Our third annual mass action camp is just 10 days away! We’re stoked to be hosting close to 100 participants who care about defending our future from tar sands mining. The camp will include workshops on climate justice and decolonization, nonviolent direct action, art, the history of the land we’re working to protect, and lots more. This large gathering helps us build needed momentum for our campaign, and prepares many new people to join us, some for the short-term and others for the long haul.
We’ll also be holding subsequent trainings throughout the summer and fall, keeping the momentum going! We just held a hugely successful training camp of 20 folks from around the region, particularly parts of the Colorado Plateau that could be affected by tars sands mining in the future. We delved into discussions on climate justice, the history of the land we’re working to defend, the strategic use of civil disobedience and direct action in social movements, and intersections between extraction and gender issues. We created art, toured the land at risk, discussed campaign history, and escorted an AP reporter and camera person around the site. And we ate delicious, healthy food that everyone took part in preparing! One of the most beautiful aspects of the week was how everyone contributed in their own way without being asked—cooking, bear-proofing, collecting drinking water, digging latrines, and various other tasks that are crucial for daily life. In this way, every one of our guests received a crash course in maintaining a remote encampment that is capable of sustaining a vibrant community.
Some brave sage grouse “crossed the line” into a zone where US Oil Sands had preemptively posted “No Trespassing” signs, despite not even having legal rights to mine there yet. (Video coming soon!) Help us keep the momentum going strong!
To pull off our 2015 mass action camp and keep this campaign moving forward, we need to raise $5,000. We need your support to make this gathering a huge success. Please donate what you can here in solidarity!
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/2015-book-cliffs-summer-of-climate-justice#/story
If you’ve been following the news about the water study conducted in the area adjacent to the tar sands mine, you know the science is on our side. In the only peer-reviewed or independent study ever conducted in the area at risk, Professor William Johnson and his colleagues found that the watershed would be contaminated by tar sands mining. They’ve mapped out the water system, and they know it feeds into rivers leading out to the Colorado.
Willow Creek making its way to the Green River.
But science alone isn’t going to stop the mine from going forward–not when state authorities determinedly look the other way. Only popular resistance will defend land, water, air, and lives from the toxic pollution, water depletion, and climate change that tar sands mining would cause. By working together to build the skills to carry the movement forward, we will win.
By bringing together members of frontline communities and other social justice struggles throughout the region, these gatherings also solidify networks of movement-builders in the Southwest who support each other across intersectional struggles.
What Can Your Donation Provide?
$50 covers food for one meal for the gathering.
$100 helps a carload of people get to the gathering.
$400 helps a skilled low-income trainer get here.
We need your help! Please give generously to help make this event a huge milestone in the fight to stop tar sands mining.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/2015-book-cliffs-summer-of-climate-justice#/story
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