Keystone XL - Global Exchange

Happy New Year! We’re ready to build a powerful movement for change in 2018!

We are already hard at work confronting Trump’s attacks on our communities, our rights, and our future. And thanks to all of you who made a special year-end gift in 2017, we are ready to rise and resist his disastrous agenda in the year ahead, and to work with you to reclaim the future we know is possible.

Here is what we’re working right now and how you can take action:

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A Clean Dream Act: The first order of business in 2018, demand Congress pass a Clean Dream Act. Democrats will once again have the opportunity tomake this a requirement before signing onto the next spending bill. Let’s make sure they stand with Dreamers and give security to almost 800,000 deserving young people who came to the U.S. as children. Call Congresss now!

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Replace NAFTA: We are demanding a new NAFTA that will benefit workers in all three countries, that ensures environmental and labor protections, and that does away with investor-state dispute settlement. Follow us on Facebook for the latest developments.

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Bridges Not Borders: Reality Tours continue to build people-to-people ties, understanding and unity around the world. Travel with us in 2018!

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Promise to Protect: Keystone XL is a violation of Indigenous rights and it will be stopped (again). We’re standing with Indigenous leaders in the #PromisetoProtect. Join a wave of #NoKXL resistance. Have you taken the Pledge? Sign up now.

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End the Blockade Against Cuba: Global Exchange will continue to play a central role in building understanding between the people of the U.S. and Cuba by expanding our program of educational travel tothe island. We oppose attempts by Trump to roll back progress made toward normal relations and an end the blockade. Come with us to Cuba in 2018!

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Town Hall Summer: In the spirit of Freedom Summer and so many summers since, we want to air the critical issues of the day in town squares and public halls across the U.S. We will bring people together tomobilize around core issues and build a broad civic groundswell ahead of the critical mid-term elections.

Thank you for joining us! We’re proud to have you by our side as we continue our work for peace, justice, and human rights.

It’s time we all got on board with a people-powered climate plan.

The People’s Climate Train is pulling out on September 15 from the San Francisco Bay Area and will arrive in New York City on September 18, 2014 to join the People’s Climate March September 20 & 21. Over 200 people have already registered to take the cross country journey, with new riders joining at stops all along the way.

The final destination on this journey is to join the largest-ever climate march in New York City on September 21 & 22, coinciding with the United Nations Climate Summit taking place there, which will serve as a public platform for world leaders, big business and some participation from civil society. The stated goal of the summit is “to catalyze ambitious action on the ground to reduce emissions and strengthen climate resilience and mobilize political will for an ambitious global agreement by 2015 that limits the world to a less than 2-degree Celsius rise in global temperature.”

Kylie Nealis of the Sierra Club and Suzanne York of the Institute for Population Studies will be in New York.

For many, faith in the UN as a global forum for solving the climate crisis has all but been shattered. Critiques range from calling out the UN as a flaccid institution to the more cynical view that it has been co-opted, branded and sponsored by corporations. Yet there are other reasons to show up in New York while leaders gather.

As David Turnbull, Campaigns Director for Oil Change International says, “World leaders have come together too many times with nothing more than strong rhetoric and empty promises in tow. Science is simply screaming at us that we must not delay action any longer, so the time is now to show our strength as a movement. I can’t wait to join the hundreds of thousands of real leaders marching on the streets of New York demanding action and to show our elected representatives that their empty promises will no longer be accepted.”

Others are going to highlight particular issues. An entire contingent of affected residents, activists and concerned Americans are going to connect the dots between fracking, other fossil fuel exploitation, and climate disruption. 350.org’s Fracking Campaigner Linda Capato says, “I’m going to PCM because we need to make it clear to decision makers that if we are serious about climate it needs to be a future without fracking.”
Global Exchange will be in New York not to beg officials to act, but to stand for communities are already on the leading edge of climate solutions, from banning fracking in their communities, to boldly placing the rights of residents and ecosystems above the array of harmful corporate projects that collectively emit the bulk of carbon stored in the atmosphere. The march is going to be big—really big, and there is value in connecting with people from all across the country in this way, sharing stories, networking and finding ways to come together to reinvent our future without dependence on fossil fuels.

