We're All in Place and Ready to Go

Margie arrived in Washington DC on Saturday.  Joanie, Linda and Margarita arrived Sunday afternoon.  Tantoo arrived Sunday evening we are all here and ready to go.

Joanie, Linda and Margarita are staying with Kay and CB, old friends of Linda's from her karate days in Seattle.  They took us out to dinner our first evening at the New Deal Cafe, a wonderful restaurant with a leftist political feel, great mediterranean food and live entertainment,  in Greenbelt, MD.  Greenbelt, a city that was one of Eleanor Roosevelt's projects, is described in their city web page this way, "The City of Greenbelt has gone into the history books as the first community in the United States built as a federal venture in housing. From the beginning it was designed as a complete city, with businesses, schools, roads and facilities for recreation and town government. Greenbelt was a planned community, noted for its interior walkways, underpasses, its system of inner courtyards and one of the first mall-type shopping centers in the United States. Modeled after English garden cities of the 19th century, Greenbelt took its name from the belt of green forestland with which it was surrounded and from the belts of green between neighborhoods that offered easy contact with nature."  It was a fitting place to start our adventure here.

Margie and Tantoo are staying with Belinda, a friend who lived for awhile in Livingston, but now divides her time between her home in Washington, DC and Santiago, Chile. She will serve as our support person to hand off personal belongings to during the demonstration.  We all feel so fortunate to have such wonderful friends to support us and give us a place to stay while we take part in this action. 

The First Day's Protesters Go to Jail

The Tar Sands Action has begun.  The first group of protester went to the White House and sat down and were arrested.  The Park Police released a small number of them who are from the DC area and kept all the others until Monday morning for a court date.  In the organizer's blog post they said, "On a phone call late this afternoon, U.S. Park Police told organizers of the sit-in that the jail time was expressly intended as a deterrent for future participants."
 
That's right.  Not only have they declared the sidewalk in front of the White House a First-Amendment-Free zone where standing with signs or sitting down in peaceful protest are punishable by arrest, but they are treating the first group of the protest unusually harshly to make an example of them and discourage the rest of us from doing what the constitution guarantees us the right to do.  No equal treatment before the law.  No freedom of assembly or free speech.  We knew arrest was possible, and we are not deterred.

But we feel it is a sad day in America when our rights are treated as if they are only available at the whim of the park police. 

A Teachable Moment

One of the things we all love about this whole thing is how it gets people's attention focused on the environmental disaster that is the Tar Sands, which many people have either not heard of or don't understand.  As we have been publicizing our trip and raising money, we have had an opportunity to explain why the pipeline is such a horrible idea, and why developing the tar sands is so dangerous and destructive. 

Margie and Tantoo, being movie stars, bring attention from people who normally only care about celebrity gossip and trivia.  The entertainment editor of the Toronto Sun interviewed Margie about her involvement and wrote this article:  http://www.thestar.com/article/1041422--margot-kidder-marches-on-washington.  The article was also posted on CommonDreams.org which is a progressive news website that publishes breaking news from a progressive viewpoint that has appeared across the spectrum of news sources.

Also on Common Dreams is an article from Yes! magazine by Bill McKibben, one of the organizers of this action.  He mentions how inspiring he found the message from four Montana grandmothers (he can't resist mentioning that one of us is Margot Kidder who played Lois Lane).  That seems to be how we are going to be known for this event - the Four Grandmothers from Montana.  Well, there are worse things we could be (and have been) called.  And if it brings inspiration, or attention, or an opportunity to open people's eyes to how important this issue is, then it is a badge we will wear with honor.

Words (and pictures and videos) of support

Today the first training for the first group of protesters has begun.  Tomorrow they will go to the White House gates and be arrested for sitting-in.  It all begins now.

We have received many letters and emails thanking us for going and cheering us on.  For every one of us at the Tar Sands Action, there are probably a hundred people who would like to be there with us.  According to the organizers of the action, this is the biggest civil disobedience for the climate ever.  

