RAN board member Randy Hayes and actress Darryl Hannah at the White House protesting Keystone XL as part of the Tar Sands Action.

President Obama has just rejected the Keystone XL pipeline!

This puts a halt to current plans for a massive 1700-mile pipeline that would have allowed some of the world’s dirtiest oil to travel from Canada’s tar sands through America’s heartland — jeopardizing our water, our air and our climate.

Six months ago the pipeline project was considered a foregone conclusion. Today — against all odds — the project has been rejected. That is a heroic political shift, which is the result of massive grassroots opposition that spanned from First Nations in Alberta to farmers in Nebraska.

By sending letters, making calls, protesting in front of the White House and standing up at “Obama for America” offices, the movement against the Keystone XL pipeline has demonstrated what grassroots activism is all about — and what it really takes to make change in this country.

When organizing started against the Keystone pipeline there were two main goals: stop the pipeline, and reignite the climate movement, which had been deflated by disappointments from Copenhagen to Congress. I would say that in just a few months we are well on our way to achieving both goals.

As Bill McKibben, one of the lead visionaries behind the tar sands protests, said in November, when the pipeline was first delayed:

It’s important to understand how unlikely this victory is… A done deal has come spectacularly undone… The American people spoke loudly about climate change and the president responded. There have been few even partial victories about global warming in recent years so that makes this an important day.

McKibben’s words are truer today than they were in November. We have seen little from the administration on climate and energy that we can be enthusiastic about, and this is definitely something to be unanimously proud of.

It has been incredible to watch the movement against the Keystone pipeline come to life. In September, 1,253 people were arrested in a peaceful sit-in at the White House expressing resounding opposition to the pipeline project in one of the largest acts of civil disobedience the environmental movement has ever seen. Since then, droves of protesters, including high-end campaign donors, have confronted President Obama at one public speaking event after another. In November, the opposition grew when more than 12,000 people joined in peaceful protest back in DC, linking hands in several concentric circles around the White House.

At RAN, we believe that when corporations respond to our demands, it’s a best practice to thank them. The same is true here. Against loud and dubious threats from Big Oil, President Obama has stepped up to represent us and our future. Please take the time today to thank President Obama for rejecting the disastrous Keystone XL pipeline.

Many are wondering what the political realities are to the pipeline rejection. The State Department is allowing Transcanada, the company behind the pipeline, to pitch an alternative route for the pipeline through Nebraska. This re-application process would likely put the project back to the drawing board.

As Frances Beinecke, Executive Director of NRDC, put it in an email blast this afternoon:

[B]ecause Big Oil lost, this is not the end of the fight. This is the beginning of the real battle for America’s energy future…That battle will be fought in Congress, where Representatives who’ve collected $12 million from the oil & gas industry over the past two years are sure to try to raise Keystone from the dead . . . it will be fought in British Columbia, where the oil giants want to ram a tar sands pipeline and supertanker traffic through the heart of the Spirit Bear’s coastal rainforest home . . . it will be fought in the Polar Bear Seas, where the Interior Department has given tentative approval for Shell to begin drilling this summer…

If the last few months have shown us anything, it’s that we’ve stopped the project once and we’ll stop it again. Yes, we will need to continue to ensure that President Obama feels the full weight of our opposition and keeps the Keystone XL pipeline off the map forever. But make no mistake, today is a day to come together to celebrate in the exact same way we came together to fight Keystone over the past couple of months, because celebrating our success is a critical part of fueling our work. That should neither minimize nor obscure the reality that if we want a clean energy future, which stops extreme energy projects like the Keystone XL, we’re going to have to keep fighting together for the long haul.

What an incredible sign for the start of this New Year. Let’s make sure that this success begets even more success in our work to protect forests, their inhabitants and our climate.

And now here we are, at the dawn of another new year. Who knows what we can do?

Now is the time for change, but the question becomes: How can we keep this momentum going? As we head into 2012, I invite you to think about what you can do to shake things up, make your voice heard, and make 2012 another banner year for people power. Here are five of my favorites, in no particular order:

1. Shrink oversized banks

   At RAN, we’ve been campaigning against banks with outsized influence since 2001, and have never felt such a window for deep, lasting change as we do right now. What can you do to make sure that the biggest banks know that the days of reaping enormous sums from bankrupting our economy, foreclosing on our homes, and polluting our air are over? Take action in your area to begin dismantling the systems that allow the wealthiest citizens to control the rules of the game. Send a message that we will not accept one more dollar invested in dirty energy. Take the pledge to boycott Bank of America — the nation’s leading funder of coal projects — unless the bank cleans up its act, then join the over 50,000 customers who have already closed their Bank of America accounts and invest in your local economy by moving your money to a local bank or credit union.

2. Occupy Our Food Supply

   No less than our financial system, our food system is in dangerous shape, controlled by corporate interests at the expense of small producers, our health, and the future of the planet. Occupy Our Food Supply to help bring an end to corporate exploitations of our food system. Join the fight for a just Farm Bill in 2012. Boycott Cargill, the US agribusiness giant that is bulldozing rainforests and razing entire communities in Indonesia and Malaysia in pursuit of profits.

3. End Corporate Personhood

   This is the year I hope to see an end to the choke hold that corporate power has on our democratic system. On January 21st, the second anniversary of the devastating Citizens United ruling, I invite you to join the swelling movement to demand an end corporate personhood — the egregious legal principle that gives corporations the same rights as individuals, with few of the same limits. Join with RAN and our allies to Occupy the Courts in a city near you on January 20th and Occupy the Corporations on January 21st. Then, gear up for an exciting Spring packed full of actions as we work to force corporate and political leaders to recognize corporate accountability as a key issue this election cycle, and finally let those companies who are buying our democracy know that democracy is by the people and for the people.

4. Keep the Keystone XL Pipeline Off the Map

   We all cheered last fall when the decision on the Keystone XL pipeline was delayed, but with political maneuvers forcing Obama to make a choice by mid-February, the fight is far from over. Now more than ever, it is crucial to stay committed to the fight to keep the Canadian Tar Sands in the ground. Keep up on the ongoing Tar Sands Actions and continue to speak out until President Obama understands that we will not accept this toxic pipeline full of crude oil for export to snake through America’s heartland.