Those of us working on the rights-of-nature framework are seeking to reconnect humanity with the rest of species. We seek to change human law that can only “see” nature as a thing — separate and apart from us, property to be owned and destroyed at will. We seek to change the law because our own salvation can only come from a cultural mindset enforced by an earth jurisprudence that we are a part of nature. In New York we will join allies including Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of WECAN in presenting these ideas at a special panel: Rights of Nature and Systemic Change in Climate Solutions, on September 23. This event is free and open to the public however, due to its proximity to the global leaders, collected security in this part of the city is tight so registration is required. Once you register (which takes less than 30 seconds), you will receive an invitation that you will need to have in hand along with ID to attend the event. As Osprey says, “Nature will not wait while politicians debate. It is time for ambitious action that addresses the roots of the climate crisis and fosters justice for the Earth and future generations.”

For the variety of reasons people are coming to join the march, the reasons people are getting there via the climate trains (and buses) are the same — to connect with each other and build the nationwide movement for change in the only way that matters —by building people-to-people ties. I will be riding with people like Pennie Opal Plant from Idle No More Bay Area who says, ” I’m excited to meet activists working to ensure life as we know it continues on the belly of Mother Earth.” Sierra Club’s Kylie Nealis will be leading another train from DC to New York and says, “I’m joining the climate train because I believe its important to not just voice what we’re against but to also collectively advocate for solutions to climate change like clean energy and nature’s rights. The train will be a space for people to come together and connect around those solutions!”

I will be joining the train in the Bay Area, and meeting 170 fellow riders, sharing stories and strategies for change. I will be leading workshops on community rights, rights of nature and fracking, and learning from others as we come together from across the country to share knowledge and collaborate while enjoying a beautiful ride through breathtaking wilderness areas.

The first train is sold out—but don’t worry, they have already started another one to meet the demand—so there is still time to climb aboard. Visit People’s Climate Train to SIGN UP NOW! For anyone who still needs lodging in the Big Apple secure them now if you haven’t already and there is a free option! The PCM Faith Team has generously offered to match you up with available space in churches or homes. Contact Jennifer Kim at the Center for Biological Diversity.

Photo Credit: Noah Chandler

The following post was written by Global Exchange Development Associate, Jessica Nuti.

Exactly one year ago today during our weekly staff meeting, Global Exchange staff and interns shared and discussed the Chevron refinery explosion that had just happened in Richmond, CA.

A few of our staff and interns live in close proximity to the Chevron refinery and had witnessed the devastation caused by a leaking pipe that exploded. Many of us saw plumes of black smoke enveloping the east bay sky. Zarah thought a bomb had gone off. Drea expressed concern about breathing in the toxic air. It was a day that none of us will ever forget.

Because Global Exchange is a part of the True Cost of Chevron Network, we are well aware of Chevron’s ongoing atrocities around the world. But when the pollution wafts into the air we breathe in such a visible way, it really hits home, as it has for so many other communities affected by Chevron over the years.

So in light of the one-year anniversary of the explosion at the refinery, this past weekend Bay Area residents (including many Global Exchangers) came together and stood up against Chevron for a ‘Summer Heat’ action.

You can see lots of photos of this incredible ‘Summer Heat’ day of action on Facebook.

Photo Credit: Jessica Nuti

In sunflower power fashion, thousands of people from all over the Bay Area and beyond took to the streets this past Saturday, August 3^rd to demand Chevron stop its destructive practices negatively impacting the planet, the people of Richmond, and around the world.

The Summer Heat Richmond masses marched about 2 miles from the Richmond BART station to the Chevron refinery chanting in unison with vibrant banners and signs, and carrying the central symbol of the day, the sunflower.

Many organizations helped make the demonstration a success, including Urban Tilth, 350BayArea.org, Idle No More, Labor Unions, nurses, and many others who also took a stand against Chevron.

Photo Credit: Jessica Nuti

Thanks to Urban Tilth, hundreds of sunflowers were brought to the demonstration, giving the march, rally, and nonviolent direct action a beautiful visual with great meaning; sunflowers have the power of extracting heavy metals from the ground.

For example, as sunflowers grow, lead-contaminated soil becomes safer for gardening. Since Chevron has been poisoning the planet for years, it seemed appropriate to deliver sunflowers to the dirty energy company to help it extract the toxins from its property.

