The Occupy Wall Street Movement started with a handful of protesters in the middle of September. Today, it is snowballing into a national movement for “the other 99 percent” — representing a diverse group of Americans who feel disenfranchised by a political and financial system that ignores them.

And now, riding on the momentum created by the Keystone XL pipeline protests in Washington last month, leaders of the climate movement are getting involved.

This evening, a coalition of climate activists led by 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben is marching through New York City and joining the thousands of protesters outside of Wall Street:

“For too long, Wall Street has been occupying the offices of our government, and the cloakrooms of our legislatures,” wrote Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org, in an email urging supporters to join the march, “They’ve been a constant presence, rewarded not with pepper spray in the face but with yet more loopholes and tax breaks and subsidies and contracts. You could even say Wall Street’s been occupying our atmosphere, since any attempt to do anything about climate change always run afoul of the biggest corporations on the planet. So it’s a damned good thing the tables have turned.”

“If Wall Street is occupying President Obama’s State Department and the halls of Congress, it’s time for the people to occupy Wall Street,” said Phil Aroneanu, US campaigns Director for 350.org, who is leading the climate delegation for Wednesday’s march.

Seeing this broad-based movement as an opportunity to elevate demands for climate action, groups are planning continued action. Along with the 350.org march, a coalition of youth and environmental activists lead by the Energy Action Coalition are holding an Occupy Wall Street “sleep-in” at the U.S. Department of State to protest the Keystone XL Pipeline.

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The Daily Climate reported back in June:

The armadillo is moving north into areas never expected by biologists, who are also seeing climate-related migration of mice and other mammals in the Great Lakes region.

That story noted “there’s no question armadillos – and other small mammals – are on the move in the United States, expanding into terrain biologists thought highly unlikely just a few years ago.”  And some of the migration “is clearly triggered by a changing climate. Armadillos have settled into southern Illinois, Indiana, Kansas and Missouri – all areas that were “totally unexpected,” according to Colleen McDonough, a biology professor at Georgia’s Valdosta State University.

I confess I didn’t make much of the story at the time.  But today the Washington Post turned the story into:

Roving armadillos could be heading for the Washington area, biologists say

… Climate change is the culprit…. biologists’ claim[] that the armadillo’s northward expansion can be attributed to a warming atmosphere….

And the WashPost directs us to the blog at The Museum of Life and Science in North Carolina just so we’ll know armadillos aren’t harmless, even if they are cute (and these don’t roll into a ball):

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With clean energy programs under political attack in the U.S. and Canada, support from traditional industry is more important than ever. Without the strong voice of labor groups, the call for a stable, long-term commitment to renewable energy is weakened.

One of the most vocal supporters of strong clean energy policies is the United Steelworkers, the largest industrial labor union in North America. As a founding member of the BlueGreen Alliance, USW, has been pushing progressive climate-stabilization and renewable energy policies, even while representing one of the most carbon-intensive industrial sectors.

The organization, which makes up more than 700,000 workers in the North American steel industry, has come out strong on various issues — supporting a comprehensive U.S. climate bill, backing a national renewable energy target and calling Canada’s exploitation of tar sands an “embarrassment on climate change.”

Speaking to Climate Progress at the Greenbuild Conference in Toronto, Ken Neumann, national director for USW Canada, calls climate change “our greatest threat” and reiterates the union’s support for green jobs:

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Reported by the Wall Street Journal as a response to “pressure from some states, industry and Congress,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is planning to relax a power-plant air pollution rule. The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, issued in June, “is intended to reduce smog-forming chemicals emitted from power plants that often drift into other states.” The Journal implied that the life-saving rule is being changed because of polluter-industry pressure:

The move comes amid a backlash over the rule, which the EPA has said will protect public health and prevent up to 34,000 premature deaths. Critics contend it will cost jobs, increase power costs and threaten electric reliability.

A piece from Reuters explains that the change, which will increase permitted emissions by about 1 to 4 percent, is a technical adjustment “likely based on updated information on emissions from local governments.” In other words, the limits are determined by a formula that takes into account health standards and reported emissions. With better information on local pollution, the allowed limits change.

“Folks may try to make this into something it isn’t, but these kinds of changes are made all the time,” an Obama administration official told Reuters. “It’s how the Clean Air Act works.”

Reuters found that policy experts agreed, regardless of what they consider the risks of pollution.