5. Learn, Organize, Lead!

   Rainforest Action Network would be nothing without the committed organizers and activists who participate in our campaigns and form one part of the broader movement challenging corporate power around the globe. It’s a great time to rise to the growing demands of our world and take your activism to the next level. Take steps to educate yourself about issues that matter to you. Get involved in events in your area. Give what you can to help keep RAN’s campaigns running, and subscribe to our newsletters to keep up to date with the work of RAN’s campaigns and hear about opportunities to take action online or plan an event in your area.

This post originally appeared on Huffington Post.

Activists and concerned citizens from around the world are standing with Bradley Manning. So are Naomi Klein and Daniel Ellsberg, the whistleblower who leaked the Pentagon Papers. Click to enlarge image.

if you had free reign over classified networks for long periods of time… … and you saw incredible things, awful things… things that belonged in the public domain, and not on some server stored in a dark room in Washington DC… what would you do?  … say… a database of half a million events during the iraq war… from 2004 to 2009… with reports, date time groups, lat-lon locations, casualty figures… ? or 260,000 state department cables from embassies and consulates all over the world, explaining how the first world exploits the third, in detail, from an internal perspective?

This quote is attributed to PFC Bradley Manning, a 23 year-old intelligence analyst for the U.S. military who was stationed in eastern Baghdad until his arrest last May. It comes from an internet chat log turned over to the FBI by hacker Adrian Lamo, famous originally for his internet activism against large corporations. In these chat logs Bradley allegedly discussed his role in leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks.

PFC Manning’s case has already drawn the attention of most major news sources, with mixed coverage. On the positive side, he was just nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and was the UK Guardian reader’s choice for the award. Undoubtedly, more Americans will hear of him as the year progresses.

But what should the public think of this undeniably complicated case? And why does discussion of PFC Manning belong here on an environmental blog? I will attempt to answer both of these questions shortly, but first allow me to introduce myself.

I currently work as an organizer for Courage to Resist, a non-profit that supports GI War Resisters facing various sorts of legal and political challenges. However, I organized for environmental justice throughout college and I even spent four months interning at RAN.

Courage to Resist is the fiscal sponsor for the Bradley Manning Support Network, an international movement involving a broad range of organizations and activists. We have taken up the cause of PFC Manning because he is the most prominent GI Resister of our time, and we believe the handling of his case will set a precedent for other government and military whistleblowers. Not only that, but the outcome of PFC Manning’s trial will have a significant influence on the future of our democracy, and the work of those advocating for social change in particular, RAN being no exception.

What we know about PFC Bradley Manning prior to his arrest is that he was a young idealistic man from a working class background. According to a gay rights activist with whom Manning had conversations, Bradley followed his father’s footsteps in joining the army because he had dreams of attending college to study Physics, but did not have the financial resources. Smart, technologically adept, openly queer (a friend once said Bradley credited his participation in anti-DADT marches for sparking his interest in other political issues), he also took the perspective of a world citizen. Although he wished the Army was more friendly to diversity, he hoped that through his service he could spread democracy, and save both U.S. and Iraqi lives.

Because of his technological skills, he was given the job of Intelligence Analyst stationed in Eastern Baghdad. At the beginning of his deployment, he told friends and family that he was happy and proud of his position. It was some time during his deployment that his views began to change. Insight as to why comes from the chat logs attributed to him:

i think the thing that got me the most… that made me rethink the world more than anything… was watching 15 detainees taken by the Iraqi Federal Police… for printing “anti-Iraqi literature”… the iraqi federal police wouldn’t cooperate with US forces, so i was instructed to investigate the matter, find out who the “bad guys” were, and how significant this was for the FPs… it turned out, they had printed a scholarly critique against PM Maliki… i had an interpreter read it for me… and when i found out that it was a benign political critique titled “Where did the money go?” and following the corruption trail within the PM’s cabinet… i immediately took that information and *ran* to the officer to explain what was going on… he didn’t want to hear any of it… he told me to shut up and explain how we could assist the FPs in finding *MORE* detainees… everything started slipping after that… i saw things differently… i had always questioned the things worked, and investigated to find the truth… but that was a point where i was a *part* of something… i was actively involved in something that i was completely against…

Several months after that incident took place, Bradley Manning was charged with releasing the documents now known as the Collateral Murder video, Iraq War Logs, Afghan War Diary, and U.S. Diplomatic Cables (which included one document which is being credited with the Obama Administration agreeing to withdraw all troops from Iraq).

The revealed information describes thousands of secret actions of top U.S. State Department and military officials, as well as officials from other governments around the world. Actions that fit into a historical pattern of how wealth and big business influence U.S. relations abroad, but that run contrary to the public image most politicians strive to present. The information he is accused of releasing has been cited in over a third of New York Times editions of the past year. The revealed documents give us tremendous insight into what it truly means to call the United States a world power.

Many environmental organizations, RAN being a prime example, recognize that the immense power of modern multinational corporations is a major threat in the struggle for a just and sustainable world. Beholden to their shareholders and their bottom-line above all else, these corporations stoop to promoting lies about how ethical their operating processes are, debunked by groups such as RAN. They also use their immense financial resources, with larger spending power than many small countries, to influence public policy through backroom lobbying.

