By Beyond Extreme Energy
Gasland filmmaker Josh Fox, Megan Holleran and five others were arrested in the driveway of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today while waiting for commissioners to join them for pancakes topped with the last drops of maple syrup from the Holleran family farm in New Milford, Pennsylvania. They and about two dozen other activists were protesting FERC's approval for the clear-cutting of a wide swath of maple trees at the Holleran farm for the construction of the Constitution Pipeline.
Blocked by guards from entering the FERC building, Fox repeatedly called on the commissioners to come down for “the last dregs of syrup" and a conversation about fracked-gas infrastructure and climate change.
Police are getting ready to arrest 7 people at FERC #pancakesnotpipelines https://t.co/yGgSJLNmq4— Tim DeChristopher (@Tim DeChristopher)1458841037.0
“Everyone I know is fighting a pipeline or a compressor station or a power plant that is in front of FERC for approval," Fox said while wearing a "Pancakes not Pipelines" apron.
“It is clear to me that FERC has to be the most destructive agency in the United States right now. They are faceless, nameless, unelected and ignore citizen input. I think of FERC as the Phantom Menace. The agency's commissioners have been rubber-stamping fracking infrastructure all over country that threatens local communities and the planet by accelerating climate change."
@joshfoxfilm and Jane Kendall join five others who have been arrested @FERC. #PancakesNotPipelines #LetGoAndLove https://t.co/CuJP9D7m43— BeyondExtremeEnergy (@BeyondExtremeEnergy)1458841920.0
Climate activist Tim DeChristopher, wearing a chef's cap and a “Pancakes not Pipelines" apron, cooked the pancakes on a solar-powered cooktop set up on the sidewalk in front of FERC. DeChristopher said FERC had “cut down life-giving maple trees to make room for a death-dealing pipeline." The agency has been “able to get away with this shameful behavior by operating in the shadows," he continued. "We're here today to invite FERC employees into the open, to engage in a human way with the people whose lives are impacted by FERC's decisions."
Protesters carried banners that said, “Stop the Methane Pipeline" and “Pancakes not Pipelines." Led by singer-songwriter Bethany Yarrow, daughter of Peter Yarrow who was also arrested today, protesters sang songs, including, “We Shall Not Be Moved" and “Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round."
Holleran said FERC had given approval for the trees to be cleared on her land before the pipeline had all the required permits. “We followed all the rules. We asked them to wait before doing irreparable harm to our farm. This could happen to anyone," she said during the protest.
Megan Holleran arrested at FERC after they cut down her family's maple syrup farm. #pancakesnotpipelines https://t.co/wXpAAushvH— Tim DeChristopher (@Tim DeChristopher)1458841349.0
In addition to Fox, Holleran and Yarrow, others arrested included, Gabriel Shapiro, a Hampshire College student in Massachusetts; Jane Kendall from New York City; Don Weightman, a Beyond Extreme Energy organizer from Philadelphia; and Ron Coler of Ashfield, Massachusetts, who's fighting the NED pipeline and Connecticut Expansion. Also at the action was Karenna Gore of the Center for Earth Ethics.
Beyond Extreme Energy will continue its actions at FERC during the Rubber Stamp Rebellion from May 15 to May 22.
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"Now that we are spending more time at home, we are noticing the large number of delivery vans and lorries driving through cities," said Netherlands environment minister Stientje van Veldhoven, announcing plans to ban all but zero-emission deliveries in 14 cities.
"The agreements we are setting down will ensure that it will be a matter of course that within a few years, supermarket shelves will be stocked, waste will be collected, and packages will arrive on time, yet without any exhaust fumes and CO2 emissions," she added.
She expects 30 cities to announce zero emission urban logistics by this summer. City councils must give four years' notice before imposing bans as part of government plans for emission-free road traffic by 2050. The city bans aim to save 1 megaton of CO2 each year by 2030.
Help to Change
To encourage transport organizations to go carbon-free, the government is offering grants of more than US$5,900 to help businesses buy or lease electric vehicles. There will be additional measures to help small businesses make the change.
The Netherlands claims it is the first country in the world to give its cities the freedom to implement zero-emission zones. Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht already have "milieuzones" where some types of vehicles are banned.
Tilburg, one of the first wave of cities imposing the Dutch ban, will not allow fossil-fuelled vehicles on streets within its outer ring road and plans to roll out a network of city-wide electric vehicle charging stations before the ban comes into effect in 2025.
"Such initiatives are imperative to improve air quality. The transport of the future must be emission-free, sustainable, and clean," said Tilburg city alderman Oscar Dusschooten.
Europe Takes Action
Research by Renault shows that many other European cities are heading in the same direction as the Netherlands, starting with Low Emission Zones of which Germany's "Umweltzone" were pioneers. More than 100 communes in Italy have introduced "Zonas a traffico limitato."
Madrid's "zona de baja emisión" bans diesel vehicles built before 2006 and petrol vehicles from before 2000 from central areas of the city. Barcelona has similar restrictions and the law will require all towns of more than 50,000 inhabitants to follow suit.
Perhaps the most stringent restrictions apply in London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), which charges trucks and large vehicles up to US$137 a day to enter the central area if they do not comply with Euro 6 emissions standards. From October, the ULEZ is being expanded.
Cities are responsible for around 75% of CO2 emissions from global final energy use, according to the green thinktank REN21 - and much of these come from transport. Globally, transport accounts for 24% of world CO2 emissions.
The Rise of Online Shopping
Part of the reason for traffic in urban areas is the increase in delivery vehicles, as online shopping continues to grow. Retailer ecommerce sales are expected to pass $5billion in 2022, according to eMarketer.
The World Economic Forum's report The Future of the Last-Mile Ecosystem, published in January 2020, estimates that e-commerce will increase the number of delivery vehicles on the roads of the world's 100 largest cities by 36% by 2030.
If all those vehicles burn fossil fuels, the report says emissions will increase by 32%. But switching to all-electric delivery vehicles would cut emissions by 30% from current levels as well as reducing costs by 25%, the report says.
Other solutions explored in the report include introducing goods trams to handle deliveries alongside their passenger-carrying counterparts and increased use of parcel lockers to reduce the number of doorstep deliveries.
Reposted with permission from the World Economic Forum.