CCAN delivers over 19,000 Keystone XL petitions to Warner and Webb

A dozen Richmond volunteers delivered thousands of Virginia petitions against the Keystone XL pipeline to Senator Warner

Starting at noon on February 13th, over 800,000 people across the U.S. signed a petition urging Congress to stop the Keystone XL Tar Sands pipeline – 800,000! Equally impressive, Virginians made up over 19,000 of those signatures. All in just 24 hours. And today a dozen volunteers delivered that message loud and clear to Senators Warner and Webb.

The 24-hour action was set in motion after organizers gained intel that members of Congress in the pocket of the fossil fuel lobby were trying to force through approval of the pipeline through amendments to unrelated bills. Late last Thursday, we learned even more sudden news that a vote could be imminent – as soon as this Tuesday or Wednesday – on an amendment to a federal transportation bill.

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Encircling the White House — A New Beginning is Here

Lo and behold, at 5:15 pm, as the light was rapidly fading and a beautiful ¾ moon appeared in the sky over Lafayette Park, as Bill McKibben was wrapping up, speaking about the wonder and power of the day’s event and this movement, a motorcade appeared at the top of Lafayette Park. Someone pretty reliable said, “It’s President Obama!,” and Bill proceeded to lead the thousands of people still there in a chant of, “Yes We Can Stop the Pipeline” as hundreds streamed toward the cars with their flashing red lights. If, indeed, it was Obama in that motorcade, there is no way he didn’t hear us.

This was just one of many amazing things that happened yesterday.

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The Power of the People, Organized

 

On Monday, October 31, speaking about a possible permit for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, President Obama’s press secretary Jay Carney told the press that “this is a decision that will be made by the State Department.” On Tuesday, November 1, speaking during an interview at the White House with a reporter from Omaha, Nebraska-based TV station KETV, President Obama himself said that he will be making the decision. What has gotten into the President? Are we seeing the reappearance of the person who campaigned in 2008 as a strong proponent of action to “end the tyranny of oil” and address climate change?

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November 6: More Than Just the Climate Movement?

November 6 at the White House is a big day and an important place. That afternoon, one year before the 2012 elections, thousands of people from around the country will be doing something that has never been done before. We will be surrounding the White House, a mile or more in circumference, in a Circle of Hope. Many thousands of climate, environmental and environmental justice activists will be there on November 6. What about activists from the broader progressive movement? I know that there will be some from the Occupy movement, which is very important. As a primarily young people’s movement, it is young people, as well as low-income, Indigenous and other people of color, who will be most impacted as our earth gets hotter and hotter. Beyond that I wonder. And I wonder based on seven years of attempting to spread the word about the urgency of the climate crisis and the need for more people to speak up and take action on it NOW. Continue reading