Here are some examples of the sorts of environmental crimes revealed through the documents Bradley Manning allegedly gave to WikiLeaks, crimes which have been blogged about by Greenpeace, RAN, and other similar organizations:

• The 2010 BP oil disaster could have been predicted and prevented. It turns out BP had a massive oil blowout in Azerbaijan in 2008 that was very similar in cause and consequence to their blowout in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
• The Fukushima nuclear disaster could also have been avoided. The disaster is now ranked more severe than Chernobyl, due to contamination. Japan was warned two years ago that their nuclear power plants could not withstand a major earthquake.
• The U.S. used spying, threats, and promises of aid to gain support for the Copenhagen Accord. The Copenhagen Climate Accord of 2009 has been criticized by environmental groups across the board, because it is not legally binding and does not commit countries to agree to a binding successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Additionally, although the United States has the highest per capita carbon emissions in the world, the Accord allows us the lowest target for emissions reductions of any industrialized nation, at 17%.
• Peru’s government has secretly admitted that 70-90% of its mahogany exports were illegally felled. Home Depot, Lowe’s and Lumber Liquidators have all confirmed they use the timber in their products. The loggers pose a grave threat to uncontacted Murunahua Indians who could be wiped out by diseases brought by outsiders or face inter-tribal warfare if they are pushed off their lands.
• An Indonesian governor believes that the Indonesian Military keeps more troops in Papua New Guinea than it admits to in order to facilitate illegal logging operations. Additionally, a senior official for Freeport mine, Indonesia’s largest taxpayer, admitted that average Papuans see few benefits from the extractive industries’ revenues.
• Several countries, including the United States, are preparing to fight over Arctic oil. While President Obama publicly declared a commitment to protecting the Arctic’s unique ecosystem and Indigenous culture, State Department correspondence reveals an alarmingly different story.
• A U.S. diplomat warned the Obama administration about significant environmental impacts stemming from Canada’s controversial tar sands oil production program. This contradicts public statements from the State Department that attempt to downplay the environmental impact of the tar sands.
• The U.S. government conspired with Biotech companies to force genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on the European Union.
• In correspondence with U.S. officials, the oil giant Shell claimed that it had inserted staff into all main ministries of the Nigerian government, allowing it secret insight and political influence in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
• Chevron executives worked in tandem with U.S. officials to avoid paying $18.2 billion in court-ordered damages after the energy giant acquired Texaco, which had dumped billions of gallons of waste in Indigenous areas.

Looking at this evidence, I conclude that we cannot create a sustainable world for ourselves and fellow living beings without government and corporate transparency and accountability. And we cannot have transparency and accountability of powerful systems without whistleblowers like PFC Bradley Manning.

When Adrian Lamo asked PFC Manning what he hoped to accomplish as a result of the leaks, he allegedly said “hopefully worldwide discussion, debate, and reforms… I want people to see the truth… regardless of who they are… because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.” It will be nothing short of a tragedy for our democracy if a young, conscientious whistleblower who has exposed so much of the dirty underbelly of foreign diplomacy between powerful economic interests goes to prison for life to prevent the American conscience from being challenged with the truth. The truth that a world led by neoliberal policies and corporations cannot create a more just future. The truth that it’s up to us, as American citizens, to hold our leaders accountable and organize ourselves persistently until we create the world we want to see.

On Monday last week the Military finally announced that after 18 months of incarceration, Bradley’s first day in court will be held on December 16 in the Washington D.C. area. The Bradley Manning Support Network is organizing a demonstration on December 17, which is also Bradley’s birthday, and there will be solidarity actions taking place around the world. Please visit our website for more information.

More resources:

Bradley Manning now faces a military trial and the possibility of life in prison.  Find our petition to free him and other ways you can help here.

Filmmaker Michael Moore recently explained at the #OccupySF general assembly how Bradley Manning helped inspire #OccupyWallStreet. Watch the video.

This post was written by Emma Cape, former RAN intern and current organizer for Courage to Resist.

At least, it was until a grassroots movement—driven by strong action—threw a major monkey wrench into the process. This afternoon the cards collapsed for TransCanada, the corporate giant behind the proposed 1700-mile tar sands pipeline. It looks like we stopped the Keystone XL.

Today, the U.S. State Department announced that the proposed route for the pipeline is getting scrapped. Citing the outcry from every sector of society, President Obama confirmed that he is sending the project back to the drawing board for further review. This process will continue at least through 2013.

Why does a “delay” deserve so much excitement? Pipeline supporters hoped the permit for the pipeline would be approved within the next month, but this new review will last at least into 2013. Manyy analysts and even the developer of the pipeline has stated that a change in the route will kill the project. And with the past reviews being full of rampant corruption, a new honest review will reflect that the pipeline should not be built, ever.

Communities and organizations like RAN have been opposing the development of Tar Sands for decades. In the past four months, a grassroots, actions-based strategy called Tar Sands Action emerged to challenge the Keystone XL pipeline, and inspired the kind of energy that the environmental movement hasn’t seen in decades.

Bringing together groups like RAN, 350.org, Indigenous Environmental Network, and many others — Tar Sands Action showed that grassroots organizing and people-powered action can win campaigns AND build a movement.

In late August, 1,253 people were arrested in a peaceful sit-in at the White House — one of the largest acts of civil disobedience the environmental movement has ever seen. Droves of protestors have confronted President Obama on the pipeline at one public speaking event after another for months. And this past Sunday, over 12,000 people rallied in DC to link hands in several concentric circles around the White House.

Nov 5 Tar Sands Action: Photo by Shadia Fayne Wood

Days after this historic rally, we see that when people act, change is made. We have put out the fuse to this very large carbon bomb… for now. And we will remain diligent in our efforts to ensure that the Keystone XL will never be part of our energy future.

While there is still much more to accomplish, there is much to celebrate today. Thanks to all who spread the word, took strong action, and donated to this campaign. We did it together.

Nov 6 Tar Sands Action: Photo by Christine Irvine

"Pipeline" by DC 51 Art Collective: Photo by Christine Irvine

Becky White and the Secret Mission have just released this catchy and hilarious protest anthem/call to action track and music video — featuring RAN’s own Executive Director Rebecca Tarbotton on violin — called “Man Up!” The song calls on people to gather at the White House on November 6 to persuade President Obama to make the right decision and oppose the disastrous Keystone XL Pipeline project, the fate of which is being decided by his Administration right now.

The movement to stop this massively destructive pipeline has brought together a wide array of unlikely allies and has exploded into a national political force to be reckoned with in a very short amount of time. Please check this out and share it widely to spread the word on this crucial and time-sensitive issue!

The White House. Nov 6. Be There.

These are the final moments before President Obama makes a decision to approve or reject the construction of the dirty and dangerous Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. On November 6, exactly one year before the election, thousands will come together to completely encircle the White House in an act of solidarity to convince President Obama to make the right decision to reject the Keystone XL.