Hundreds of individuals attempted to plant sunflower starters and seeds onto Chevron’s property after the march. Unable to get through Chevron’s gates, activists participated in a sit in blocking the refinery entrance.

Photo Credit: Mona Caron

These activists were later arrested, 210 in all, including a social worker named Maggie Mullen who experienced Chevron’s devastation first hand:

“I work for a hospital where 15,000 people were treated for respiratory issues due to the Chevron Richmond Refinery fire last year.

I was arrested with hundreds of others to take a stand for the folks I work with in Richmond who have suffered the physical and emotional impacts of dirty energy and for whom justice has not been served. I was arrested to send a beautiful and heartfelt message to Chevron to stop poisoning our air, our water, and our families and to transition to clean energy now.”

Photo Credit: Jessica Nuti

With tar sands extraction on the rise, the proposed Keystone Pipeline on the table, and oil companies continuing to put profits before all else, now is the time for people to come together and demand that Chevron and other oil companies respect communities and the planet.

Take Action!

Participate in the Next No Tar Sands Action!
See more photos from the Chevron protest in Richmond on Facebook.
Use the “Tweet” and “Like” buttons on the top right to spread the word about this important action.

I’d been to the tar sands before.

In 2008, I was part of a small group of B.C. activists who went to Fort McMurray who wanted to see the devastation for ourselves, and return to Vancouver to continue our work to stop the destruction. After 3 dizzying days, a burning throat from contamination and deep sadness in my heart, I didn’t think I’d ever return, but knew I’d work to make sure that everyone saw what I did.

But I did return. Last weekend. To join the 4th annual Healing Walk. Right away, I’ll say to you, and everyone I talk to – join the Walk. Next year. Put it in your calendar. Go.

With the limited time we have to stop the Keystone XL pipeline, I felt it was important to join the Walk, to show my solidarity with the First Nation and Metis people, and the amazing activists fighting further tar sands expansion, and re-commit to the intention of the Walk – to Stop the Destruction and Start the Healing. The fierce fight to stop the KXL pipeline is so important right now – I could think of no other place to stir my rage and call to action.

There is no way that the destruction can be understood without going to Fort McMurray, without walking the streets, breathing the air and seeing the scope of the tar sands processing facilities and the tailings ‘ponds’. There is no way to understand the human impact of the tar sands extraction without hearing from communities under attack. There is no way to truly appreciate the healing the land needs without walking for 7 hours, at the pace set by First Nations elders and drummer, and stopping at four points to experience ceremony and prayer.

About 400 people from across Canada and the United States met on Friday July 5 for an afternoon of workshops at Indian Beach, Fort McMurray First Nation land, on topics ranging from educational session on pipelines (including the proposed Keystone XL), updates on First Nation legal challenges to tar sands extraction (including from Crystal Lameman, Grassroots Award recipient at Global Exchange’s Human Rights Awards, discussing the Beaver Lake Cree challenge) to First Nation culture and ceremony.

On Friday night we were graced with the story telling of Billie Joe Laboucan. Being so far north means it stays light until 10:30pm, so it was close to midnight when I crawled into bed and prepared for the Walk the next morning.

We gathered in the late morning. We were welcomed by elder Violet Clarke, we heard from First Nation leaders and allies (including Naomi Klein’s re-interpretation of ‘over burden’) and we headed off.

Seven hours of slow, meditative, paced walking in a 17km loop (10 1/2 mi!) which passed processing facilities, tailings ponds, worker ‘housing’ and office buildings.

We waved ‘hi’ and peace signs to the passing industry trucks, and many indicated their respect back. We gasped the first time the giant smoke and flaring stacks came into view, we cried as the elders prayed over the first pond of contaminated water we reached. We appreciated the hundreds of sandwiches made and handed out by those that kept us well during the Walk. We shared bug repellant! We met new friends, talked future strategy, heard about struggle and rejoiced that we had all come together on this weekend. And by ‘we’ – I mean ‘I’.

