The Paris climate deal wasn’t something we were ever excited about. As George Monbiot succinctly said, “By comparison to what it could have been, it’s a miracle. By comparison to what it should have been, it’s a disaster.”
Though the national political situation seems bleak, and our state government is deadlocked by corporate interests, people power is winning on local levels, from $15 minimum wages to fossil fuel divestment. That’s the groundwork for a bottom-up movement that can achieve real progress toward a just world.
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…
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.
On Wednesday, over 150 people delivered a financial report to Mayor Murray showing that over the last ten years, the City of Seattle’s pension fund (SCERS) has lost $65 million by remaining invested in fossil fuels.
We had a beautiful victory today. With a unanimous vote, the City of Seattle ended its business with Wells Fargo because of its funding of the Dakota Access Pipeline…so Wells Fargo has taken a $3 billion hit because of your work, your activism. Thank you.
(No, not that kind, thanks–we’re taken.)
Three bills currently before the Washington Legislature propose to update the state’s climate pollution reduction limits. One is based on the best climate science, while the others are unfortunately based on outdated science, and allow dangerous levels of carbon dioxide emissions.