More than 4000 have already signed up to participate. This is fantastic, but we need thousands more!

Please don’t stay at home this Sunday wondering whether your presence would have made a difference. Come stand with us for clean energy, for human rights, for all of our futures. Sign up now!

“So many lives are on the line right now. The system is crashing. It’s crashing economically and it’s crashing ecologically. The stakes are too high right now for us not to make the most of this moment.” — Naomi Klein at Occupy Wall Street

Naomi and Rebecca were recently together at the Tar Sands Action in Washington, D.C., which inspired the following dialogue…

Naomi Klein Photo by Ed Kashi & Rebecca Tarbotton

RAN is now in its 26th year, and we’ve been thinking a lot about our corporate campaigning model. As someone with expertise in analyzing corporate power, what have you seen as successful models for shifting the behavior of these multinational giants? Where is their weak underbelly?

The terrain is a hell of a lot more complicated than when I published No Logo 11 years ago and targets need to be chosen much more carefully. It sometimes works better not to go after the oil or coal company directly, but to go after the banks that lend them money, or the large corporations that buy their dirty energy (I’m thinking of the Bank of America, Facebook and Royal Bank of Canada campaigns here.) This can be more effective because the banks and corporate customers are less invested in the dirty business model themselves, so they have more flexibility to change course, whereas an oil company or a coal company isn’t going to see the light and stop being an oil or a coal company. It can also work to use national values to our advantage – Scandinavian investors are particularly receptive to ethical concerns. But the truth is that I’ve never believed that we can change the world one corporation at a time. What we can do is use corporate campaigns to make things so uncomfortable for a few big corporate players that this builds leverage for across-the-board regulation, which should always be the goal.

You were recently arrested in Washington, DC, along with 1,252 others, during a two-week sit-in at the White House demanding President Obama deny the permit for a 1700-mile tar sands pipeline. Do you think we are witnessing a historic moment for the climate movement in this country?

I think we’ve never really had a climate movement, at least not a mass movement. We had climate campaigns, which raised awareness, but that’s different. What is changing is that a new generation of young activists fully understands that change isn’t going to come until a mass movement exists, one capable of exerting real political, social and economic pressure from outside the halls of power. The mass civil disobedience against Keystone XL was a huge step in that direction and it was thrilling to be a part of it.

What are the key issues you think environmentalists should be focusing on?

Expanding the movement beyond traditional environmentalists, and tapping into the broader public outrage at corporate greed and economic recklessness. If you are targeting Bank of America because it’s lending money to coal companies, you need to be in coalition with all the other groups out there that are pissed at Bank of America for other reasons, first and foremost home foreclosures. The same logic that has trashed the economy is trashing the planet and we need to make those connections incessantly, because that’s how you build a truly mass movement. In some ways, the task is less to get self-described environmentalists to focus on economic justice than it is to find ways to make environmental issues more relevant to those pre-occupied with economic justice.

I also think we need to keep focusing on the geographic choke points where we can keep coal and unconventional oil in the ground. Once again, it doesn’t always make sense to go after the central target (the coal mine or oil well). The arteries are more vulnerable because the communities they pass through are less economically invested in a dirty business model. I think the Tar Sands has the potential to help build a massive continent-wide climate movement, precisely because it has so many arteries (multiple new pipelines in the works, machinery that needs to be transported, refinery expansions, export ports, tanker routes, etc…)

What advice would you give to young activists who may be daunted by the problems we face and the work it would take to fix them?

The failures of our current economic model are now so obvious to the vast majority of people on the planet that there is political space to think big. This is the kind of moment in which deep transformation is possible. So of course it’s daunting, but it’s also exciting.

But our work is not over.

I have joined with several of our most valued friends, including Tim DeChristopher and Bill McKibben, to invite you to stand with us in Washington, DC on November 6. Exactly one year before the election, we are asking you to join us to encircle the whole White House in an act of solemn protest. We need to remind President Obama of the power of the movement that he rode to the White House in 2008.

We’re not expecting any arrests at this action, but with your involvement we can send an unmistakable, unavoidable message.

It’s clear that it’s now or never for President Obama to make good on his promises to end “the tyranny of oil.” He can start by saying no to the Keystone XL pipeline, a 1,700-mile fuse to a carbon bomb that is slated to run through America’s heartland.

Our organizing to stop the Keystone pipeline will only work if you’re with us. Below is the full text of your invitation to stand with us, which has been signed by:

• Tim DeChristopher, inmate, Federal Correctional Institution, Herlong California
• Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network
• Courtney Hight and Maura Cowley, Energy Action Coalition
• Jane Kleeb, Bold Nebraska
• Bill McKibben, tarsandsaction.org
• Gus Speth, former chair, president’s Council on Environmental Quality
• Becky Tarbotton, Rainforest Action Network
• Lennox Yearwood, Hip Hop Caucus

Dear friends—

Once again, we’re sending you another long letter to ask for your help.

It’s been several weeks since the last people got out of jail in Washington DC, at the end of two weeks of civil disobedience that led to 1253 brave people ending up in handcuffs to stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. It was the largest such action in decades, and because of their leadership lots has begun to happen.

The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu along with seven other Nobel Peace Prize winners wrote a letter to the president asking that he block the pipeline. They acknowledged the actions of those of us in DC, saying: “These brave individuals have spoken movingly about experiencing the power of nonviolence in that time. They represent millions of people whose lives and livelihoods will be affected by construction and operation of the pipeline.”

At President Obama’s first public speech since the sit-ins ended, a hardy bunch of University of Richmond students unfurled a huge banner demanding that the president veto the pipeline – followed by similar actions in Columbus, Ohio, Raleigh North Carolina, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Wilmington, Delaware and many many others.

Meeting on the Rosebud Sioux reservation last week, Native tribal leaders from both sides of the border and private land owners from South Dakota and Nebraska signed a ‘Mother Earth Accord’ opposing Keystone XL and the tar sands. These are the people who started this fight; and they’re being joined by everyone right down to Nebraska Cornhusker football fans who booed lustily when a Keystone ad showed up on the Jumbotron at a recent game. The next day the university ended their sponsorship deal with Trans-Canada Pipeline

Even as we issue this letter, Canadian activists by the hundreds are risking arrest on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, and brave protesters are trying to block shipments of heavy equipment to Alberta from Idaho and Montana–these are remarkable signs of continent-wide protest.

