Yes.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that immigration is part of our fight in the climate movement.  Here’s why I think we need to be actively involved in the immigrant-rights battle that’s going on right now.

In terms of “stopping climate change,” “containing climate change,’ or even “preventing the collapse of civilization as we know it,” we’re fucked.  Really fucked.  Bill McKibben’s new book, Eaarth, makes that abundantly clear.  The title reflects the point that the planet we used to know is gone.  McKibben couldn’t possibly be any clearer about the fact that there is no hope of avoiding the collapse of our civilization.  What matters at this point is what the collapse will look like and what will come next, and that’s also the scariest part.

When the industrial economy collapses and we move toward a more manual labor based economy, that could be a good opportunity for mass awakening.  It could be a chance for our society to collectively say “Maybe trying to meet our emotional needs through material consumption wasn’t a good idea” or “Maybe greed and competition weren’t the best values on which to base our culture and economy.”  There will undeniably be extreme hardship and loss of life, but it could reconnect us to our humanity, and a new society more in line with our true values could be build on the ashes of this one.

But history suggests otherwise.  While there has never been this kind of collapse on a planetary scale, there have been local precedents.  Whether environmentally induced like in Darfur or economically induced like in Germany in 1930, societies have gone into free fall.  But rarely have those societies acknowledged that they had it coming due to systemic problems in the way they were living.  Much more commonly, a person or group stepped up and said “THOSE people, they are the problem.”  Then the scapegoated group and civil liberties were sacrificed in the name of reestablishing order and security.

The scariest thing in our future is not the physical limitations we will face, but who will be blamed and what moral sacrifices will be made in the futile attempt to maintain order.  That is why what we are doing is so important.  If we go over that edge with a clear focus on climate change, we can acknowledge the true culprit and learn from our parents’ mistakes.  But without that focus, we are susceptible to any interpretation.  Just as climate change is already here, the battle for how we will deal with it is already here as well.

The current immigration debate did not emerge out of a vacuum, and was not nearly as heated just three years ago.  But then gas prices shot up because we are running out of oil.  As the cheap and easily accessible oil peaked, supplies ran short and speculators panicked.  While the oil driven economy at large suffered, the greatest impact was on the housing market since the glut of suburban houses with 90 minute commutes were suddenly less attractive.  So the economy tanked and unemployment skyrocketed.  Since the root issue of basing our economy on a rapidly depleting resource is uncomfortable to deal with, the right wing demagogues had no trouble selling their argument that “THOSE people stole your jobs.”  Hence the front page quote from Archie Archuleta last week about the current atmosphere being more hateful toward immigrants than any point in his 60 years of dealing with immigration issues.  This is a harbinger of things to come.  The current battleground of hatred is immigration, and it matters who wins.  If hatred wins the day today, we face a much darker tomorrow.

If our groups stay out of this issue, we implicitly support the notion that this is just about immigrants.  But the hatred toward immigrants is not just an alternative to compassion toward immigrants; it is also an alternative to a rational discussion of the real problems with our economy and society.  Xenophobia is the alternative to honest introspection.  The climate movement needs to be actively standing up for that voice of honest introspection.  We need that introspection now, and we’re really going to need it down the road.

Yesterday, the tar sands industry met unexpected opposition.

The Salt Lake Tribune captured it best:

“A small Canadian company, in need of millions for its ambitious plans, also is facing stiff opposition from two Utah environmental groups that are trying to thwart its efforts to build one of the first commercial tar sand mines in the country.”

Photo credit: Sarah A. Miller/Deseret News

The Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining (DOGM), held a hearing on Canadian company Earth Energy Resources’ proposal to mine tar sands in Grand and Uintah Counties in Eastern Utah. Well over half of the people attending the hearing came to support Peaceful Uprising and Living Rivers in opposing the mine. John Baza, Director of the the Division noted that there were far more people than usually attend these hearings.

“This project has no real value or contribution to society,” said John Weisheit, Colorado Riverkeeper and Conservation Director of Living Rivers. “The total amount of oil produced by this mine over seven years of operation would cover just 4 hours of American oil demand – a tiny blip on the radar. However, it will take millennia to restore the watershed they are about to destroy.”

And for that small amount of oil, Earth Energy Resources and the State of Utah are willing to put the entire Colorado River watershed and the 30 million people it supports at risk. Here are a few of the concerns we brought up at the hearing:

• The oil produced by the mine would increase the amount of tar sands oil refined in the Salt Lake area by 13%. This places local communities at increased risk for contamination from arsenic, lead, mercury, nickel, cyanide and other toxic substance.
• The mine will generate significant amounts of dust, which contaminates local bodies of water and settles on snowpack, causing it to melt faster.
• Although tar sands produce on average three times the greenhouse gas emissions as conventional oil, the DOGM refuses to take climate change into account for the permitting of this mine.
• Earth Energy Resources already has a poor track record in preventing groundwater contamination. Their pilot mine was essentially abandoned, left unlined, unmonitored and untreated for years, available for wildlife and livestock to consume.
• The chemicals to be used by Earth Energy Resources have been untested as potential carcinogens, or reproductive and developmental risks, and are known to be endocrine disruptors.

