How Not To Be An Activist

A friend sent me a link to this blog, I liked the title so I went on to read it. When I'm at work and trying to read, I usually end up talking at the same time but to day I just read and then read it again. It makes perfect sense to me.

I frequently get asked why I do this kind of work and most often I'm at a lost for words to explain but this does it. You can read the rest of the blog at Just a Rez Chick...How not to be an activist.

 

 

How Not To Be An Activist

I never thought of myself as an activist. The first time someone called me an activist, was an internationally well known activist in a message to me on Facebook. She told me to keep up the good work and always stand up for what I believe in. That the life of an activist wasn’t easy. But to keep doing what I do.
“Wow” was what came to mind. “Really? Me? An activist?” I was shocked and honored. I’m a writer who feels very passionately about what I write for. I’m not on the front lines, yet. Legally, I can’t afford to be out there-yet. I have always cared about the wrongs of the world, talking in extent to both my parents about it all the time. I sit home and write about what all the wonderfully courageous people who have crossed paths with me by caring about the same things I care about are doing to make the world a better place. I respect that they care enough about the drinking water of grandchildren they will never meet. Or that they care about the future generations of our little brown Native children and their rights, without even knowing how this world will be at the time. Whether it will be better or worse, but hoping in their hearts, what they do here and now will make it better. Or they care about all the lives lost to alcohol two miles away from the reservation. That they care about a piece of land so sacred and important to The Creation Story of our people that it is considered The Heart Of All That Is, that they would help spread the word via social media. And all the Indigenous people who live in colonized governments who are sending support to the First Nations of Canada by saying enough is enough Idle No More as a globalized, unified movement with a heartbeat so strong, you can hear it like a drum beat in your soul. Like the game Jumanji is buried nearby.

A request from Bill McKibbon

(Just a reminder: The known climate scientist James Hansen emphasizes that the extraction of tar sands would increase the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere by 50%. ‘When the development of the tar sands continues, then it means “game over for the climate,’ says Hansen.”)

Friends,
I'm writing to ask for a favor.
We've done everything we can think of in the last few months to make this Keystone XL tar sands pipeline a national issue, including sending 1253 people off to jail. I want to make their sacrifice count; and though the odds are still against us, they're improving daily.
On November 6, when we circle the White House, we can make the odds better still. But we need you to be there.
Click here to sign up to join us in DC on November 6 to encircle the White House.
Here's what momentum feels like: the Washington Post just put a big story on the front page making it very, very clear that we've got the president's attention. Hours later the Baltimore Sun came out with a powerful editorial against the pipeline. Everyone from the Dalai Lama to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (what a team!) have been pitching in during the last few days.
And yesterday a new video arrived, courtesy of our friends at NRDC, from Robert Redford, who's done as much good environmental work as anyone in the country. It sums up the case. If you get a chance, watch it.
After you watch the video, please sign up here to join in on Nov. 6, hopefully with lots of friends in tow. We don't know exactly how many people it will take to circle the White House, but we know we need you.
Thanks,
Bill McKibben
P.S. No need to worry about getting arrested this time. It's going to be legal, and lovely. All the signs will carry quotes from Obama in 2008: sentiments like,  "It's time to end the tyranny of oil." It's time to see if we can bring that old Barack Obama out of hiding!
P.P.S. We've been busy fighting the pipeline, but we're also carving out some time to join the amazing #Occupy movement -- you can get more info at www.350.org/occupy

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INFO AND ARTICLES
"Obama allies’ interests collide over Keystone pipeline" - The Washington Post
"No to Keystone XL" - The Baltimore Sun
Senators Raise ‘Serious Concerns’ About State Department Study on Tar Sands Oil Pipeline
Nine Nobel Peace Laureates Urge Obama to Reject Keystone XL

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Why YOU should care about stopping the Tar Sands Pipeline

 Tell President Obama: Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline
"Essentially game over" for the climate.
That's what climate scientist James Hanson calls the proposed Keystone XL pipeline -- which would carry oil out of Canada's vast tar sands oil fields to Texas, where it will be refined, then burned across the globe, dealing a catastrophic blow to our chance of returning earth to a stable climate.
This project requires a presidential permit to start building -- and it is President Obama's decision alone to grant or deny that permit. He will make the decision as soon as September.
Tell President Obama: Stop the Keystone XL pipeline.

The Alberta tar sands are a carbon bomb. The 3rd largest oil field in the world, the difficult extraction and transportation of the tar sands oil ultimately produces up to three times the carbon emissions of traditional oil. (And extreme environmental devastation along the way.)¹
The Keystone XL pipeline is the fuse to this bomb - a highway to swift consumption of this dirty, dangerous crude. As if that wasn't enough, it poses a massive spill risk in the six states along the pipeline route, including over the Ogallala Aquifer which provides up to 30% of our nation's agricultural water.

Twenty leading climate scientists have just sent a letter to President Obama urging him to deny the permit.
 

And from August 20th to September 3rd, there will be a massive, historic, daily sit-in outside the White House where more than 1500 people, including CREDO staff, have already signed up to risk arrest in peaceful protest. (For more about the sit in, see below.)
The administration's previous decisions on climate do not inspire confidence that they will deny the permit. Recently the administration has opened new areas to offshore drilling and coal mining, and late last year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even said she was "inclined" to approve Keystone XL.
But President Obama still has the final word. He does not have to negotiate with Congress or industry. As his State Department reviews the permit, the decision -- which could have a devastating impact on the livability of our nation, and our world -- is entirely in his hands.
We've lost too many climate fights already. We need a massive, historic show of pressure to make sure we don't lose this one. Please sign the petition and read below for other ways to get involved.
Tell President Obama: Stop the Keystone XL pipeline.  From Credo.
 

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