And on the not-so-good-side: huge wildfires driven by the worst drought in Texas history have destroyed towns and killed good people; the biggest rainfalls ever recorded have done similar damage in New Jersey, New York, and Vermont.

So—there’s real momentum for action, and real need. We have less than 90 days to convince the President not to approve the pipeline. So here’s the thing: we need your help again. We need you to keep using your creativity and bodies as a part of this struggle—to fight this fight even though there’s no guarantee of victory.

Here’s the plan, in three stages

1) Most important of all: On Sunday November 6 we will return to Washington. Exactly one year before the election, we want to encircle the whole White House in an act of solemn protest. We need to remind President Obama of the power of the movement that he rode to the White House in 2008. This issue is much bigger than any individual person, President or not, and that we will carry on, with or without him.

We’re not certain this is the right plan. We don’t know if there are the thousands of people that it will take to encircle the White House—we’ve never tried something this ambitious before. And we worry that it’s too earnest and idealistic—that maybe we should be going back to jail. But unlike last time, this time we’re working from a position of strength, and we can firmly but peacefully remind the president that we were the real power behind his campaign. We’re not expecting any arrests at this action, but we are expecting to send an unmistakable, unavoidable message.

2) But we have to start building momentum now with action in our communities. Between now and October 7, the State Department is holding a series of hearings on its flimsy report on Keystone XL. Our colleagues in the environmental movement are doing a good job of organizing for those meetings, including the final one in DC—and we’ll be supporting a rally at the final hearing.

But starting on October 8, we’ll begin a rolling series of actions at key Obama campaign offices around the country. We want these to be a bit bigger and more serious than what’s come before, so we’ll be doing training and providing materials to folks in those communities. We need to make sure that the message gets through to headquarters that people remember the promises from the 2008 campaign and want them kept.

3) We need to keep showing up at the president’s public appearances – just like what’s already been happening on campus after campus, town after town. (We especially like the chant that goes: “Yes We Can…Stop the Pipeline.”). Our organizing team is tracking the president’s every appearance to look for opportunities to act. If the President is coming to your neighborhood, we need you to get his attention. (We’ll help you do that).

We’ve already shown we have the courage and the fortitude for civil disobedience.Now we need to mix it up and show a different side of the campaign. Many of us were sincerely moved by Barack Obama’s campaign for president. We’re not yet ready to concede that his promises were simply the empty talk of politicians. We’re not going to be cynics until we absolutely have no choice.

It will be a beautiful and brave sight, the White House enclosed by the kind of people that put President Obama there. Since he’s said he’ll make up his mind by the end of the year, now’s the time. We know it’s hard to get to Washington, but if you can: this is the moment.

Thank you. A lot.

Athletic Director Tom Osborne said that University of Nebraska athletic events are designed to “entertain and unify our fan base” — not be “divisive.”

Divisive would be one word to describe the Keystone XL pipeline, which aims to transport dirty tar sands oil from Canada down to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Another word to describe the project would be just plain “wrong”.

We stand with Nebraska and ALL those opposed to TransCanada’s sponsorships and their plans to build a pipeline across North America, which is a catastrophic threat to our communities, our climate, and our planet.

via Tar Sands Action

tipping point  (tɪpɪŋ point) — n  the crisis stage in a process, when a significant change takes place

This last week, I went to Washington D.C. and joined the Tar Sands Action, the biggest environmental mass action in a generation. Over a thousand were arrested calling on Obama to deny the permits for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would cut down the middle of America’s heartland from Alberta to oil refineries on the Texas coast. The pipeline will carry billions of gallons of oil extracted from Indigenous land in northern Alberta.

The Tar Sands Action is a “tipping point” for the climate movement that I’ve been calling a “Camp Casey” moment. If you remember, Camp Casey in 2005 was when anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, who’d lost a son in Iraq, began an encampment at Bush’s ranch in Crawford,TX. It was a “tipping point” in the war. It cracked Bush’s popular support for the war and led to political routes in 2006 and 2008, and the sacking of War Sec. Donald Rumsfeld. And it helped trigger a partial withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq (at least for now.)

The sit-ins at the White House seem to have caused a major shift for the climate movement.

via TargetOfOpportunity.com

My arrest day (August 29th, the 6th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans, no less) included going to jail with climatologist James Hansen, a large interfaith contingent (Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist), leadership from non-profits like Greenpeace and 350.org, and lots of ordinary folks from many generations and many walks of life.

Through the two weeks of action, we saw youth, Appalachians, Indigenous leaders from all over North America, former Obama staffers and volunteers, anti-fracking activists, labor activists, Midwestern and Texan landowners, and environmental radicals sit-in on the White House sidewalk. Furthermore, it’s been organized by my close family of friends and comrades whom I always have a vested interest in seeing succeed.

Needless to say, it was a powerful two weeks.

In these situations, my mind often goes to the transformational power of direct action. And to be really honest, I was initially very skeptical about this action. But the tar sands action brought in many newcomers to the civil disobedience tactics (at least 2/3rds by the organizing group’s count.)

The arrest action itself was a short and sweet process, and not the harrowing experience I’ve gone through in harder actions. It didn’t entail climbing a dragline on a mine site or locking oneself to the gates of Exxonmobil, but it was still quite powerful for the first-time participants and mainstream environmentalists caught in a crisis of faith about Obama and climate change.

Some personal anecdotes on the power of this action:

• On Monday, I was arrested with some Canadian grandparents (from Alberta, to boot). As they took the grandmother away, her husband yelled “your grandchildren are proud of you today Mary!”
• Lots of staffers from the mainstream orgs like the 350.org, Energy Action and NRDC risked arrest. With some exceptions, traditional purveyors of breaking the law for a cause, like Earth First!, RAN and Greenpeace, did not play a central role, which I take as a good thing. Getting arrested is not always the goal, but this was an important experience for those folks and their organizations.
• And Keystone pipeline actions also spread organically all over the world. There were pickets and protests as far away as Cairo and Durban, South Africa. Activists followed Obama to Martha’s Vineyard and an Obama for America event in Minnesota. On September 26th, another sit-in is planned for the Canadian capital in Ottawa. The media exploded with news around this action, and social media continues to be even bigger. After over a year of organizing, our friends with Rising Tide chapters have been taking direct actions against Exxon’s tar sands megaloads in Idaho and Montana.