There are amazing report back blogs and stories about the baby that was born as the Healing Walk began, the concern we felt for the people of Lac-Megantic, Quebec as news broke of the explosion of the tanker train carrying oil, and the panic we felt with reports of an oil spill just downstream on the Athabasca River. I encourage you to read them all, watch this video, take action NOW to stop Keystone XL and to join the Healing Walk in 2014.

The following guest post is Part I in a series written by Rachel Jackson, the Tour Leader for Global Exchange’s ‘Radical Oklahoma’ Reality Tour trip happening now.

Tour participants eat a healthy breakfast in the shade.

Radical Oklahoma – Red State Reality Tour

Lake Tenkiller, near Gore, OK.

On Sunday, after a quick round up in Tulsa of our tour guests and a mad supermarket dash for breakfast supplies, we headed to Lake Tenkiller State Park.

On the way we crossed the boundary between Muscogee Creek Country into Cherokee Country, where the lake is located. We arrived in time for dinner at Soda Steve’s, a local establishment that makes it own root beer and cream soda.

This morning on Day 2, we woke up in a leisurely fashion to sunrise over Lake Tenkiller and enjoyed a picnic breakfast at a table outside our cabin. We got on the road mid-morning and took the back roads scenic route across OK Highway 9 west toward Sasakwa.

This is the remains of the old city hall in Sasakwa City Hall. Perhaps some Green Corn rebels were detained here.

Our goal was to tour the countryside around the site of the Green Corn Rebellion. Our trip took us out of Cherokee territory, through Muscogee Creek Country, and into the Seminole Nation – three of the five tribes removed from the southeastern United States into Indian Territory during the 1830’s removal era. The federal government assigned these tribes (the first among many more) a new, and much smaller, land base that these nations still claim today.

The Green Corn Rebellion was an armed insurrection that occurred in early August 1917. Occurring in reaction to the World War I Conscription Act, its goal was to protest the draft of the poor to fight in “a rich man’s war.”

Lone Dove Cemetery, just north of Sasakwa – a supposed site of internment for several Green Corn Rebels.

The rebels involved were members and sympathizers with the Working Class Union, a loosely affiliated branch of the Industrial Workers of the World that organized African American, Native American, and white tenant farmers, sharecroppers, miners, and oil field workers who saw class concerns as a unifying force.

In the days prior to rebellion, the rebels committed numerous acts of sabotage such as dynamiting railroad trestles and cutting telegraph lines to halt the mechanisms of capitalism that were driving U.S. involvement in the war. Though the story is complicated, the plan was to continue such acts of sabotage all the way to Washington, D.C., meeting up with other rebels across the country along the way.

The rebels, however, never made it out of the area. They were stopped by posses made up of their neighbors and community members. Knowing they couldn’t shoot men they knew (they were prepared to shoot nameless National Guardsmen), the rebels laid down their arms and gave themselves up for arrest. According to historic records, all in all 458 men were arrested, many of whom went on to serve significant sentences. The key leaders of the WCU were sentenced to ten years in Leavenworth federal penitentiary.

While the Green Corn rebels were suppressed through accusations of disloyalty and syndicalism, so was the rebellion. That is, few Oklahomans know of it because official narratives of state history do not account for it. It’s hard not to wonder how Oklahoma might be different if this story were publicly acknowledged, or perhaps even heralded, as a collective expression of conscientious objection to unbridled greed and war.

The Keystone XL Pipeline construction path, crossing OK Highway 270, outside of Holdenville, OK.

What might a roadside historical marker say about these rebels, impoverished workers in the Oklahoma countryside, who emboldened each other to take a stand?

On the way back to Tenkiller, we took a slightly different route, and came across – quite by accident – the path being cut across Oklahoma for the Keystone XL Pipeline. Certainly the Green Corn Rebels should inspire us all to put a stop to that mess.

Rachel Jackson is a PhD Candidate and Dissertation Fellow at the University of Oklahoma in the Composition, Rhetoric, and Literacy Program, Department of English. She researches and theorizes the impact of suppressed local histories of resistance on Oklahoma’s current political identity.

TAKE ACTION!

Plan a trip of your own: Did you know that Global Exchange Reality Tours offers customized trips? Where do you want to explore next? Let Global Exchange help you travel consciously!
Check out photos from the Radical Oklahoma Reality Tour on Facebook
Remember to check back to our blog for Rachel’s next report back from the Oklahoma road!

