On Friday, for second time in less than 3 months, a Skagit County jury refused to convict climate activists of a crime that they openly admitted to. The six defendants had blockaded the train tracks into the Anacortes refineries for 36 hours as part of the global Break Free from Fossil Fuels mobilization in May 2016; they were charged with criminal trespass in the second degree.
We told you April was going to be busy: Marches and a summit, actions and comment periods, town halls and carbon taxes, valve turners on tour and fundraising for allies, we’ve got it all!
On October 11, 2016, my husband Ben was among those supporting the 5 activists who shut down all five tar sands pipelines into the US in an action called #ShutItDown. Theirs was an unprecedented act of climate direct action, and the biggest coordinated move on U.S. energy infrastructure ever undertaken by environmental protesters. Ben faces up to 5 years in prison (the people who actually turned the valves face up to 21 years). We’re in the waiting period, with ears ready for trial dates and lots of time for reflecting…
Sitting in the Pacific Building in the morning on March 9th, I learned an important lesson: high-powered decision-making is incredibly dreary. The halls of power (at least in Seattle) are lined with drywall and floored with shabby office carpet. Windowless conference rooms are stocked with the same drab plastic tables you would find in any corporate office. This seemed intentional—and a bit ironic, given that the people in this room could have a serious impact on climate change.
This afternoon, after dozens of Seattle residents gave passionate testimony in favor of a resolution introduced by Council Member Kshama Sawant, the City Council voted unanimously to seek out financial institutions that do not provide TransCanada or the Keystone XL pipeline with project-level loans.
Last month, the people of Seattle demanded loudly and clearly that the City remove our money from Wells Fargo, because of its investment in DAPL–and we won! We cannot let that money go to any bank that provides loans to TransCanada or Keystone XL.
We regret to inform you that the Keystone XL pipeline has been approved.
Last week, six people were tried for misdemeanor criminal trespass in the second degree in Skagit County District Court, Mt. Vernon, WA. Their “crime” was to have taken part in an oil train blockade as part of the Break Free mobilization of May 2016.
Millie always asks me to talk about our name for a minute, so excuse me if you’ve heard this before. Our group is called 350 because this is a number that’s essential to life on this planet. Throughout human history, we’ve had about 280 parts per million of carbon in our atmosphere. As we’ve used radically more fossil fuels in the last hundred years, that number has climbed and climbed. And scientists know that in order to have a stable climate, we have to be below 350 parts per million—maybe even lower.
Nonviolent direct action (NVDA) and civil disobedience have long and rich histories. They’ve been essential tools in almost every major social movement: from women’s suffrage to the fight against nuclear proliferation, to the noncooperation of the Baltic states trying to free themselves from the yoke of Soviet Russia, to civil rights, and to the struggle for marriage equality.
