Rights of Nature Tribunal Puts Chevron on Trial

MEDIA RELEASE  

October 1, 2014

Contact: Shannon Biggs, Global Exchange

shannon@globalexchange.org 415.298.9419

Nature Puts Chevron Refinery and Legal System on Trial

People’s Tribunal in Oakland Seeks to Give Nature a Voice in Law this Sunday

Oakland CA — On Sunday October 5, a People’s Tribunal will examine the violations of community and nature’s rights caused by the fossil fuel industry, using Chevron’s refinery in Richmond as a case study.  Recognizing legal standing for ecosystems is a concept that has been gaining strength over the past decade, in dozens of US communities and in the constitution of Ecuador.

Two years after the refinery explosion that rocked the Richmond, CA community, residents still live in fear, while air quality and land remain contaminated. Despite having been found guilty of 62 violations of the law in 2012, Chevron Corp. will be expanding operations, and 4 new projects will bring Tar Sands and fracked crude from North Dakota to the Bay Area.  The question for a growing many isn’t the violations of the law, but the daily chemical exposure permitted under the law.

 “Chevron has been destroying nature and poisoning people for over 100 years. Humanity is part of the web of life known as Nature. If Nature doesn’t have rights, then a viable future for the next seven generations is doubtful,” says Richmond resident and Native American activist Pennie Opal Plant, who will also be one of several expert witnesses at the Tribunal.

Global Exchange’s Community & Nature’s Rights director, Shannon Biggs, one of the organizers of the event added, “the fact is, current law treats nature as property, so it’s easy for corporations to get a permit to blow the tops off of mountains for coal, or frack communities for profit.  Recognizing nature’s rights provides new and critical protections for our communities and the ecosystems we all depend on.”

  The tribunal, a project of the Bay Area Rights of Nature Alliance (BARONA)barona_logo_Mowder takes place Sunday 10 am – 2 pm at Laney College’s Forum, highlighting the impacts on people and nature from the Chevron refinery, and place on trial current legal and economic systems that advance the destruction of nature by the oil industry. Tribunal judges include:

  • Carl Anthony (Breakthrough Communities; Urban Habitat)
  • Brian Swimme (California Institute of Integral Studies; Journey of the Universe)
  • Anuradha Mittal (Oakland Institute)
  • Courtney Cummings (Arikara and Cheyenne; Native Wellness Center, Richmond)
  • Bill Twist (Pachamama Alliance)

The day will also include a “Web of Life Labyrinth,” created by local artists (opens 9:30 am), local music and food for purchase. Members of BARONA, a network of leading Bay Area rights of nature, ecological justice, human rights, local economy, Indigenous, women’s, and other groups will be on hand to answer questions. The event will be part of the global “Earth Rights Days of Action” sponsored by the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and the related efforts of the International Rights of Nature Tribunals in Quito, Ecuador (January 2014) and Lima, Peru (December 2014).

Please join us for a rich discussion of just what rights of nature could mean for residents in Richmond, CA—and across the country. Learn what over 100 other communities across the US are doing differently to put the rights of residents and nature before corporate profits.

Save your space for this important event register now.

Later this month, a powerful alliance of farmers, ranchers, and tribal communities will be coming to Washington, DC to make the closing argument against one of the most controversial and dangerous projects in North America — the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

The action is called Reject and Protect, and they call themselves the Cowboy Indian Alliance. The Alliance is planning to ride into DC on horseback and then set up camp on the National Mall for the week of April 22-27th to show President Obama the real stakes of approving Keystone XL, which would carry 830,000 barrels per day of the world’s dirtiest oil across the American heartland to be refined, exported and then burned.

Last summer, President Obama said he would reject the pipeline if he decided that it would have a significant impact on the climate. Since then, a string of scientists, economists and other experts have provided a drumbeat of evidence that it would indeed be devastating for the climate: A University of California Berkeley Economist estimates that stopping the pipeline would keep 1,000,000,000 barrels of tar sands oil under ground; another study found that approving the pipeline would have the equivalent climate impact of 51 coal plants.

Then there’s the risk to water and land along the route. Even though it would run through some of the most sensitive water tables in North America, Keystone XL is expected to leak 91 times over its lifetime posing a direct threat to the farmers, ranchers, and tribes who rely on clean water for their livelihoods.

Not to mention the devastating impacts further extraction of the tar sands would have on communities in northern Canada.

On April 22nd, the Alliance will arrive in Washington, DC to show President Obama the real faces of the people who would be directly impacted by the pipeline should it be approved. Farmers, ranchers, and tribal leaders will be holding ceremonies and demonstrations throughout the week to underline the real risks of the pipeline, but they’ve also invited everyone to join them for a big event on Saturday the 26th to make a closing argument against the pipeline together.Gary Dorr Reject & Protect Meme

That’s when thousands of people will be converging to make the final argument against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, and tell President Obama to protect our land, water and climate.

