Friends,
Next week, I'm headed down to Washington, D.C., where I'll be arrested.
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Support Mark Johnson at the tar sands pipeline action:
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Let me explain.
Last month, a young man named Tim DeChristopher was sentenced to two years in prison for an act of civil disobedience, in which he placed bids on land in Utah at a federal land auction, as a way to prevent oil and gas companies from accessing and exploiting these public lands. Despite Tim successfully raising the money to pay for these lands -- and despite Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar nullifying all lands sold at the auction -- the Obama administration chose to prosecute Tim anyway.
At the time of his sentencing, Tim spoke powerfully:
"Those who are inspired to follow my actions are those who understand that we are on a path toward catastrophic consequences of climate change. They know their future, and the future of their loved ones, is on the line. And they know we are running out of time to turn things around."
This month, a group called Tar Sands Action has called on us to follow in Tim's footsteps, and put our bodies on the line for climate justice.
And so next week, I'll be in front of the White House, heeding the call of Tim and Tar Sands Action to call on President Obama to decline the granting of a "certificate of national interest" to the Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada's tar sands to Texas refineries. In their invitation, Tar Sands Action organizers write:
"To call this project a horror is serious understatement. The tar sands have wrecked huge parts of Alberta, disrupting ways of life in indigenous communities -- First Nations communities in Canada, and tribes along the pipeline route in the U.S. have demanded the destruction cease. The pipeline crosses crucial areas like the Oglalla Aquifer where a spill would be disastrous -- and though the pipeline companies insist they are using ‘state of the art’ technologies that should leak only once every seven years, the precursor pipeline and its pumping stations have leaked a dozen times in the past year.
"These local impacts alone would be cause enough to block such a plan. But the Keystone XL Pipeline would also be a 1500-mile fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the continent, a way to make it easier and faster to trigger the final overheating of our planet, the one place to which we are all indigenous."
Tar Sands Action represents a coalition of groups, from Nebraska farmers, to Cree and Dene indigenous leaders, to climate justice activists. Led by organizers including James Hansen, Wendell Berry, Naomi Klein and Bill McKibben, they're gathering supporters who value people's voices over corporate voices. "We don't have the money to compete with those corporations," they write, "but we do have our bodies, and beginning in mid-August many of us will use them."
This year, the Fellowship of Reconciliation began pursuing a vision we call "Demilitarizing Life and Land" -- framing all the work we do around a goal of a world in which the Earth's resources sustain life and promote the well-being of all people. Each of our campaigns, from the United States to Latin America and the Middle East, is centered on this vision.
Next week in Washington, I'll be putting our vision of Demilitarizing Life and Land into action. If you are able, I invite you to join me in D.C. next week. If traveling to Washington isn't possible, please consider signing the petition to President Obama, making a donation to support activists at the White House, and telling your friends about this action on Facebook or Twitter.
After being sentenced to prison for his act of courage, Tim DeChristopher said:
"At this point of unimaginable threats on the horizon, this is what hope looks like. In these times of a morally bankrupt government that has sold out its principles, this is what patriotism looks like. With countless lives on the line, this is what love looks like, and it will only grow."
Join me in Washington next week, and let's show the world what love looks like.
Mark C. Johnson
Executive Director
Fellowship of Reconciliation
More information:
- Tar Sands Action latest news
- "Keystone XL: a line in the sand for Obama," by Amy Goodman
- The story of Tim DeChristopher's action, arrest and trial, from Earthprints
- Bill McKibben's reflection, "Tim DeChristopher's going to jail, now it's our turn"
- Tim DeChristopher's full statement read at his sentencing
- FOR's Demilitarizing Life and Land
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