dirty fuel

Canadians Unhappy With Taxpayer Handouts To Richest Industry On Planet

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From the inspired folks at Hamilton350 comes this video:

During Open Streets in Hamilton a few inspired Conservatives asked people to complement the $1.4 billion in annual taxpayer-funded subsidies to the oil industry with money from their own pocket. This seems appropriate since they were already paying about $40 each per year in tax dollars anyway. Why not match this generous Conservative contribution to the dirty fuel business? Sadly, most Hamiltonians weren’t happy with giving handouts to the wealthiest industry on the planet.

When most Hamiltonians declined to support us with money we asked them if they would write a ‘thank you’ note to Stephen Harper. That didn’t go as planned either.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tal-iC6diaQ&feature=youtube]

Time For An #EndFossilFuelSubsidies Twitter Storm

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350.org has teamed up with over a dozen other citizen advocacy groups to organize a twitter storm event to coincide with the week of the G-20 summit, followed by Rio+20:

As delegates from around the world fly into town for the Rio+20 Earth Summit, the largest environmental gathering in world history, 350.org is teaming up with over a dozen environmental groups for a major “Twitterstorm,” a 24-hour push beginning on June 18 to get as many tweets as possible for the hashtag #endfossilfuelsubsidies.

Every year, governments around the world give nearly $1 trillion in handouts and tax-breaks to the fossil fuel industry instead of using the money for sustainable development, clean energy initiatives, reducing the deficit, or any number of better initiatives. Three years ago, the G20 countries committed to ending these subsidies but there has been no action since.

The #EndFossilFuelSubsidies twitter storm is timed to coincide with this year’s G20 meeting which will begin in Los Cabos, Mexico on Monday. Two days later, over a hundred heads of state will join 50,000 people at the Rio+20 Earth Summit. The synchronicity of the meetings provides the perfect opportunity for world leaders to put their money where their mouths are and provide a clear plan to cut subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.

So, ready – set – tweet! Click here to get started.