Together, they’ll be hand delivering a hand painted tipi to President Obama — a symbol of both the hope that he will live up to his promises, and the promise to stand with farmers, ranchers, and tribal leaders to resist the pipeline should he approve it.

Take-Action

TAKE ACTION

Banner_web1Pittsburg => Martinez => Benicia => Rodeo => Richmond.

This is the refinery corridor in the northeast of the San Francisco Bay Area consisting of five refineries in four cities servicing Shell, Tesoro, Valero, Phillips and Chevron.

Joining a large coalition of Bay Area organizations, and led by Idle No More, Global Exchange will join four Healing Walks taking place over the next four months to bring people together who are concerned about the effects of the fossil fuel industry on our communities and to learn from one another as we walk with Mother Earth. Please join us!photo 22

Last summer, I participated in a Healing Walk in northern Alberta, through the tar sands around Ft. McMurray. This powerful experience had me touch, breath, see and feel the impacts of heavy crude extraction on the earth and on communites. It also refreshed my commitment to ‘stop the destruction, start the healing’ and re-imagine our communities free from fossil fuel impacts.

Healing walks have a long history in Native and First Nations traditions and as pilgrimages in other cultures. These Connect the Dots Healing Walks are inspired by these traditions and will take place:

Saturday April 12, Pittsburg to Martinez

Saturday May 17, Martinez to Benicia

Saturday June 14, Benicia to Rodeo

Saturday July 12, Rode to Richmond

Participate (walk, bike) together, in teams or relay groups. Do them all, just some, do the whole thing, just part. All are welcome and all are encouraged. To learn more and get the most up to date information (meeting points, times, etc) please visit the Connect the Dots website.

Photo Credit: Noah Chandler

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

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 3rd 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

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

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

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-ActionTake Action!

 

GXAug3KXLAs the temperature rises, so do we.

That is the tagline behind the Summer Heat actions taking place all over the country to challenge the fossil fuel industry. From the Pacific Northwest, to Texas, to Maine and many more in between, people are ready to fight against the industry that is wrecking our planet and our future.

Here in California, people of the Bay Area will rise up at the Chevron refinery in Richmond, CA on August 3rd. Just days before the one year anniversary of the Chevron Refinery explosion, we’ll join the Summer Heat Richmond coalition and say No to Chevron, No to Tar Sands Oil, Stop Climate Chaos and Yes to Green Energy.

August 3 will also mark just three months since Global Exchange honored the work of First Nations activist Crystal Lameman, for her work to stop the further expansion of tar sands into the traditional territory of the Beaver Lake Cree. It will also mark one month since I started my journey to Fort McMurray to participate in the Healing Walk – an annual First Nation and Metis event to focus on healing the environment and the people who are suffering from tar sands expansion.

It’s now time to turn local. Gathering at the Richmond BART station at 10AM, we’ll march to the entrance of the refinery and once we reach the gates with a children’s brigade at the lead, we’ll rally and hear from Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and climate champion Bill McKibben. The children’s brigade will start a little later (10:30AM), and meet at George Carroll (aka Washington) Park, Pt Richmond.SummerHeat_12x18-e1372530721430

RSVP and march with us to call for:

Putting together an action like this is a massive undertaking and brings together over 50 local and national organizations: the Richmond Progressive Alliance, Communities for a Better Environment, the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, the California Nurses Association and many local unions, as well as national environmental networks and social justice organizations. So much to do! There are still lots of volunteer opportunities.

After the rally, affinity groups will carry out nonviolent direct actions, some involving sunflowers – known for their ability to absorb heavy metals from the soil.  If you want to be part of these or develop your own creative, nonviolent actions, please attend a nonviolence training on Sunday July 28.  These actions will be carried out peacefully and carefully separate from those who cannot or do not wish to risk arrest.

Hope to see you there!

For Summer Actions across the country, visit JoinSummerHeat.org.

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.

Tar Sands extraction in northern Alberta is called many things – an environmental disaster, a carbon ‘bomb’, and it’s often likened to Tolkien’s Mordor. For someone who has been there, I think it’s an apt description. This summer, First Nations and Metis communities living at ground zero are inviting people to come together to join the fourth Healing Walk.

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Forward on Climate rally in DC, Feb 2013

As the Summer Heat actions begin across the United States, “from where fossil fuels leave the ground, to the halls of power…” to challenge the fossil fuel industry and as activists prepare “…to stand up – peacefully but firmly — to the industry that is wrecking our future,” the Healing Walk invites us to, “come and see the impacts of the tar sands and be a part of the healing.”

