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Be Part of the Largest Climate Rally Ever

Robyn Carmichael — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 18:01:10 +0000

On Presidents’ Day weekend, tens of thousands of Americans will head to our nation’s capital for the “Forward on Climate” rally to call for bold action by President Obama to tackle the climate crisis threatening our nation’s wildlife. But for our message to be powerful, we need to show the president that this is an issue that unites people from all across the country.

Can’t be in Washington, DC for the “Forward on Climate” rally? No problem!

Thanks to a tool called Thunderclap, you can join this nationwide display of solidarity on social media by clicking here.

Your message will be compiled with thousands of others from across the country, and automatically delivered to the President as the rally begins at noon on February 17th. Together, we’ll echo the stream of signs people will be carrying down the National Mall with this clear and undeniable message, amplified across the internet:

“I call on @BarackObama to move #ForwardOnClimate. Pls RT & watch the largest rally for climate action live: http://forwardonclimate.org”

One of the most immediate actions President Obama can take is to reject the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline—a project that would drive production of tar sands oil in Canada, which has three to four times the carbon footprint of other oil produced in North America. In addition to fueling climate change that is melting sea ice for polar bears in the Arctic, the expansion of tar sands in Canada is pushing entire herds of caribou to extinction as their forest habitat is destroyed.

Rejecting the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is the first step for the climate, but it must be followed by many more—including critical federal standards to limit carbon pollution from our nation’s dirty power plants. Together, we can deliver a clear message to President Obama that Americans from coast to coast are ready to chart the course for a cleaner energy future.

Join the “Forward on Climate” rally online to be the voice for polar bears, caribou and many more wildlife!

Note: When you get to the website, just click “Support with Twitter” or “Support with Facebook” and follow the steps to accept the permission request. The application will only post one message on your behalf and you can opt out at any time.

Thousands Brave the Cold to Say NO to Tar Sands in New England

Jim Murphy — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:51:55 +0000

On Saturday morning my alarm went off at 3:50 AM. It was two degrees below zero out, almost twenty degrees warmer than it had been the previous morning and it felt just fine. Throwing on several layers and my running shoes, I ventured out for a run around a nearby pond. Sunrise still a few hours away, I was guided by the moonlight which filtered through surrounding pine trees and reflected off the deep winter snow. A few ice fishermen were arriving with their poles and buckets, making their way onto the thick ice of Berlin Pond. It was winter at its finest.

Winter activities like ice fishing are becoming a thing of the past, due to climate change driven by tar sands and other fossil fuels. (Photo: Tom Gill)

These winter mornings, commonplace twenty years ago, are a rare treat today. And that is one of the reasons that I was headed to Portland, Maine by a little after six. Few areas have more to lose from climate change than northern New England, which is known for its snowy winter, maple sugar, and brilliant foliage. These are all threatened by climate change resulting from fossil fuel consumption. The area is already changing. There is less good snow for skiing, the fall colors are often less brilliant, and sugar season comes earlier and ends faster.

But my arrival in Portland, Maine gave me hope. Organizers from across the region had called on citizens to stand up and demand that a likely proposal by oil giants Enbridge and Exxon to use an existing 62 year-old pipeline to bring carbon intensive, dirty tar sands through a pipeline that runs through Canada, and into Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine for export be stopped. Tar sands are a thick, tarry substance mined in Alberta, the most extreme of “extreme oil.” Mining them requires the vast destruction of pristine boreal forest habitat — the mines and their toxic waste ponds can be seen from space. However, this destruction is not the worst news about tar sands. It is the climate impacts of tar sands that is so alarming. Tar sands are far more carbon intensive than conventional oil, and the tar sands region contains two times the amount of carbon that has already been emitted by human fossil fuel use, which is why leading climatologists have warned that tar sands development would hurtle us past any hope for climate stability.

US Congresswoman Chellie Pingree addresses the crowd in Portland

The message from Portland was loud and clear: New England wants nothing to do with planet-wrecking tar sands. Far exceeding turnout expectations, 1,500 people braved brutally cold wind to demand tar sands be rejected and a clean energy future be pursued. Speaker after speaker, including Congresswoman Chelli Pingreeand Portland’s Mayor Mike Brennan, called on policy makers to tackle climate change, say NO to dirty fuels, and move aggressively towards an energy future we can proudly pass along to the next generation.

Three days later, concerned citizens and groups in Vermont demanded that the same pipeline proposal be subjected to Vermont law that would give Vermonters the ability to reject this pipeline project.

Tar sands are part of a bigger picture, one that demands action to stem the tide of dirty fuels that are destroying our climate. No one under the age of 28 has lived to see a month where temperatures have been below the 20^th century average. If we fail to act, crisp winter mornings may soon be a thing of the past in northern New England. We can do better than that. And the people of New England are demanding that now is the time to say no to dirty energy and yes to a clean energy future.

Help protect Northeast wildlife and communities from tar sands oil by urging the U.S. State Department to stop the Exxon/Enbridge pipeline!

Thousands Rally at White House to Stop Keystone XL

Peter LaFontaine — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:51:37 +0000

This past Sunday, instead of my usual routine of sitting on the couch watching the NFL and eating celery sticks (which is what I call leftover pizza), I joined a few thousand of my closest friends at the White House to speak out against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

Activists carry a 500-foot inflated “pipeline” at the head of the crowd (Photo: Avelino Maestas/NWF)

Despite the chilly weather, the crowd was energized and ready to go, chants ringing out and, just past the Treasury Building, a boombox appropriately thundering anthems by Rage Against The Machine. A year ago many of the same people had rallied here and formed an enormous ring, three deep, all around 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue—we were there to give the President support (“a big hug around the White House” as 350.org founder Bill McKibben put it) for his decision to reject KXL—and it worked. This time, following rumors that the pipeline might be the next domino to fall, we wanted to remind him that we are still paying attention, still fighting for our right to a healthy planet, clean water and fresh air.

Often, inside the Beltway, it can be hard to separate the noise and chatter out from what what Americans really care about, and Keystone XL definitely falls into that category. The oil industry has spent years fabricating a series of myths around the pipeline: that it will boost U.S. energy security, for example, or take a big bite out of the unemployment rate, or that it’s an environmentally safe project. None of those are true, of course, but they somehow gave Congress the idea that Keystone would be a great idea, and put President Obama in between a rock (Big Oil and their bottomless wallets) and a hard place (the coalition of conservationists, tribes, and landowners who oppose the pipeline).

Photo: Peter LaFontaine/NWF

After the election, National Wildlife Federation and Zogby International released a poll that showed that Americans—and, overwhelmingly, independent voters—would much rather commit to renewable energy than Keystone XL and other polluting projects. On Sunday, surrounded by older activists, kids in oversized “NO KXL” t-shirts, and enthusiastic college students waving signs, I saw a cross-section of the United States: the real grassroots United States, not the “astroturf” advertising that Big Oil has used to push its agenda. After all, when was the last time you heard 10,000 people chanting “We want KXL!” as they marched past the Washington Monument?

Last week we told you why we think President Obama will make the right call and stand strong against tar sands, but it’s crucial that we don’t turn the volume down yet. Already, groups are planning another rally for Presidents Day (February 18th) so keep an eye out for more information soon…Because who knows? Maybe your voice will be the one that scraps this project once and for all. Even better, the NFL season will be over by then so I won’t have to choose between ~~pizza~~ celery and keeping the world safe for people and wildlife.

Stand up against tar sands! Tell President Obama to say “NO!” to the Keystone XL pipeline.