Texas, November 15, 2012 – Solidarity Actions In Communities From East Texas to Washington DC, London to St. Louis
What: A week of solidarity actions by communities around the world spotlighting an urgent need to address the climate crisis. Following a summer of unprecedented extreme weather and the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy the Tar Sands Blockade, a sustained direct action campaign based in Texas against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, has called for this week’s actions. Events are planned for nearly 40 locations and counting.
Sample of events: (see http://tarsandsblockade.org/solidarityactions1/ for a full list of events)
- Saturday, November 17 – Occupy Sandy and Stop Spectra Pipeline Coalition takes action to respond to the devastation of the climate super powered storm, Hurricane Sandy and put an end to hydro-fracking.
- Sunday, November 18 – Over 3,500 people are expected to rally at the White House to call on President Obama to reject the permit for the Keystone XL northern segment. Event organized by 350.org, Sierra Club, and other allies.
- Monday, November 19 – Dozens of community members will rally in Nacogdoches, Texas to oppose the construction of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline from endangering their homes. Tar Sands Blockade will be taking nonviolent direct action to halt its construction.
- Monday, November 19 – Community organizations in St. Louis are taking action to target JP Morgan Chase for bankrolling the tar sands extraction. Event organized by Missourians Organizing for Empowerment and Reform and Climate Action St. Louis.
- Monday, November 19 – Residents of Salt Lake City are performing theatrical exhibitions outside The Bureau of Land Management for its approval of public lands for the first tar sands mine in the US. Event organized by Peaceful Uprising and Utah Tar Sands Resistance.
- Tuesday, November 20 – In London, UK Tar Sands Network, Rising Tide UK and others will protest a meeting of Canadian Tar Sands executives, banking industry representatives and government leaders meeting to discuss further expansion of Alberta tar sands extraction.
Why: The closing of the hottest year on record and this summer’s dangerous extreme weather demonstrate that communities all across the world are already experiencing the effects of a rapidly destabilizing climate system. These actions are part of a burgeoning movement of activists who are self-organizing in their neighborhoods, schools, and community centers to draw the connections between the ever-more reckless extraction of energy by the profit-driven fossil fuel industry and climate impacts already on their doorsteps, and to build the resilient and resistant communities needed to ensure all people and the planet are healthy and thriving.
Tar Sands Blockade is a coalition of Texas and Oklahoma landowners and climate justice organizers using peaceful and sustained civil disobedience to stop the construction of TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
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