Year: 2015

Help RAMPS get a campaign house!

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Our long time friends and allies in the climate justice struggle have finally found a place to call home in Whitesville, West Virginia! For that last five years RAMPS has been a central part of organizing to end Mountaintop Removal, bringing drinking water to families whose water had been poisoned, supporting prisoners in West Virgina jails, and consistently being committed to supporting local community struggles and needs.

If you can spare a couple bucks this season, please support this great band of misfits.

Thier full request is below.

Sincerely,

Rising Tide

RAMPS is putting down roots: We’re buying a house!
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RAMPS is buying a house!
And we need your help to make it happen.

Our new home!
It’s true. We’re about to buy a campaign house in Whitesville. This is a huge opportunity for us to deepen our roots and to grow our reach.

Since RAMPS’s inception, a major impediment to our work has been the lack of a home base with adequate housing and work space. For years we’ve lived and worked out of a crumbling, one-room former post office building here in Whitesville. After 5 years making do, we are thrilled to be moving onward and upward — and across the street!

Donate Now:

Check out our online fundraiser, and read our full description of how this new living, working, and organizing space will bring our projects to the next level.

As our supporters, allies, friends, and previous donors, you have done so much for us in the past. Thanks for all your support so far — we wouldn’t be here without you. Now we’re asking you to give generously to help us take this next big step.

We’ve got a killer lineup of perks available, to say “thank you” for your donations:
Image of persk: new RAMPS poster, handmade lip balm, and fresh ramps in the mail
There are lots of other perks available. Click here to make a donation and claim your perk!

We’re so excited that this is finally happening. We can’t wait to grow into this new space, and we hope you’ll come visit us there.

Huge thanks to everyone who donated their crafts, foods, art, time and energy to make this happen, including: Cotten’s Comforts, Oakwyn Farm, Erin McKelvy, Willie Dodson, Carol Judy, the Beehive Collective, Bec Young & Justseeds, Chad Cordell, and surely others we’re forgetting. Special thanks to our lenders and lead donors!

For the land and people,

RAMPS
P.S. Can you also help us spread the word in your circles? An easy way to do this is to share the fundraiser on your own FB page (and ask your friends to support us too!).

Even better, will you forward this email to few family members or friends who might be interested, with a quick personal description of why you’re supporting us?

Actually this isn’t copyrighted at all. Written in 2015 though.
You’re on this list either because you signed up on our website, on paper at an event, told us you wanted on the list, or are an ally in our movement.

Our mailing address is:
RAMPS Campaign
PO Box 63Whitesville, WV 25209

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Activists Shut Down Line 9 in Sarnia

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On December 21st individuals shut of the flow of oil on Enbridge’s line 9 pipeline.

At 7:30 in the  morning, individuals used the manual hand wheel at a valve site to shut off the flow of oil through line 9 as an act of protest. They then  locked themselves on site to prevent the operation of the pipeline.
Line 9 is a highly contested tar sands pipeline that began shipping crude earlier this month between Sarnia and Montreal. Those involved assert that the operation of line 9 is a violation of indigenous sovereignty and treaty rights. “It’s clear that tar sands projects represent an ongoing cultural and environmental genocide.” Vanessa Gray asserts. “I defend the land and water because it is sacred. I have the right to defend anything that threatens my traditions and culture.”
Line 9 has faced opposition from several of the 18 First nations along its route. Chippewas of the Thames first nation is currently challenging the pipeline in Supreme Court, on the basis of non-consultation.
“The fact that line 9 is currently in operation really just adds to the urgency for people to act. I’m here because the negative impacts of the oil industry are taking place right now, every day.” Says Stone Stewart, another of the individuals secured within the valve site.
The tarsands are known to be the second leading cause of deforestation in the world and permanently contaminate over 7 million barrels of water every day. Locally Aamjiwnaang first nation experiences skewed sex ratios and high rates of respiratory illness because of nearby petrochemical refineries.
“The crown is failing in their obligation to consult with first nations about pipelines.” Sarah Scanlon, one of the individuals involved. “As settlers it’s our responsibility to respect Indigenous land rights and support those protecting the land and water on the frontlines.”

Grandparents “Rock to Block” Fracking Wells Near Schools with Rocking Chair Blockade

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Older Generation Stands Up to Protect School Children
Check out http://threeriversrisingtide.org/grandparents-rock-to-block-fracking-wells-near-schools-with-rocking-chair-blockade/ for updates and photos!