“I don’t see this as a retreat at all,” said Frank O’Donnell, the president of Clean Air Watch, and a supporter of stronger air pollution standards. “Typically this wouldn’t raise an eyebrow because it happens all the time.”

“It looks like they are tinkering around the edges, not making big changes,” Donna Nelson, the chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission, told Reuters. Nelson opposes the stronger standard.

By David Fenton, in A HuffPost repost

Economic Stagnation. Recession. According to Paul Krugman and George Soros, we face now perhaps even Depression.

Hard Times is the American story, now and for the next several years at least. How we find the way back to jobs and growth is the only question. And we have the answer, because changing the energy system is the way back to economic growth. According to some economists, it’s perhaps the ONLY way back. The only new engine of growth, as there is no great new wave of technology, pharmaceuticals, housing, consumer spending and certainly no credit bubble on the horizon.

Saving the climate is the path out of the economic mess. The great waves of growth set off by the intercontinental railroads, the interstate highways, the internet, production for WWII — energy transformation is the next wave.

This should be our message for these hard times.

Here are some examples of how to talk about this.

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Our guest blogger is Arielle Klagsbrun, a student at Washington University, St. Louis and a member of We Are Power Shift.

Yesterday, my friend Ken and I attended an Obama Campaign fundraiser in St. Louis. But we didn’t go there with any ordinary mission. We went to make sure our generation’s demand that President Obama reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline was heard.

After waiting over an hour, and with hundreds rallying outside, President Obama took the stage. As he began his speech, Ken and I prepared for our intervention. I unwrapped my shawl, and Ken opened his jacket, which both had our message clearly inscribed “President Obama: Veto the Keystone XL pipeline.”

After President Obama spoke about leaving a better future for our children, we seized the pause and asked, “Will you veto the Keystone XL pipeline?”

Watch the coverage on the local news:

Obama didn’t directly respond, but acknowledged us a few minutes later, saying, “We’ve got a couple of people here who are concerned about the environment.”

Yesterday, we were heard.

We stayed for the rest of event and explained to people that we voted for Obama and want to work to elect him again – we just need to re-inspired.

Interrupting Obama was a type of accountability. When President Obama met with young leaders during Power Shift 2011, he said, “Push me.” We are. Over 1,200 people were arrested outside the White House – young and old and in between – asking Obama to veto Keystone XL. People have organized actions all over the country when Obama appears to speak. Yet, he has not given any sort of response or indication of his opinion.

Yesterday, we made sure that President Obama got our message. People across the country are stepping-up on this. In the three days since I posted a letter on the blog explaining that we needed support for this action, 25 people responded. We had over 30 people outside and were joined in movement solidarity by a group from #OccupySTL. Inside, we demonstrated to the President that Keystone XL is too dangerous for him to ignore. As we push forward to the DC State Department hearing on Friday and the Nov. 6 action, we must continue to push Obama as directly as we can, just as he asked us to.

The political conversation around green jobs has been about counting specific job numbers and using those figures to determine if clean energy is a good thing or a bad thing. Given that President Obama made green jobs a central part of his political platform, counting those job numbers is very appropriate.

And as we’ve pointed out again and again on Climate Progress, federal and state programs have created and saved hundreds of thousands of good jobs. In some cases, however, jobs haven’t been created as quickly as hoped — opening the entire concept of clean energy investments to political criticism.

But these criticisms ignore all the other value that clean energy projects bring to communities.

John Williams, an expert on sustainable communities and clean energy with HDR, believes we need to get back to the basics on messaging. Speaking to Climate Progress at the Greenbuild Conference in Toronto, Williams argues that we need to get beyond the “campaign” stage of promoting green jobs, and back into the “transformational” stage of talking about the immense economic, environmental and societal value through a business lens.

Here’s the video interview:

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Although Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama have not yet given the necessary approval for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, construction has already begun. Environmental organizations are filing suit against the U.S. State Department, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to block TransCanada from continuing its illegal preparations, which include clear-cutting a path through Nebraska:

The plaintiffs — the Center for Biological Diversity, the Western Nebraska Resources Council and Friends of the Earth — say TransCanada has cleared a 100-mile pipeline corridor through the Nebraska Sandhills, despite a federal law that prevents the launch of projects before they receive approval.