It took a couple of years for the number to stick: 350. Its the number (parts per million of C02) that we need to maintain if we want to save our lovely planet. But this weekend we topped 400 and like the frog in the pot of water that is slowly coming to a boil we may have reached a point of no return. But we can’t live like that – fear and despair won’t change anything.

Crystal Lameman, of the Beaver Creek Cree who was honored at this year’s Global Exchange Human Right’s award says: “When disaster strikes it is not going to know race, color or creed. I’m here to tell you, when that happens, the greed is going see that it cannot eat money and you cannot drink oil. And that we all bleed the same color. . .…If the government and industry think that throwing money at us is going to make this better, I choose life and my children’s lives and I choose health over money.”

Crystal Lameman and Carleen Pickard at Global Exchange Human Rights Awards

350.org has been building the broadest possible movement to fight climate change — making links around the world from Uzbekistan to Argentina, keeping that 350 number in front of UN negotiators and student activists alike. So it was with some trepidation that I saw a long e-mail from Bill McKibben cross my computer screen this weekend. What could he say that would lift my spirits and encourage me to keep up the fight even as the water begins to boil.

He calls us to fight – to do hard, important and powerful things this summer. As we start experiencing the climate chaos of the summer months he says we have to turn up the heat on our politicians to get the number down again. “Summer Heat”— is a call to do something to stop our addiction to fossil fuels and the policies we’ve built around that addiction to maintain it — from fracking in California to the Keystone XL pipe line, to oil company’s dirty refineries to the struggles by front-line communities suffering from impossibly brutal extraction techniques, to mountain top removal and toxic sludge. To survive we have to struggle together.

Carleen Pickard, our Executive Director, said when she introduced Crystal Lameman, “I believe struggling for climate justice is our highest calling and greatest challenge as a movement. Some think of climate change as a distant or untouchable crisis, but we know every pollutant and every carbon emission is generated in a real place in real time. And as we confront this crisis together with the leaders from the front lines, we know an injury to any community on our beautiful planet will eventually injure us all.

Protecting the vitality of the atmosphere that sustains all life on Earth means we have to forge a new path past the international institutions have failed and abandoned us in the wake of corporate globalization. We must be brave. We must be fearless, and relentless. We must work together.”

Thank you Bill Mckibben! Thank Crystal Lameman, Thank you Carleen Pickard! It is one big fight we all want to be part of.

Join us at Global Exchange this summer to Beat the Heat! This will be a chance for thousands of us to show the courage and love we need to bring the number down!

Carleen Pickard at Climate Rally DC

After months of organizing and momentum building, between 40- 50,000 climate activists showed up in Washington, DC at the largest climate rally in the history of the United States to send a clear message: It’s Time to Move Forward on Climate.

Despite the cold, we all gathered. And we kept gathering and growing with thousands of people arriving by the minute. Rev. Lennox Yearwood, leader of the Hip Hop Caucus kept us cheering, jumping and warm through the Forward on Climate rally.

We chanted ‘can’t stop, won’t stop’ between speakers on the rally stage where people such as indigenous leader, Chief Jacqueline Thomas of the Saik’uz First Nation, 350.org founder Bill McKibben, and President Obama’s former green jobs advisor Van Jones all highlighted the urgency of stopping the Keystone XL pipeline.

It was not until later when I saw the much-shared image that I really, really believed that fifty thousand of us demonstrated in Washington DC to change the course of climate change and demand President Obama keep his promise to protect future generations and cancel the Keystone XL pipeline.

photo: Shadia Fayne Wood | Project Survival Media

A full recording of the rally can be watched here.

Hundreds of buses carried thousands of activists from states as far away as Florida, Michigan, Rhode Island and Texas, where direct action resistance is being led by women like Julia Trigg Crawford and 78 year old farmer Eleanor Fairchild. Crawford and Fairchild both joined Melina Laboucan-Massimo and Crystal Lameman, First Nations women from Alberta, Canada – ground zero of the tar sands – at an event later that evening called “Woman of the Frontlines Speak.”

Speaking from both ends of the pipe, the packed room heard the devastating impacts of tar sands extraction on the environment, life and spirit. Impacts which would only be exacerbated by the Keystone XL pipeline.