People from all over the continent have begun to not only experience direct action, but also a level of direct democracy. It’s not Seattle in 1999 or the IMF/World Bank protests in 2000 with affinity groups and spokes councils determining the course of the action or which intersections are to be held. But instead, its people voicing their outrage at this pipeline and Obama’s unwillingness to act for the good guys (us) on the climate issue. It’s beyond the ballot box or waiting for politicians to do something.

To me, people stepping out of their comfort zones and not doing what the police tell them until arrest is a radicalizing moment. People stepping out of the Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber two-party political system, organizing their dissent and taking care of each other while doing it, is a revolutionary act.

Those radicalizing and revolutionary moments are why I do this work.

All of this comes after a long spring and summer of fierce actions from the Dept. of the Interior in Washington D.C. to coal plants in Chicago to Tim DeChristopher’s trials and tribulations in Salt Lake City to the tar sands-loving Montana governor’s office to tree-sits on Coal River Mountain.

A wise friend of mine once said he prefers Democratic administrations in power not because he thinks the Democrats will do the right thing, but because it causes an upsurge in more radical, people-powered organizing in the U.S.

Well, dear friend, here we go. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

But more than that, they were protesting what the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline has come to represent: the expansion of fossil fuels infrastructure in this country at the behest of fossil fuels industries who have used the inordinate influence they have over our political leaders to shape public policy for their own benefit. As RAN’s executive director, Becky Tarbotton, wrote last week: “With these protests, the Keystone XL pipeline has become the current symbol, the line-in-the-sand for the climate movement.”

The Tar Sands Action was just phase one, though. If the Obama Administration approves Keystone XL, or continues to green-light the expansion of fossil fuels infrastructure in general — and last Friday’s stealth attack on EPA regulations does not bode well — we will be back at the White House again in the near future, you can count on that. So check out this video and get inspired for phase two:

The message outside the White House these past two weeks was loud and clear: We don’t want dirty fossil fuels any more. We’re ready and willing to make the clean energy revolution happen, and we want our federal government to do its part. Help spread this video far and wide if you agree.

Last week's blockade in Moscow, ID. Photo via Wild Idaho Rising Tide.

Bam! The fight against the tar sands is hot!

In the past week and a half, over 800 people have been arrested sitting-in at the White House in protest of the Keystone XL pipeline. And yesterday, Indigenous Canadians took action at the Canadian embassy in Washington D.C. More actions are planned everyday until Saturday and it’s beginning to spread around the world with solidarity actions in Cairo and Durban, South Africa.

And in Idaho, Wild Idaho Rising Tide has already taken multiple actions to block the tar sands “megaload” trucks bound for Alberta.

Last week, nine activists were arrested fighting the megaloads. More actions are planned. Sixty-seven more loads will be rolling and they need some help!

Oil companies like Exxon are transporting massive pieces of oil extraction equipment from South Korea to Portland, OR via ship, then sending them up the Snake and Columbia Rivers by barge to Lewiston, ID. The plan is to truck them to Alberta over Idaho and Montana’s scenic highways and byways. The megaloads have been fought in the legal and regulatory arenas in both states. Exxon has used every trick and loophole in the book to move that equipment. Now they are moving and Idaho’s residents are responding with non-violent direct action.

via Wild Idaho Rising Tide

Last night’s attempt at a blockade was foiled as Exxon is now paying the city police department and the Idaho State Police as their own personal security detail. From folks on the ground: “Last night the city of Moscow was a police-state, with close to 30 police officers lining a 3-block radius in downtown. We’ve been tipped off that Exxon put in a phone call to the City police department and is now paying the force’s overtime pay.”

Wild Idaho Rising Tide put out this call for support today:

via WIlid Idaho Rising Tide

“Keep up your creativity and resolve under pressure, dear comrades! Allies elsewhere, we are under escalating siege and need you by our sides, either physically or fiscally. Please come to Idaho or contribute your aid to our resistance of another 67 transports that build tar sands hell.“

Contact Wild Idaho Rising Tide at wild.idaho.rising.tide@gmail.com or on Facebook.

They need support funds and people to help plan and carry out creative non-violent direct action. Please support however you can.

In mid-June, when 350.org and RAN started organizing what would become the Tar Sands Action at the White House, I thought it would be an important act of protest. But this has become something much more. It is the largest act of civil disobedience on the environment this generation has ever seen and a pivotal moment for the U.S. on climate change.

Today I spoke to a woman named Julie, a landowner from Nebraska who is the last person in her county to refuse to sign over her land for the pipeline. She’s never been to a protest, much less been arrested. But she told me that she just had to come because the stakes are so high. Likewise Eleanor, a landowner from Texas, who said defiantly: “I am much more worried about the Keystone Pipeline and the damage it could do to our climate than I am about my children being left with a deficit.”

By some estimates, as many as two-thirds of the folks who have been arrested since the sit-ins began two weeks ago have never participated in anything like this — and yet they gave up their own time and spent their own money to voice their opposition to Keystone XL and tar sands oil. This is what a movement looks like.

The movement to stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline has become symbolic of our struggle to avert climate catastrophe, and it’s breaking through and gaining momentum. Here’s how we know that the tide is turning:

• This week has seen the biggest days yet of the “Tar Sands Action” civil disobedience in DC. So far, over 800 people have been arrested in DC (including actress and nature lover Darryl Hannah, who was arrested on Tuesday along with RAN board members Randy Hayes and Jodie Evans). Over 130 were sitting in today.
• Keystone XL is getting a ton of media coverage: It has been a top item on Google News for the past several days, and the issue has been featured in front page articles by The New York Times and The Huffington Post. It has also received great coverage from CNN, ABC, Al Jazeera, Reuters, and more.
• Along with our partners, we’ve collected hundreds of thousands of signatures on a petition that we’ll be delivering to the White House on September 3rd. If you haven’t signed and shared it, please do so today.
• In the last few weeks, the tar sands protests have united the leaders of groups as diverse as Greenpeace and the Environmental Defense Fund. A few days ago, the leaders of the top environmental groups in the country all joined together in a letter to the President in which we told him that “there is not an inch of daylight between our policy position on the Keystone XL pipeline, and those of the protesters being arrested daily outside the White House.” I have never seen this kind of unity in the climate movement.