“The State Department has further confirmed that it is running a corrupt review process by giving TransCanada a green light to begin construction,” Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth, said in prepared remarks. “It makes a mockery of the public and sends a message to Nebraska that their concerns don’t matter. If the State Department was truly doing its job, this lawsuit wouldn’t be necessary.”

Activists are planning to occupy the State Department‘s front steps overnight before the public hearing on the Keystone XL pipeline being held there on Friday.

A round-up of top climate and energy stories. Please post additional links below.

Droughts and floods linked to global warming threaten humans on every continent and only international cooperation can keep the people and their communities safe, according to Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland….

UN climate change envoy urges action to avert floods, drought, hunger

U.N. special envoy on climate change Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland and her 22-person international commission started warning countries to avert global warming in 1987. Twenty-five years later, the former Norwegian prime minister said the ongoing lack of international cooperation to curb carbon emissions and invest in clean energy threatens us all.

Already, drought, hunger and disease connected to rising temperatures jeopardize “our common future,” she told a large audience at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

International investment in clean energy is crucial for putting people and the planet on track for a viable future, according to Brundtland, a world leader on global warming and human health. But sluggish national and global talks on climate change strategies means scenarios for severe consequences of fossil fuel-driven temperature rise etch a hazardous path for the world’s growing population.

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A document filed with Canada’s Energy Board appears to cast doubt on claims by Koch Industries that it has no interest in the controversial pipeline.

In recent months Koch Industries Inc., the business conglomerate run by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, has repeatedly told a U.S. Congressional committee and the news media that the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline has “nothing to do with any of our businesses.”

But the company has told Canadian energy regulators a different story.

InsideClimate News has another scoop on the connection between the Kochs and the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline.

Previously Climate Progress reported on their work showing that Obama’s pollutocratic political enemies now import and refine 25% of tar sands crude and stand to profit from an increased flow.

What follows is an excerpt (with permission) from the latest InsideClimate story by Stacy Feldman:

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Could Best Buy’s Geek Squad perform home energy audits in your house the next time you need your television set up?  Yes!

“We see a real opportunity now to deliver education and experience and help consumers understand the technology,” explained Best Buy Senior VP Neil McPhail at an energy summit in Washington this week. Like many other companies providing such services, Best Buy wants to make efficiency a tangible product that is easy for consumers to understand and invest in.

With a major brand already established, Best Buy could bring additional scale to the burgeoning energy efficiency market.

The program will be implemented in three cities beginning in November: Chicago, Houston, and San Francisco. Geek Squad employees are being trained now in certain stores in those cities to perform nationally certified home energy audits.  Speaking at Best Buy’s recent annual energy-efficiency summit, CEO Brian Dunn said:

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Contrary to the GOP efforts to portray the National Ocean Policy as a hyper-regulatory economic anchor, the principles contained in the policy actually pave the way for a more efficient, forward-thinking approach that will benefit both new and existing uses of ocean space. SOURCE: iStockphoto

by Michael Conathan and Kiley Kroh

Last year, President Barack Obama announced the first National Ocean Policy and the creation of a National Ocean Council tasked with its implementation. Contrary to attempts by House Republicans to color the policy as restrictive “ocean zoning,” a comprehensive, collaborative approach to managing our ocean resources will help prevent multi-use conflicts, increase efficiency, and ensure ocean economies continue to support American jobs and a high quality of life. The National Ocean Council should be given the necessary support to implement the National Ocean Policy for the benefit of American jobs, economic growth, and security.

A keystone recommendation of the National Ocean Policy, or NOP, is support for implementing a process known as coastal and marine spatial planning, or CMSP. The concept behind CMSP recognizes that as new potential uses of ocean space become increasingly viable, our exclusive economic zone—the area of ocean space extending out to 200 miles from our shores—will grow more crowded. Thus, in order to ensure efficient prioritization of these uses and to reduce conflicts, it makes sense to solicit input from stakeholders upfront rather than allowing a first-come, first-served land grab mentality to dictate how our invaluable ocean resources will be managed.

Contrary to the president’s political opponents’ efforts to portray this policy as a hyper-regulatory economic anchor, the principles contained in the NOP actually pave the way for a more efficient, forward-thinking approach that will benefit both new and existing uses of ocean space. Meanwhile, the status quo supported by House Republicans is a cart-before-the-horse approach that will eliminate certainty, reduce likelihood of private investment, and delay development with an endless stream of lawsuits.

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