s scientific and engineering background places him into a special position that I can understand very well. While some other people who

Tillerson: Climate change not ‘imminent national security threat’

Testifying before the Senate, Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson says that climate change is not an “imminent national security threat” as Senate democrats claim.

SENATOR JEFF MERKLEY: “But, we are also viewing often climate change as a national security issue. And, since you believe– So, I wanted to ask, do you see it as a national security issue?”
REX TILLERSON: “I don’t see it as the imminent national security threat as perhaps others do.”
MERKELY: “One of the things that’s noted is how the changing climate in the Middle East concentrated Syrian villages into the towns and sparked the civil war that has now produced something like four million and counting refugees having profound impacts on European security, and that would be an example. Is that something you’ve looked at or considered to be real or perhaps misleading? Any thoughts in that regard?”
TILLERSON: “The facts on the ground are indisputable in terms of what’s happening with drought, disease, insect populations, all the things you cite, but the science behind the clear connection is not conclusive. And, there are many reports out there that we are unable yet to connect specific events to climate change alone.”
MERKELY: “What we’re seeing are a lot of scientific reports that will say we can tell you the odds increased, we can’t tell you any specific event was the direct consequence. For example, hurricane Sandy might have occurred in a hundred year period but the odds of it happening are higher with the higher sea level, the higher energy in the storms. So, do you agree with that view point that the– essentially that the odds of dramatic events occurring whether it’s more forest fires or more hurricanes with more power is a rational observation from the scientific literature?”
TILLERSON: “I think as you indicated, there’s some literature out there that suggests that. There’s other literature that says it’s inconclusive.”
MERKLEY: “One of the things we– I’m sorry to hear that viewpoint because it’s overwhelmingly– the scales are on one side of this argument.”
Nominations Hearing for Secretary of State Nominee Rex Tillerson
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee
January 11, 2017

Trump’s Sec. of State pick Rex Tillerson: America will pursue ‘most efficient, effective way’ to get electricity to world’s poor

Speaking at his Senate confirmation hearing, Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson says, “Nothing lifts people out of poverty quicker than electricity. That’s just a fact.” To aid the world’s poor, Tillerson says America must only support programs that deliver electricity in “the most efficient, effective way”.
REX TILLERSON: “Nothing lifts people out of poverty quicker than electricity. That’s just a fact. You give people light. You give them ability to refrigerate food, medicine. It changes their entire quality of life. They no longer cook on animal dung and wood fire– wood cooking in their homes, so health issues– their health improves.  I think it’s very important that we use wisely the American peoples’ dollars as we support these programs. And, that means whatever is the most efficient, effective way to deliver electricity to these areas that don’t have it, that should be the choice.  That is the wisest use of American dollars.”
Nomination Hearing on Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee
January 11, 2016