I think we can get loud enough to stop the Keystone pipeline and build the momentum necessary to make a difference on climate — but we need each and every one of you. If you can’t make it to the White House tomorrow or Saturday, the last day of this first Tar Sands Action, you can still be part of the uproar by signing the petition to President Obama now. You can also be sure that we will be back here again if Obama doesn’t deny the Keystone Pipeline permit, and you can join us then. We’ll keep you posted.

Stopping the Keystone XL pipeline is an essential part of transitioning this country off fossil fuels. American citizens are voting for green energy with their dollars in increasing numbers. This month, California-based Sungevity sold 2MW of solar systems. To put that in perspective, ten years ago the entire State of California had just 10MW installed. Total. The clean energy revolution is underway — now we need our government to do its part.

With these protests, the Keystone XL pipeline has become the current symbol, the line-in-the-sand for the climate movement. If we stand on that line together, and succeed, I believe it will have ripple effects across our entire struggle.

In a powerful example of cross-movement solidarity, a large delegation of Appalachians who have been fighting mountaintop removal coal mining participated in the sit-in. They joined a delegation of pipeline landowners from all along the pipeline route at the action:

Photo by Shadia Fayne Wood

In front row, from left to right: East Texas landowner David Daniel is joined by longtime RAN friends and allies Larry Gibson of Kayford Mountain, WV and Teri Blanton of Harlan, KY at the sit-in.

David has been leading the Stop the Pipeline tour that traveled from Texas up through Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska and east to Washington D.C.

I hate to even give this video the views it will get by my posting it here, but you really have to see it to believe it:

Given the high-profile protests against expansion of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline currently underway, this pro-tar sands propaganda campaign is most likely designed to push back in support of the pipeline. But like all propaganda, the Ethical Oil campaign is riddled with misinformation and sensationalism designed to appeal to our basest instincts. The folks that created this must be counting on us not bringing our intellects to bear on the issue, because the Ethical Oil campaign is almost absurdly misleading — which is no surprise, really, since there’s nothing ethical at all about this campaign to begin with, as they used stolen and faked photos for many of the print ads.

As with most propaganda, there is a kernel of truth in there: Saudi Arabia is run by a repressive regime, and ending the constant flow of petro-dollars into Saudi bank accounts would be a good thing. We all agree on that. But what the ad conveniently fails to mention is that Keystone XL and the tar sands will not stop the import of oil from “unfriendly” foreign regimes. They toss out this red herring — Saudi Arabia is bad! — and hope you don’t use your brain to evaluate the actual claim being made — Saudi Arabia is bad! Therefore tar sands oil is good.

Per TransCanada’s own research, we know that we’ll have to continue importing just as much oil from Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and other “unfriendly sources” even if we do expand Keystone XL, which is designed to transport tar sands oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries. Supremely dirty Canadian tar sands crude will only help keep expanding Gulf Coast refineries running at capacity, it will not replace current oil imports, as you can see in this chart:

This chart shows projected sources of crude oil for Gulf Coast refineries through 2025. "PADD III" refers to the Gulf Coast Region -- NM, TX, MS, MI, LA and AL.

What’s more, a report out today by Oil Change International has just exposed the fact that most of the Gulf Coast refineries that Keystone XL would be shipping tar sands oil to are focused on expanding exports to Europe and Latin America. As Oil Change says: “Keystone XL is an export pipeline. … Much of the fuel refined from the pipeline’s heavy crude oil will never reach U.S. drivers’ tanks.”

Keystone XL and the tar sands won’t make us any less dependent on dangerous sources of foreign oil, but they will prolong our addiction to dirty fossil fuels. Here’s the real conclusion the Ethical Oil folks hope you aren’t smart enough to come to on your own: Ending our oil addiction is the only way to stop the flow of petro-dollars into the bank accounts of tyrants and dictators once and for all. Not to mention, it’s vital that we move to clean energy sources immediately if we want to stop climate change from getting out of hand.

Take action now to tell President Obama not to approve the Keystone XL expansion.

Photo by Josh Lopez

Read Randy’s post here on the Understory about why he was willing to risk arrest for this cause.

Also, special shout-out to Linda Capato, a former organizer on RAN’s Change Chevron campaign and the oh-so-dapper activist to the right of Darryl Hannah!

RAN founder and board member Randy Hayes and actress Darryl Hannah risk arrest outside of the White House protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. Photo by Josh Lopez.

This post is by Randy Hayes, a founder and board member of RAN.

Today Rainforest Action Network Board member Jodie Evans, actress and nature lover Darryl Hannah, myself, and more than 70 others blockaded the sidewalk outside the US President’s house.

Why?

We were joining a two-week long protest where more than 500 people have been arrested calling on the president to deny the permitting of Keystone XL, a 1700-mile proposed tar sands pipeline. Burning the greasy Canadian tar sands will further stress the cathedral-like rainforests of the world and cause more rainforest loss. Added deforestation will contribute more carbon to the atmosphere, leading to further climate disruption and yet more deforestation. It is a vicious cycle that is broken by simply saying no to the ugly pipeline from Canada.

Today’s non-violent arrestees joined the hundreds that have already been arrested in Washington, D.C. We’re saying no to this madness and calling on the U.S. President to say no to this ill-conceived pipeline.

Many of those arrested today and over the last week were first time arrestees. I am impressed with the courage they summoned to take this step of commitment. This is the deeply deliberate attitude we need from all of you out there reading this if we are to stop deforestation, stop climate disruption, and build communities in sync with nature’s ways.

The red howler monkeys, jaguars and much more will thank you.