I’m honored to be going. Sharing solidarity, ceremony and the Walk with communities on the frontlines of the tar sands is essential for me to re-commit to fight to stop the tar sands alongside those impacted by it. And also to recognize that those in power, often supported by immense corporate interests have failed to protect land, air, and water for future generations.

As the Healing Walk site says,

“No one feels this more then the people that have lived in the Athabasca River region for generations. They have watched their land get destroyed, they are forced to breathe dirty air, and in many communities they can no longer drink the water. The wildlife they have traditionally harvested are getting scarce, the fish they harvest have tumours, and the medicinal plants are disappearing along with the permanently changed landscape.”

Sign up to join the Healing Walk here.

When you join the Healing Walk, you will see the tar sands for yourself and have the opportunity to join others to heal the communities and land, and return home to take action with passion and determination. You will be amongst those directly affected by the tar sands who stand up everyday to speak on behalf of the land. You will march with Beaver Lake Cree Nation mother and tar sands fighter, Crystal Lameman, who was honored just last month at Global Exchange’s Human Rights Awards and inspired everyone in the audience with her telling words,

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Crystal Lameman received the Grassroots Award in San Francisco, May 2013

“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 to 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.”

And with the news of the planet hitting 400 parts per million of CO2, a number way beyond the limit of what is needed to maintain a healthy planet, her words are even more prescient.

Take-ActionTAKE ACTION!

Details about the events and logistics for July 5th and & 6th are straightforward and lots of support is being provided for accommodations and transportation. Sign up now.

  • Please be in touch if you want to join me July 5th & 6th on the Healing Walk. Together we’ll come back ready to Beat the Heat this summer, fight the Keystone XL pipeline, work for climate justice and stop the tar sands.

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

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!

The following post was written by Alina Evans and Anna Campanelli, interns with the Global Exchange Community Rights Program.

community_rightsHydraulic Fracturing (Fracking) is one of the most destructive energy processes on planet Earth – even the EPA reports show that fracking is the second-biggest contributor of U.S. Greenhouse gases. But as California activist RL Miller reports in the Daily Kos, “California’s oil is as dirty as the Canadian tar sands. State data shows that several California oil fields produce just as much carbon dioxide per barrel of oil as the tar sands do. A handful of fields yield even more.”

Contrary to gas and oil company propaganda, this drilling process is unsafe, unclean, and absolutely not renewable. The truth is fracking is yet another dirty energy scheme poisoning our air, soil and groundwater, and now it’s poisoning us. Gas and oil companies are quietly bringing fracking to the Golden State, placing not just Californians, but the planet at risk. In fact the process has already begun, promising to make California the #1 oil producing state, or as some call it—the Saudi Arabia of the USA—but at what cost? Global Exchange is working with communities to say “no” and along with our partners we’re leading a speaking tour April 15-22 through California’s  fracklands to educate and mobilize for action.

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Photo: thinkprogress.org

 

How Fracking works:
Fracking is an enhanced drilling technique that through a process of vertical and horizontal drilling enables fracking rigs to extract natural gas and/or oil from shale formations. Millions of gallons of water, sand, and “proprietary” carcinogenic chemicals are injected at high pressures, fracturing the underground shale and releasing “trapped” natural gas and oil. Vertical fracking is employed to increase the lifespan of a pre-existing well, while horizontal fracking is used to tap previously inaccessible shale deposits through an injection process. For a good fracking primer, check out EARTHWORK’s Hydraulic Fracturing 101.

Doing the numbers:

  • Between 3-5 million gallons of water are used to frack a single well one time; one well can be fracked 18 times; this means that one fracked well requires between 54-90 million gallons of water in its lifetime-that’s enough to fill up to 9 Yankee Stadiums!

    YankeeStadium-NewYork-SeatingBowl-990x442

    Water used for fracking just one well fills up to 9 Yankee Stadiums (Photo: Populus.com)

  • 90% of wells in the United States are currently being fracked, that’s over 800,000 wells and counting.
  • 596 chemicals (known carcinogens) are used in fracking.  These chemicals are undisclosed under the trade secret provision protecting energy companies’ proprietary “recipes”
  • Each time a well is fracked, millions of gallons of these toxic chemicals are pumped into our earth along with our water.
  • On average, 330 tons of chemicals are used per fracking operation—2/3 of the toxic chemicals remain underground.
  • Earthquakes in frack zones have skyrocketed in places like Ohio, (not a state previously known for seismic activity) placing geologically sensitive California at extreme risk.
  • Extreme energy methods = climate chaos. California’s 15 billion barrels of fracked oil will release 6.45 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, on par with the Keystone XL pipeline’s carrying capacity in its lifetime (7 million metric tons).