Walter Riley at the Forward in Climate rally in San Francisco, CA

Walter Riley at the Forward on Climate rally in San Francisco, CA

Rallies and marches across the United States also carried the same message. Global Exchange was proud to also be present in San Francisco, at the 5000-person strong rally supported by dozens of local organizations and Idle No More.

Reports still cite a decision on the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline due soon, and no doubt politicians in Canada and the U.S. were watching Sunday’s events closely (Obama? Maybe – he was playing golf with Tiger Woods and 2 oil executives in Florida).

But I’m hopeful. In DC, speaking from the stage, Ponca Native rights activist Casey Camp-Horinek told the crowd, “Relatives, this is the beginning of change and I thank you and I love you.” Agreed.

TAKE ACTION

Incensed about President Obama’s “guys weekend“? Join 350.org’s action and call the White House today.

Let’s keep the momentum going and stop the pipeline once and for all. Join the week of action to Stop Tar Sands Profiteers, March 16 -23.

A week of action to stop tar sands profiteers is planned for next month, and Global Exchange is proud to be sponsoring this call for action. Here’s more about it from Ramsey Sprague of tarsandsblockade.org.

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Join the Week of Action to Stop Tar Sands Profiteers

Last week I was arrested at a pipeline industry convention where TransCanada was lecturing on pipeline safety compliance. I chained myself to the loud speaker because I had a message to deliver!
The tar sands industry and its investors are spending billions on dangerous pipelines to open the Canadian tar sands to unbridled exploitation: the Keystone XL, the Northern Gateway, and the Trailbreaker, to name a few….but there’s one thing standing in their way: you. Yes, you!

Grassroots resistance begins with you, and together, we can send a message to TransCanada and their profiteers: Stop scheming to expand Alberta tar sands exploitation and bankrolling Keystone XL.

Investors are becoming uncertain about the future of Keystone XL and that’s why Tar Sands Blockade and our allies are calling for a Week of Action to Stop Tar Sands Profiteers, March 16 – 23.

The week of action is in solidarity with Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance’s direct action training camp to stop the KXL in Oklahoma thats happening at the same time.

From my indigenous brothers and sisters in Alberta most impacted by tar sands extraction to the environmental racism of refining in Houston’s toxic East End, TransCanada’s business as usual means death and destruction for the biosphere and our communities. Together we can confront these toxic profiteers by showing up at their offices, public events, and extraction sites to demonstrate that we won’t stop until they do. You don’t need to come to Texas or Oklahoma or go to DC to rise up and defend your home!

Find a TransCanada investor in your community and hold your own action.

Extreme energy extraction like mountain top removal, fracking, and tar sands exploitation are fueling climate chaos and disproportionally poisoning low income and communities of color at an alarming rate. Institutional avenues of change –corrupt politicians and regulators – have failed to protect our most impacted, vulnerable communities.

Tar Sands Blockade has done many things to stop KXL, from tree sits to locking ourselves to heavy machinery, and we’ve asked for help before. But to help us stop KXL now means we must go straight to the folks investing in the projects that are poisoning our friends and families and tell them enough is enough! Investing in Keystone XL is as toxic as the contents of their pipe!

To stop the most destructive project on Earth and preserve any hope of a liveable planet, we must put a end to “business as usual.” It’s time to act now and stop those working to poison our world and strip-mine our future. It’s time to take direct action to build the world we know is possible.

Chances are that if you are reading this, you will know how I feel about the Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada. This oil extraction method is intensive and causes irrevocable damage to the environment. The area is a catastrophic scar on the Earth. Land has been destroyed forever. Water has been permanently poisoned. First Nations communities struggle downstream to maintain a healthy and traditional lifestyle. Laborers are shipped in from Eastern Canada and Somalia to work intensive schedules. Crime drug and alcohol addiction has soared on the streets of Ft. McMurray. I’ve seen it, it’s a mess.

Communities across Canada and the U.S. have fought to keep pipelines used to transport the stuff off their land and out to sea because pipelines leak, they just do; because communities know that the short term jobs that it takes to build a pipeline are just that – short term, (while the effects are long term); and because companies like TransCanada don’t care about local impact or people like me and you.

