Tag: Rising Tide North America

Climate Resistance Escalates Against the Fossil Fuel Empire

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resistDear Movement,

Escalation begins now.

Last December at the climate talks in Paris, over 200 nations agreed upon a weak and ineffective plan to address climate change. Governments stripped away language addressing the rights of indigenous peoples to their land. They removed reparations for the Global South. And, worse yet, the agreement emerged lacking real mechanisms to halt runaway climate chaos. All with the high praise of U.S. liberal politicians and large environmental organizations.

This week, Shell Oil reported it was responsible for another devastating 90,000 gallon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Pipelines and export terminal projects continue to move forward despite green climate friendly rhetoric from our elected leaders. Coal mines and coal plants continue to operate in many parts of the world. Indigenous and frontline communities continue to carry the burden of climate change from the Alberta tar sands to the rainforests of Indonesia.

Globally, environmental and social justice movements have reacted with escalations against the fossil fuel sector, the banks that fund them and the politicians that love them. In every part of the world, a climate resistance has taken action to stop the industry and the dire impacts it has on communities and eco-systems.

For the past week, the escalation has come at the fossil fuel empire with people powered action. In Philadelphia, climate justice activists joined with a local community fighting a new oil refinery. In Sacramento, CA, farm workers from the ground zero for California’s fracking industry, Kern County, sat in at Gov. Jerry Brown’s office.

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Photo via Trip Jennings

Today, from the seaways and railways of Washington state to the streets of Los Angeles to the frack-filled landscape of Colorado to the Port of Albany, NY to Kinder Morgan’s tar sands terminal in Burnaby BC, mass direct action is spreading across the continent targeting Big Oil, Big Gas and Big Coal.

Tomorrow more action will happen in the Midwest, Washington D.C. and beyond It is critical that we continue to escalate.

Please help by spreading the word by clicking SHARE on this page.

Thanks for all you do.

In struggle and solidarity, Rising Tide North America

LIVE BLOG: Climate Resistance Breaks Free from Fossil Fuels

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For the past week, across the world people have been standing up to power of the fossil fuel industry.  Rising Tide North America will be sharing live updates from Break Free actions through the weekend.

May 15th,Whiting, IN [4:42pm CST]- Civil disobedience underway in Whiting at the gates of the BP refinery.

May 15th, Aliso Canyon, CA [1:30pm PST]- People blocking entrance into Porter Ranch.

May 15th, Whiting, IN [3:25 pm CST]- March approaching front gates of BP refinery.

May 15th, Aliso Canyon, CA, [1:11pm PST]- From Rising Tide SoCal: “Activists are converging now in the Porter Ranch, Aliso Canyon area. Authorities have not yet arrived. Rising Tide So Cal is there. We will do our best to bring you updates. Porter Ranch has been the invisible BP.”

 

May 15th, Anacortes, WA, [12:44pm PST]-Refinery entrance blockaded!

May 15th, Brazil [2:21pm GMT-2] – March in Brazil against fossil fuels.

May 15th,Whiting, IN [12:30pm CST]- Break Free Midwest on the move.

 

May 15th, Washington DC, [1:01 pm EST]- Rallying up at the White House.

May 15th, Anacortes, WA, [9:55am PST]- At least 52 arrested at train track blockade. Support their legal fund: bit.ly/legaldonate

May 15th, Whiting, IN, [9:48am CST]- Both sides prepare for today’s action in Whiting, IN.

May 15th, Proschim, Germany [4:19pm GMT +2]- Police kettling Endegelaende activists at Vattenfall coal mine. Shutdown of mine by thousands continues. 

May 15th, Anacortes, WA [6:09am PST]- Police raid Break Free PNW blockade encampment early this morning.

May 14th, Albany, NY [6:17pm EST]- Tents up on bomb train tracks awaiting police to move in. Police have ordered occupiers to vacate tracks. Response? “We’ll sleep on it and get back to you.”

May 14th, Los Angeles, CA [2:01pm PST]- Crowd gathering at city hall in LA.

May 14th, Thornton, CO [3:15pm MST]- Break Free Colorado blockades fracking wells and storage tanks in Weld County, CO.

 

May 14th, Burnaby, British Columbia [12:36am PST]- Break Free Canada shuts down the Kinder Morgan tar sands terminal by land and sea.

May 14th, Anacortes, WA [11:36am PST]- Hundreds prepare to march in the Pacific Northwest.

May 14th, Anacortes, WA [11:27 am PST]- Kayatktivists are heading off to blockade the Shell/Tesoro refinery by sea.

May 14th, Albany, NY [12:50pm EST]- No bomb trains in Albany today.

May 14th, Ecuador [12:27pm EST]- March on the refineria del Pacifico.

May 14th, Albany, NY [12:23pm EST]- Rail occupation begins as over a thousand swarm for health and safety at the Port of Albany.

May 14th, Albany, NY [12:20pm EST]- Follow two actions on live stream in Albany.

May 14th, Vancouver, BC [9:17 am PST]-  Crowd gathering in Vancouver to take action.

May 14th, Anacortes, WA [9:10 am PST]- Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein to the join the Kayaktivist flotilla in the Pacific Northwest.

May 14th, Proschim, Germany [5:03 pm GMT +2]- Arrests happening at the Vattenfall coal mine.

May 14th, Thornton, CO [9:40 am MST]- Statement from Colorado Rising Tide: “Mountain Strong in the Face of Climate Crisis and Injustice.”

May 14th, Albany, NY [11:40am EST]- March on the bomb trains about to begin.

May 14th, Proschim, Germany [4:55 pm GMT +2]- Day 2 at the Vattenfall coal mine. Thousands gather and march to shut it down again.