The millions of gallons of toxic waste water produced cannot be processed by wastewater treatment. If the steel/cement casing of a well cracks from the pressure the toxins seep into the water aquifers that we drink from. Exploding wells, dwindling ecosystems, toxic sink water, sickness and deaths of animals and even humans are not uncommon reports coming from US communities who have been subjected to fracking, depending on whether it is natural gas or oil being fracked. The latest report come from Columbus, Ohio where, since March of this year, 11 earthquakes have resulted from fracking operations in the area.

aerialFracking

Baldwin Hills (Los Angeles County) California’s largest frack field (photo Transition Culver City)

California’s Dirty Secret is about to blow
In the Golden state, fracking is unregulated and unmonitored. Corporations do not need to disclose the toxic chemicals they are using or inform communities that fracking is happening. As a water-poor state, fracking and its toxic wastewater presents a serious danger to our communities and ecosystems. And in a state prone to earthquakes, human induced fault pressures present an alarming geological risk. Fracking proponents claim fracking has been going on for 70 years in California with no harmful effects—a misleading apples and oranges statement at best.  Old-school fracking did not use the same chemicals or drill as deeply or horizontally, nor inject the kinds of chemicals that modern fracking uses. As a result of all of this, fracking in California is a well-kept secret: only 50% of residents know what fracking is.But that is about to change. Here in California, as communities are learning about fracking’s dangers, they want to stop it.

Along with our partners, Global Exchange’s Community Rights Program is embarking on a 7-day speaking tour from April 15-22. The tour will visit impacted California communities from San Francisco to San Diego and expose the reality of fracking in the state and engage community members in the movement to oppose and stop this harmful and dangerous practice, exploring with our partners all of the efforts underway statewide to stop fracking from transforming the state and the climate.

 

Tour stops include: San Francisco, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Culver City, and San Diego, **with others still to be added.**

Each stop on the tour will include a day of action: along with our allies, we are working with host communities to strategize and develop unique actions that meet each community’s needs. Each day’s activity will be preceded by a local media plan, social media outreach, collaborative efforts, and planned meetings with various community groups. We expect much of the energy we generate on this tour will build toward larger statewide action.

don't frack shannon

Community Rights Director Shannon Biggs

Confirmed Speakers and partners on the road:  We’ll bring Doug Shields, former Pittsburgh PA councilman enacting the first “rights-based” ban on fracking in the nation,

scientists, fractivists, and fracking experts from our partner organizations, many of whom take different approaches to regulate or ban or place a moratorium on the process.  Our allies on the road include the Center for Biological Diversity, Food and Water Watch, 350.org, Clean Water Action, Transitions Towns, community-based groups, host community partners, and you! If you are concerned about fracking in your community or in general we are here to help you too! If you would like to join the tour, if you are interested in having us visit your community or if you would like to attend one of the events set up for the tour we’d love to hear from you.

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Jessica Nuti and Executive Director Carleen Pickard at the Global Frackdown Bay Area

Global Exchange is helping Communities assert their right to say “NO fracking”

Five years ago, Global Exchange launched the Community Rights Program confronting corporate power at its core: by challenging unjust law and shifting the balance of power from one that protects the rights of corporations, to one that protects the rights of our communities and the environment. The Community Rights Program enters the California and national fracking debate via our expertise in grassroots, “rights-based” organizing, where we work with communities confronted by various corporate harms to enact local laws that place the rights of residents and nature above corporate interests. A right-based approach not only offers communities a way to stop the harmful practices of fracking in their midst, but addresses the core issue of a system of law that legalizes harmful corporate practices like fracking.

We’ve already been working with a handful of communities to pass rights-based fracking bans, including San Luis Obispo, and Culver City, and we hope to be working with many more. This efforts builds on the success of more than nine communities who have stopped fracking through passing rights-based fracking bans – the most notable in Pittsburgh, PA, led by featured tour speaker, Doug Shields.  Across Pennsylvania, New Mexico and New York, nine other communities have followed suit (with many more underway), declaring their right as communities to protect the health safety and welfare of residents and the groundwater they depend on.

LEARN MORE:  Want to be a part of the tour? Want the tour to come to YOU?

Contact Community Rights Program Director Shannon Biggs at: Shannon@globalexchange.org or 415.575.5540.
Stay updated on the specifics for the tour at our webpage: or join our list serve (emails twice monthly)

For another take on fracking in California from our Global Exchange colleague Corey Hill, check out this article at the East Bay Express.

Alina Evans and Anna Campanelli, authors of this blog post are interns with the Global Exchange Community Rights Program.

FOC Cover Photo(1)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.ForwardOnClimate[1]

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-ActionTAKE 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.