— Randy Hayes,
Founding Board Member

President Obama must decide whether or not to grant a “presidential permit” for Canadian company TransCanada to begin construction of the Keystone XL, a 1,700-mile pipeline from the Canadian tar sands to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico.“If Obama chooses the dirty needle it will confirm that the President was just green-washing all along, like the other well-oiled coal-fired politicians, with no real intention of solving the addiction,” said Hansen.

Recently, Hansen told an interviewer that approval of Keystone XL would lead to more exploitation of tar sands oil, which would mean “it is essentially game over” for the climate.

via dnews.com

They spill, they drill, and we fight back with the only currency we have — our bodies, our minds and our fighting spirit.

Hundreds have been arrested sitting in at the White House this week. Meanwhile, Alberta’s Indigenous communities have been fighting Big Oil’s development of tar sands for quite some time, and today residents in Moscow, Idaho crossed a line of their own in solidarity with those Indigenous activists trying to protect their homes from the utter destruction that is tar sands extraction.

Last night in the wee hours of the morning, as the first “megaload” trucks were beginning to roll, four men and women with Wild Idaho Rising Tide sat down in front of the massive vehicles to stop their passage through the highways and byways of the Northern Rockies to Alberta.

A few weeks ago, after many legal and political battles Exxon announced they were re-routing their shipments through the Port of Pasco in Washington (down river from Lewiston, ID) and ship reduced size pieces of equipment. While it was seen as a victory for the long term community campaign against the oil giant, Exxon still is moving the reduced size hauls through Idaho.

Moscow resident Brett Haverstick said, “Big Oil intends to clear-cut and strip mine a place the size of Florida, and simultaneously destroy native communities and entire watersheds. I feel obligated to speak up and say this is wrong.”

This morning’s action is part of a larger campaign being waged in Idaho and Montana by communities and environmentalists to stop the passage of tar sands heavy haul trucks through their region.

Activists Arrested For Blocking “Megaload” on US 95

Citizens Stand In Solidarity with Canadian First Nations & Others In Opposition to Extraction of the Alberta Tar Sands and the Building of the Keystone XL Pipeline

Moscow, ID- Early Friday morning, six Moscow residents were arrested for sitting in the road and blocking US 95 to protest an Exxon/Imperial Oil “megaload” shipment destined for the Alberta Tar Sands. In an act of non-violent, civil-disobedience, men and women sat down in the crosswalk of the highway when the four-hundred-thousand pound, two-hundred foot long, twenty-four foot wide, and fourteen-foot tall oil-processing module entered the downtown area. In a showing of solidarity with the First Nations people of Canada, and the hundreds of people getting arrested in Washington, D.C., the individuals are calling for the Obama Administration to deny permits for construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, which would stretch from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

“Not only are people calling the Alberta Tar Sands the most unsustainable and destructive project on the planet, but also an act of genocide against the people that live in the region, particularly those down-stream of the tailing ponds,” said Moscow resident Brett Haverstick. “Big Oil intends to clear-cut and strip mine a place the size of Florida, and simultaneously destroy native communities and entire watersheds. I feel obligated to speak up and say this is wrong.”

With the Obama Administration getting ready to make a decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline later this year, the individuals said they have been inspired by the hundreds of people getting arrested in Washington D.C. this past week in protest of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

“President Obama must deny permits for the Keystone XL Pipeline. Go ask the people of Montana or the people of Michigan if they want more oil pipelines built across their lands and waterways, said Moscow resident Greg Freistadt. “People are traveling from Nebraska all the way to Washington, D.C. and getting arrested this week because the pipeline threatens their drinking water and livelihoods. It’s time for communities to come together and oppose this.”

The possible construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline isn’t the only oil pipeline that concerns the activists. The Northern Gateway Pipeline is scheduled to be built west from Alberta, Canada to the Pacific Ocean so that crude oil can be shipped to China and India.

“The First Nations people unanimously oppose this pipeline across their lands,” said Moscow resident Vince Murray. “In addition, supertankers plying the pristine coastline of northern British Columbia would endanger one of the last unspoiled ocean ecosystems in the world.”

The individuals have also been extremely disappointed with their city and state elected officials.

“Megaloads are terrorizing our highways in the Northern Rockies, pipelines are spilling oil into some of our most precious rivers, and our governors and Congressional leaders will not come to our defense,” said Brett Haverstick. If leaders won’t lead, then it’s up to us to step forward.”

Joe Uehlein and his daughter join the protest:

Photo Credit: Shadia Fayne Wood

Joe Uehlein, a Labor Movement Leader, and his daughter came to support the Tar Sands Action on August 24th, 2011. Joe told organizers of the action that he remembered when his dad brought him to a picket line when he was just a kid and how powerful that experience was. Joe and his daughter sat in with participants of the action until the first warning that police were about to start making arrests was called.

From August 20th-September 3rd, hundreds of people are sitting-in at the White House to tell President Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Visit www.tarsandsaction.org for more details.

The Stop the Pipeline bus

The massive sit-in at the White House to protest the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline expansion has entered its fifth day, with over 50 more arrests. But the protesters taking part in the civil disobedience at the White House are not the only ones taking their opposition to Keystone XL and the tar sands to the streets.

A group of landowners who would be affected by expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline are currently touring the proposed expansion route in a biodiesel bus with “Stop the Pipeline” emblazoned across both sides.

Texas landowner David Daniel discovered his land lay along the pipeline expansion route when he found surveyors for TransCanada trespassing on his land. Here’s a video dispatch he filed yesterday:

One of the first stops on the tour was at The Landrum Ranch in Oklahoma. Here’s video of that stop:

Follow the Stop The Pipeline Tour from August 20-September 3 as it winds along the proposed pipeline route, and help the landowners share their stories and the potential effects of Keystone XL.

The Stop The Pipeline Tour will take the landowners to meet with concerned citizens, debate TransCanada face-to-face, visit the Kalamazoo oil spill site, and educate the public before they head east to Washington D.C. for the Tar Sands Action with Bill McKibben, Danny Glover, Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Klein, Clayton Thomas-Muller, students, scientists, climate activists and more.