The fate of the Keystone XL pipeline is still on the table (it’s been a roller coaster ride to date). If approved it will crack open the Tar Sands in unimaginable ways. It will increase extraction from the Tar Sands by 700,000 barrels a day and send it down to the Gulf of Mexico for processing and export. 350.org Bill McKibben has repeatedly called Keystone XL the fuse to the largest ‘carbon bomb’ we’ll ever know.

So, I’m taking action, with literally tens of thousands of others, to send an immediate message to President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry (who says he wants to make an announcement on Keystone XL ‘in the near term‘). This rally on February 17 is a first step to ensuring the President makes real strides in his second term on climate change.

Oh right, and the Tar Sands contribute to climate change, something big. Stopping Keystone XL is the first real stride the President can take.

On February 17, actions will take place across the country to move this country Forward on Climate. I am proud we are supporting the efforts in Washington D.C. and San Francisco. Momentum is huge – there are scientists, movie stars, Canadians, Canadian scientists and Canadian music stars supporting the efforts, thousands of people like you are coming to D.C. and the potential for thousands of others to take action online.

TAKE ACTION!

1) Watch this! Specialty Studios is offering the award-winning film WHITE WATER, BLACK GOLD free online for viewing and sharing by anyone through February 18.
2) Spread the word on Facebook and Twitter: Here are some social media messages you can use to help promote the climate rally action on Facebook and Twitter. Please share with your followers! (Or simply click the “Like” and “Retweet” buttons on the top right of this post.

Facebook: Tens of thousands of people are coming together to call on President Obama to move America Forward On Climate. Join them today by signing up to send a message on Facebook or Twitter: http://thndr.it/X3bcuv

Twitter: Join the largest US climate rally ever by sending a message to @BarackObama to move #ForwardOnClimate: http://thndr.it/X3bcuv

3) Join the Thunderclap:

350.org is using a new online tool to amplify our voices on Twitter and Facebook. It’s called Thunderclap — because together, that’s how loud we can be. They’re hoping to get 10,000 people on board — click here to join: 350.org/thunderclap.

4) Submit Your Photos

There will be a giant screen at the rally, showing photos and messages of support from across the country — to get your message on the screen, take a photo showing your support for the action, or of a part of your community that you want protected from climate change, then email it to forwardonclimatephotos@350.org, with your location in the subject line. (Or, you can post your photo to Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #ForwardOnClimate).

Folks at 350.org will pick out the best ones to put on the screen for tens of thousands of people to see, just outside the White House.

5) Share Your Sign

Finally, the 350.org web team put together this nifty sharable sign-maker that you can use to make a custom sign declaring your support for the action. They’re beautiful, and easy to share on your social networks. Check it out: sign.350.org.

Don’t forget to “like” and “retweet” this post to spread the word about the largest ever U.S. climate rally. Buttons are on the top right.

Carleen Pickard at Stop Keystone XL protest in DC, 2011 Photo Credit: Global Exchange

On a sunny November in 2011 thousands of us encircled the White House to say No to Keystone XL. This, after other direct actions in both Ottawa and DC also demanding rejection of the pipeline demonstrated our collective force for action on climate change.

It’s time again. President Obama must move America Forward on Climate in 2013 with decisive action to reduce dangerous carbon pollution.

Obama’s legacy as the 44th President of the United States of America rests squarely on his leadership in the face of an unstable climate future. The first milestone for President Obama is to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

Join me and thousands of others in DC on Sunday, February 17th over President’s Day weekend – and show President Obama that the progressive movement and the communities that helped secure his victory are coming together to hold him to his promises.

What: The largest climate rally in history
Where: The National Mall in Washington, D.C., including a march to the White House
When: February 17, 2013, Noon – 4:00 p.m. (please arrive by 11:30 a.m.)
More Details: forwardonclimate.org

Lead organizers 350.org and the Sierra Club report that more than 16,000 people are signed up to attend (and counting!)

TAKE ACTION! Support the rally and efforts to get tens of thousands present.

Consider making a donation to Global Exchange so we can be on the frontlines to say No to Keystone XL and elsewhere as we build an unstoppable movement for change together.

Stop the Tar Sands!

Ready to Rise, Resist and Reclaim our Future in 2018