It has been almost a year since Tim DeChristopher and a group of colleagues founded Peaceful Uprising. Since then, we have grown to be a passionate, diverse group of about 40 people, with a broad coalition of support that includes social justice organizations, gay rights advocates, artists, state and local leaders, students, environmentalists and many more. We are the front line for the climate movement in Utah. We are committed to defending a just, livable future through empowering, nonviolent action. We will be busy in the coming year with creative, hard hitting campaigns, and training new activists who want to take a stand. See what we have been up to in the last year.
Powershift
Our first action was attending the Powershift 09 conference and Capitol Climate Action in Washington DC last March. A weekend of workshops, speeches and networking focused on clean energy, environmental justice and leadership. At the end of the weekend we joined 3000 others in shutting down the power plant that fuels the US capitol. Five of us risked arrest to blockade the gates, but luckily, no one was arrested that day. We came away from the weekend energized and empowered, ready to take on new challenges.
Lobbying Jim Matheson
Taking a cue from Gayle Ruzicka’s phone tree lobbying system, we made a phone tree of our own to lobby Jim Matheson for the ACES bill. ACES was the climate change bill that passed out of congress this summer, and before it did we made almost 300 calls a day to Matheson’s DC office, demanding he push for comprehensive legislation in line with the latest science. We also made a life size paper mache unicorn for Matheson, inspired by his support for clean coal and Van Jones’ comment that clean coal is as viable solution as having unicorns pull our cars. Matheson ignored us and took a conservative stance, (read: he sacrificed survival for business as usual) but we know he was listening.
Climate Change Kills! Flashmob Gallivan
Taking advantage of the mob mentality at the summer Twilight Concert Series, Peaceup organized a flashmob for climate justice. An estimated 300 people “dropped dead” for five minutes while a 900 square foot banner hung from the Walker Center. The Salt Lake Tribune covered the story and printed a fantastic photo of the banner. The story was picked up by the national climate movement, and put Peaceup and Utah on the map for climate activism.
350.org Day of Action
Working with a broad coalition of local groups, Peaceup organized a local festival for the 350.org International Day of Climate Action. With speakers, local music, dance and art, our event brought people together to communicate a bold message to our leaders- “climate justice is survival, now or never!” A photo of our human sculpture was delivered to both the United Nations and Utah’s senators. Senator Bennet was audibly shocked to see that 400 people gathered to spell the number 350.
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