Earth Energy Resources claims they will operate the mine with zero discharge, but there is no man-made technology that can guarantee zero leakage of contamination into our waters.

Steve Adler, an attorney with the Utah Energy Office, asserted that the DOGM was simply approving the permit according the requirements set by the State of Utah, and that DOGM wasn’t responsible for addressing many of the objections raised in the hearing, specifically climate change and water impacts. Baza will decide within a month whether or not to uphold the agency’s decision to approve the mine permit.

The biggest message that came out of this hearing is that no one is steering this ship. There is no single agency or government body evaluating whether tar sands development is actually a good idea for Utah. Instead, each agency simply approves rules and permits that were not designed for to regulate the tar sands industry. If Utah is going to consider opening up its lands and waters to tar sands, we should actually have that conversation about Utah’s energy future.

“This is only the beginning,” said Ashley Anderson, Coordinator of Peaceful Uprising. “Communities around the state and country are getting active in opposing the tar sands. We’ll be there fighting back every step of the way.”

Thank you to everyone who attended the hearing and everyone who has gotten involved in our work to stop the tar sands!

This weekend, Moab residents hiked up to Delicate Arch to call on governments and banks to stop funding the expansion of tar sands in North America, as part of the International Stop The Tar Sands Day.

Utah could soon have first tar sands mine in the country, located north of Moab in the Colorado River watershed.  Canadian company Earth Energy Resources aims to extract 2,000 barrels a day of tar sands oil from their PR Springs Mine.  Earth Energy Resources has received all of the required permits to begin operation except for the Conditional Use Permit from Grand County.

“Grand County Council has the power to choose between investment in a dirty fuel that destroys our land, water and wildlife, or development of clean energy sources that enhances our beautiful and vibrant way of life,” said Moab local Ashley Anderson.

Tar sands, also called oil sands in Canada, produce one of the dirtiest fuels on the planet.  On average, each barrel of tar sands oil generates three times the greenhouse gases as conventional fuel, consume or contaminate two to four barrels of water, and expose ground water to toxic pollutants such as arsenic, lead, mercury, nickel and cyanide.  Extraction of tar sands in Canada has devastated an area the size of Florida.

“This area should be known for the iconic beauty that draws travels from around the world, not for introducing one of the worst forms of energy to the United States,” said Juliana Williams, one of the organizers for the event. “We refuse to sit idly by as the State of Utah and Earth Energy Resources trade away our future.”

Other events with the “International Stop the Tar Sands Day” took place in Berlin, London, Copenhagen, Montreal and Toronto.

SUSANNE VIELMETTER LOS ANGELES PROJECTS

Closing Party in Honor of Andrea Bowers and Tim DeChristopher

Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects is pleased to invite you to the closing party in honor of Andrea Bowers’ solo exhibition.Special guest and environmental activist Tim DeChristopher will be present and answer questions.

Artworks by Andrea Bowers, Edgar Arceneaux, Jedediah Caesar, Glenn Kaino, Olga Koumoundouros, Shana Lutker, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Rodney McMillian, Henry Taylor and others will be available in support of raising funds for Tim DeChristopher’s climate action group, Peaceful Uprising.

In December 2008 Tim DeChristopher disrupted a government auction of 150,000 acres of wilderness for oil and gas drilling as an act of civil disobedience. This action caused many of the leases, which would have permitted drilling on pristine acres of public land in Utah, to be canceled. But for DeChristopher, there have been serious consequences. Because of his action, he faces up to 10 years in prison and fines of $750,000. His trial is set for September 13, 2010.

For more information on Tim DeChristopher, please visit www.bidder70.org and www.climatetrial.com.

Saturday, July 31, 6 pm at the gallery

6006 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, California 90232

phone 310.837-2117 www.vielmetter.com

Please RSVP to kevin@vielmetter.com

[Download the PDF for printing]

A struggle is increasingly being fought between water and oil, not only over them. Tar sands are at the center of this tension. As the province rushes towards a large-scale extraction, the social, ecological and human impacts are hitting a crisis point. In only a few short years the continent will be a crisscross of pipelines, reaching from the arctic all the way to the southern US.

When: Tuesday, July 20th, 7:00 pm

Where: First Unitarian Church of SLC, 569 S. 1300 E. [map]

This is a free screening, but donations to cover the costs of screening and promoting are welcome. Following the movie, join Peaceful Uprising for a short discussion about the threat of tar sands to Utah.