Meteor Blades and I organized this blogathon for August 14-19 before he took a "leave of absence" from Daily Kos this week. For now, this will be the last of many projects and blogathons that we have done over the years on environmental and climate change issues, human rights, such as our year-long torture series with Valtin and political issues, such as our DK Poli GOTV blogathon for 2010 midterm. We worked on diary series that later became groups. He was co-founder of DK GreenRoots (preceded by Eco Week a few years ago) and an invaluable advisor and member of EcoJustice and Climate Change News Roundup. So, I honor and respect my dear friend and project partner by dedicating this blogathon to him.
We coordinated this blogathon with our friend, Bill McKibben, who is one of the organizers for a civil disobedience action in DC from August 20th to September 3rd to urge President Obama to not give a presidential permit for the proposed tar sands XL pipeline from Alberta down to Texas. This civil disobedience action is modeled on one that the group Transafrica used outside the Washington Embassy in the 1980s: Nelson Mandela said it played a key role in raising awareness about apartheid. The plan is for a new group of people each day of the two weeks to trespass on the sidewalk in front of the White House.
This is not a protest of President Obama. As Bill McKibben noted, the protest is designed to show President Obama the "depth of support for turning down this boondoggle" as it will be the "biggest civil disobedience protest in the environmental movement for many many years."
Coordinating our blogathon with the civil disobedience action is designed to raise awareness of why this tar sands project is so destructive. A 2010 poll found that more than 70% of Americans favor cleaner energy sources that use the least amount of water and involve the lowest possible risk to the public and environment – guidelines that will be violated with tar sands in many ways that will be discussed during our blogathon. There are so many reasons to oppose XL, including it crosses under the Ogallala aquifer used for drinking water and agricultural food for millions and will cross under more than a 1,000 rivers, lakes and streams. People's health, our economy, wildlife and many natural resources and ecosystems are at risk.
Public pressure is needed to stop this pipeline. Congress does not have oversight and the courts are likely to brush aside lawsuits based on no standing for political question. Pressure from the public and some lawmakers has already forced the State Department to agree to hold public hearings in the capitol of the affected states after the final environmental impact statement is released. The White House plans to reach a decision on this permit before the end of the year. House GOP passed a bill last month to move the WH decision up to November 1, but this measure will not likely pass. However, it shows that the GOP want to rush this project before appropriate environmental scientific review can be completed.
Senator Bernie Sanders will kick off our blogathon in one hour. Throughout the next week you will hear from kossacks, citizen activists, members of environmental groups, and from citizens who live in the affected states and will be impacted from this XL Pipeline. Some of the diaries will tell why the diarist is joining Bill McKibben in DC, willing to be arrested for civil disobedience.
Sen. Bernie Sanders sends this message to DC civil disobedience participants:
Director Josh Fox explains why he will be joining Bill McKibben and thousands of others in DC in civil disobedience against tar sands:
Actor and activist Mark Ruffalo tells you why he will be in DC (one correction to this video, there are now thousands signed up for DC):
Sierra Club and citizens explain some of the horrible impacts:
If you need more reasons to oppose this pipeline, please read my diary President Obama: Just Say No To Tar Sands Pipeline Rip-Off that discusses some of the possible motives for this pipeline, and some of the impacts lurking in our future. These issues and much more will be blogged this week.
Many thanks to Bill McKibben, Daniel Kessler, Duncan and Jamie for helping enormously each step of the way on this blogathon. Huge thanks to rb137 for taking charge of our e-mail notice list, and rfall, oke and boatsie for invaluable advise and techie stuff too with rfall! This is truly a community project that would not have been possible without the kind assistance and patience of Susan Gardner and Barbara Morrill.
Meteor Blades and PDNC organized this blogathon for August 14-19 before he took a "leave of absence" from Daily Kos last week. For now, this will be the last of many projects, blogathons, and diary series that the two of them have done over the years on environmental, climate change, human rights, and political issues.
In honor and respect for our dear friend and project partner, this blogathon is dedicated to Meteor Blades by our blogathon team of PDNC, rb137 and JekyllnHyde.
"Stop Tar Sands" Blogathon: How You Can Help
Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse has coordinated this blogathon with Bill McKibben, who is one of the organizers for a civil disobedience action in DC from August 20th to September 3rd to urge President Obama to not give a presidential permit for the proposed tar sands XL pipeline from Alberta down to Texas. This civil disobedience action is modeled on one that the group Transafrica used outside the Washington Embassy in the 1980s: Nelson Mandela said it played a key role in raising awareness about apartheid. The plan is for a new group of people each day of the two weeks to trespass on the sidewalk in front of the White House.
This is not a protest of President Obama. As Bill McKibben noted, the protest is designed to show President Obama the "depth of support for turning down this boondoggle" as it will be the "biggest civil disobedience protest in the environmental movement for many many years."
We know what the future will look like with the XL pipeline.
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