Middlesex Township, Butler, PA – A group of grandparents and seniors shut down an unconventional natural gas drilling (fracking) site near the Mars Area School District with a “rock to block” rocking chair blockade on Monday, December 21. Rex Energy is currently drilling unconventional horizontal hydraulic fracturing gas wells (“fracking”) on the Geyer well pad. The well pad will contain a controversial cluster of wells located about a half mile away from 3,200 students at the Mars Area School District campus. Gas wells and related infrastructure such as processing plants, compressor stations and pipelines emit harmful air pollution, and have the potential to cause water pollution and safety risks. Children are especially vulnerable to environmental hazards. There is also a real safety risk due to accidental explosions and fires.

The group blocked the entrance to the Geyer well pad site because it is the only recourse left to protect the children of the Mars Area School District, as well as all children put at risk when gas wells and infrastructure are placed nearby schools. This blockade is a stand against the gas industry’s reckless rush to frack in pursuit of profits over the health and safety of the children nearby and against politicians who have persistently failed in their duty to act in the public interest over special interests.

Michael Bagdes-Canning, a Butler County grandparent of three, stated, “Since neither the government officials, Rex and others in the industry, or lease holders will act to defend the health and welfare of our communities, our grandchildren, and future generations, we decided to stand up for them by sitting down (in the rocking chairs).”
Laurel Colonello, a Middlesex Twp. grandparent, stated “It is not ok that this toxic industry has moved into our community. The gas industry and local officials have consistently chosen wealth over the health and safety of our community, especially our children.”
Rex Energy called the Adams and Middlesex township police demanding that the grandparents be arrested and removed. Police refused to arrest anyone because there was no no-trespassing sign at the gate. Rex energy shut down operations for the day, installed a brand new no trespassing sign (but on the side that we were looking at it didn’t say anything) and went home. The rocking chair blockade stayed up a few hours and when it was clear Rex wasn’t coming back the grandparents packed up.

The grannies see “rock to block” as a Holiday gift to all children who will be exposed to the health and safety risks inherent in fracking and who in turn will pass on a tainted land and degraded environment to their own children. The group of rockers believe we are all stewards of the environment; to quote an old Native American saying expresses, We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.

If Rex restarts operations at the Geyer well they can expect to hear from some angry grandparents who are hell-bent on protecting their grandchildren.

Statement from Rising Tide North America on the Paris Climate Deal

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IMG_7943Statement from Rising Tide North America on the Paris Climate Deal

Rhododendron, OR – In disappointing but unsurprising news, the Global Agreement on Climate Change that has come out of Paris this weekend is exploitive, deceitful and hollow, favoring the rights and voices of corporations over people. This agreement has been signed by nearly 200 nations at the Conference of Parties (COP21) in Paris but fails to address the most pressing issues facing our climate and global communities. This agreement sends a powerful symbol that the world is fully committed to participating in the carbon-trade economy, not taking on a low-carbon future or keeping fossil fuels in the ground.

In particular, we are disturbed and deeply unhappy with the exclusion of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the agreement. Indigenous communities are the first to die at the hands of the results of dangerous, empty agreements like the ones reached in Paris.

“Not only is this a slap in the face to the Indigenous communities of the Global North and the Global South, this agreement is a direct threat to the lives and livelihoods of us all. When Indigenous rights are discarded, our collective rights to clean air, drinkable water, and a world that can sustain us are in peril,” says Christy Tennery-Spalding of Rising Tide North America.

The lack of reparations extended to the Global South are particularly disgusting. The U.S. continues it’s legacy of brutal imperialism that places economics over human life by co-signing on this agreement. It’s not a proud day for the United States.

This agreement is a blatant public relations maneuver. While the parties have agreed to combat a  global temperature rise above 1.5 degrees, there are no substantive mechanisms in place to make this real. The result of COP21 is yet another example of empty promises, false solutions, and an attempt to deceive the global community to this reality.

Meanwhile, the French National Police have been summarily revoked the rights of civil society in Paris this week. The French government has sanctioned attacks on citizens and journalists alike for exercising their civil liberties during the U.N. talks. Given the profits at stake for U.N. members and multinational corporations, it’s no surprise that they’d want to silence this reality with violent, repressive force on others as well.

“Without real action, the fossil fuel industry will leave the signatories to this agreement with barren, unusable land. This directly threatens the lives and livelihoods of frontline communities and our climate. The U.N. has failed people the world over, just as the French National Police have failed to protect Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity for All,” says Ahmed Gaya, Flood the System organizer.

Arielle Klagsbrun, also of Rising Tide North America, asserts, “We stand in solidarity and with movements and people directly affected by our climate crisis. We will continue to build people-powered movements in response to these threats upon all of our lives. We will organize direct action that mobilizes people to challenge the ongoing U.S. imperialism, capitalism, and corporations who participate in and/or bankroll this nonsense, because that’s what this Paris agreement is.”

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Rising Tide North America is an all-volunteer anti-capitalist climate justice network working to challenge the root cause of climate change.