May 14th, Albany, NY [10:27 am EST]- Crowd gathering to shut down the bomb trains.

May 14th, Thornton, CO [7:31 AM MST]- Hundreds have occupied frack well site in Weld County, CO. Bill McKibben, CO Rep Joe Salazar and Jonny 5 and the Flobots join the action. 

May 13th, Proschim, Germany- Video of protesters at a German coal mine run by Swedish power company Vattenfall — occupying the pit, giant excavators and a conveyor belt.

May 13th, Skagit Valley Free State, WA- Over 150 protesters are locked to rail tracks in Washington blocking all oil train traffic to largest overlooked point source of carbon pollution. Members of the group have set up tents!

May 13th, Proschim, Germany: 1500 people shut down Europe’s largest coal mine.

May 13th, Albany, NY- Kayak Flotilla and Banner Drop. Up next: Stopping the Bomb Trains.

May 12th, Lakewood, CO- A broad coalition of climate, environmental, Indigenous and social justice groups take action to shut down the Bureau of Land Management’s public lands auction in Lakewood Colorado. 300 march on the auction, over 100 occupy the lobby and 20 risk arrest by sitting in to disrupt the auction.

May 7th, Philadelphia, PA– Activists blockade the Philadelphia Energy Solutions oil refinery in, southwest Philly at the Right to Breathe Mobilization.

 

 

 

Protesters Arrested Stopping Work at Denton’s New Fracking Site

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day 2MEDIA RELEASE: June 2, 2015

Contact: Elida Tamez, 940-367-2159

For Live Updates: Follow @BPRisingTide on Twitter, Blackland Prairie Rising Tide on Facebook

Protesters Arrested Stopping Work at Denton’s New Fracking Site

DENTON, TX – June 2, 2015 -Today, three more citizens of Denton were arrested in an act of civil disobedience after refusing leave Vantage Energy’s new fracking site. Gathering with several dozen other community members at the site, the three intentionally refused to leave the driveway to the drilling area after police dispersal orders were issued with the intention of stopping work.

“I want to enforce our fracking ban and I believe that democracy is not being served,” said Elida Tamez, a former University of North Texas employee who was among those arrested, “I’m very angry at the state legislature because the people have voted and majority rules. I’m doing it because I feel that it is a very unjust situation at hand.”

Today’s action taken by the three citizens comes just a day after three others were arrested for also refusing to leave the site. The ongoing protests come just after the passage of HB 40, which overturned Denton’s ban on hydraulic fracturing. In November the citizens of Denton voted for the ban in a landslide vote. Less than 48 hours after the ban was declared unenforceable, Colorado based Vantage Energy announced that they would bring fracking back to Denton at the site located directly across the street from a neighborhood and several businesses.

day 2 2“I chose not to move after receiving a dispersal order from the police. I participated in civil disobedience not only because of environmental and health reasons but also because of the threat to our democracy that HB 40 poses,” said Jonathon Vann, a long-time resident and Frack Free Denton volunteer arrested today. “The will of the people must be respected and that is why I refused to stand aside today.”

Despite claims to be a “good neighbor” to the people living near the site, community members are concerned with the company’s record on public safety. On May 7 it was a Vantage well that was struck by lightning in Denton, which then burned off for over 7 hours while firefighters awaited Vantage’s emergency response team. On April 11, a serious mishap happened during the fracking process in Arlington, Texas causing a blowout at the well and forced 115 homes to be evacuated.

“Last November I took part in one of our country’s most authentic expressions of democracy. A popular referendum,” said Rodney Love, a longtime resident and small-business owner. “Despite overwhelming odds, our city voted to restrict future hydraulic fracturing within our city limits. We chose together to protect our water, air, and the health of our children. I stand with my fellow citizens to protect our right to decide what is best for our community within a free democracy.”

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Climate justice groups call for mass actions in lead up to Paris climate talks

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fTSFor Immediate Release: May 20th, 2015

Contact:

Scott Parkin, +1.415.235.0596

Keith Brunner, +1.802.363.9615

Climate justice groups call for mass actions in lead up to Paris climate talks

Rising Tide North America and allies today launched a call to “Flood the System” through a series of coordinated mass actions across the US and Canada in the leadup to the United Nations COP21 climate negotiations in Paris this fall. [1]

Organizers claim that the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process has been co-opted by elite interests and that any Paris outcomes will be insufficient to meaningfully address the climate crisis and ensure justice for the majority of the world’s people.

From September to the end of November, Flood the System envisions an escalating series of direct actions and demonstrations targeting the economic and political systems at the root of the crisis, inspired by recent movements led by low-wage workers, immigrants, and communities responding to police brutality.

Plans are already coming together from New England to the Pacific Northwest, where organizers hosted a “festival of resistance” this week involving a massive blockade of the terminal where the port of Seattle is hosting Royal Dutch Shell’s arctic drilling fleet.

“Communities on the front lines of fossil fuel extraction are fighting back,” said Ahmed Gaya, an organizer with Rising Tide Seattle. “From Seattle, to Alberta, to Appalachia, people are organized in opposition to extraction, and taking action to uproot the systems driving the crisis.”

Rising Tide NYC organizer Sandy Nurse said, “Last September four hundred thousand of us were in the streets of New York for the People’s Climate March. The next day, thousands joined the Flood Wall Street march and sit-in, shutting down the heart of global capitalism. Now it’s time to join with and support other movements in rapidly escalating the pace and scale of our resistance to the level of the crises we’re facing.” [2]

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1] https://floodthesystem.net

2] http://www.democracynow.org/2014/9/23/flood_wall_street_100_arrested_at

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Rising Tide North America is a grassroots climate justice network with over 50 chapters, local contacts and ally groups in Canada, Mexico and the United States confronting the root causes of climate change.