Behind-the-Scenes for October 2024

Campaign and Project Updates

A Cooper’s hawk peers at me from behind a dead branch of a Gerry Oak. All photos in this post were taken by the author.

Welcome to Biocentric, a newsletter about sustainability, greenwashing, and resistance. It’s written by me, Max Wilbert, co-author of Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It and co-founder of Protect Thacker Pass.

If you want to follow, you can subscribe for free. Paid subscribers support my activism and receive access to occasional private posts, such as this one, containing behind-the-scenes reports and unreleased drafts.

In this issue:

1. Gratitude

2. Federal Government postpones Oregon offshore wind energy lease auction after Tribe sues

3. Call for Solidarity with Indigenous Communities in the Philippines

4. New Interview from Thacker Pass

5. U.S. Secretary of State Approved Israeli Bombing of Humanitarian Aid Convoys

6. A List of U.S. Facilities Which Are Producing Weapons for the Israeli Military

7. Mining Resistance

8. Green Jobs or Greenwashing? (early drafts)

9. I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get To It

10. Update on Organizing Projects

11. What I’ve Been Reading

12. The Election and The Environment

13. Photos

1. Gratitude

First, I would like to thank all of the paid subscribers to this newsletter. After quitting my long-term job back in April, I’ve been in a difficult financial situation. Your support has allowed me to pay my rent, keep food on the table, and continue my activism. When people subscribe, I see your names, and I recognize most of them. It’s an honor to receive your support.

I supplement my food budget by foraging. Shown here is acorn flour from nearby oak trees.

2. Federal Government postpones Oregon offshore wind energy lease auction after Tribe sues

Anyone who has followed Biocentric has read several of my pieces critiquing offshore wind turbine energy projects. Rather than climate solutions, I see these projects as mega-infrastructure designed to support economic growth such as AI data centers and growing populations rather than actually addressing the (very real and apocalyptic) climate crisis.

If you’re new to the topic, check out my previous pieces here:

Oregon is Facing Largest Energy Development Threat in Generations

120 Questions About Offshore Wind Energy

On September 13th, The Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians (CT-CLUSI) filed a lawsuit against the Federal Government agency planning to auction off our West Coast oceans to the highest bidder (which is known as BOEM, The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management). This process is similar to the oil and gas leasing bidding process that Tim DeChristopher disrupted in Utah back in 2008.

The Tribes lawsuit says that “Since time immemorial, the Tribe and its members have resided on the Oregon Coast and relied upon its abundant resources,” and that “Tribal oral histories attribute the Ocean with the creation of the World.”

Facing this suit and determined opposition from coastal communities, fishing groups, and grassroots environmentalists, news broke on September 27th that four of the five corporations that originally planned to bid on the rights to build these offshore projects pulled out, leaving only one bidder. Then, the Governor of Oregon wrote a letter asking the agency to halt the leasing. In response, BOEM postponed the auction indefinitely.

This is good news, but they’ll be back. Expect concerted and sophisticated efforts to bribe communities and otherwise undermine opposition in coming months.

3. Call for Solidarity with Indigenous Communities in the Philippines

My friends in the Archipelago (they prefer that term over the name “Philippines,” which comes from the Spanish king Philip during the era of colonization) have shared several updates and calls-to-action.

First, if you follow the political situation in the Philippines, or have friends or family in the area, consider reading this update from BAYAN on the anniversary of Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s declaration of martial law. It speaks to the corruption present in both the prior Rodrigo Duterte administration and the current administration of Marcos Jr.

It has been 52 years since that fateful day of September 21, 1972. Yet the struggle for justice and democracy is as urgent as ever. Tuloy ang laban!