The organizers of the action have sent us a link to a Flkr album with pictures of people thanking those of us who are going to DC for the protest.  These beautiful pictures make us feel humble and loved.  Here is the link:  http://www.flickr.com//photos/350org/sets/72157627346811329/show/

Meanwhile, Josh Fox, the director of the documentary Gasland about the disastrous method of extracting natural gas called fracking, has released a video showing why this action is so incredibly important.  Here is the link to his video: http://www.tarsandsaction.org/video-gasland-director-josh-fox-issues-call-to-action/

If you would like to support this action, please call the White House on August 23rd, the day we are there being arrested.  The phone number is 202-456-1111.  Tell them that you support the Tar Sands Action sit-in that is going on outside.  Tell them that you have friends there.  Tell them that you urge President Obama to deny a permit to the Keystone XL pipeline. 

Thank you.

The World Can't Wait

Debbie Sweet, Director of The World Can't Wait web site, will be in Washington the same time we are.  She will be joining in the action the day after we do.  We hope to see her there and maybe lend her some support on her day of action.

Debbie interviewed Margie and included part of our statement in her blog post on the Tar Sands Action.  Here is the link for that web page:  http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php/home-mainmenu-289/7292-dc-stop-the-tar-sands-pipeline-august-20-september-3

An Article from Margie's Brother in BC

A couple of questions have been bothering us about the whole Keystone XL Pipeline and the upcoming protest against it:

First, why don't the Canadians build their own refineries near the tar sands and sell upgraded petroleum products that would not require a pipeline to the Gulf Coast?

And second, if we manage to stop TransCanada's Keystone XL Pipeline, won't they just ship all the Tar Sands Oil (bitumen) through the proposed Enbridge pipeline (the Northern Gateway pipeline) to northern British Columbia to sell it to Asia?

This article, which Margie's brother in Vancouver sent to her, sheds some important light on those questions.  http://thecanadian.org//k2/item/958-enbridge-pipeline-rumours-speculation-damien-gillis

Unfortunately, there are not well-documented sources in the article, and some of the most important information is based on a personal conversation reported by a single person.  But if the rumors reported in this article are true, such as the concept that the main reason for the Northern Gateway pipeline is to put pressure on the US to approve Keystone XL and that there is huge resistance to the Northern Gateway pipeline from British Columbia, then maybe our efforts in Washington, DC will really make all the difference in stopping the further development of the Tar Sands.

Rumors or truth?  What really matters is that the Keystone XL Pipeline has to be the place where we say "Stop.  Enough is enough."

Front Page of Livingston Enterprise

Our local newspaper did a nice front-page article on our protest. Here it is.  If you click on it, it will expand in a new window so you can read it.

Tantoo, Too

A few days ago, Margie announced to all of us that Tantoo Cardinal, her friend and fellow actor, is going to join us in DC.  Tantoo was born smack dab in the middle of the Tar Sands area.  She is Metis of Cree ancestry, and is well known for the roles she played in Dances with Wolves, Black Robe, Legends of the Fall, Smoke Signals, Lakota Woman:Siege at Wounded Knee and many other films and television shows.  In 2009 she was made a Member of the Order of Canada, one of the highest honors in Canada, "for her contributions to the growth and development of Aboriginal performing arts in Canada."

We are all thrilled to have Tantoo join us.  Here is her statement in answer to the organizer's question, "Why are you coming to the Tar Sands Action?"

I was born in Ft. McMurray and raised in a small community (at the time), called Anzac, Alberta.

I was raised in a community where people lived off the land.

My father’s people learned that the Earth was alive in the early 60’s when their instruments reacted. My mother’s people know intrinsically that Earth is alive. She is Our Mother. She provides everything required for survival and good life.

What does it mean that the Earth is alive?

What part of her is oil? Tar sands?

Water? Uranium? Coal?

What harm is being done to her body, to Her overall health? and in turn our well being… our grandchildren’s survival.

There has not been honest and wise consideration of how we use resources like wind and sun. This is urgent.

Our Earth belongs to the People. She is meant to give and nourish Life. She is not for the sole determination of Corporations to exhaust Her resources… to have her body ravaged of her blood and structure.

Why We are Going to the Tar Sands Action

One of the organizers asked for a statement about why we were going to the Tar Sands Action for their blog. Here is the statement we sent him:

Joan Kresich, Margot Kidder, Margarita McLarty, and Linda Kenoyer

Joan is a poet and educator, Margot is an actor, Margarita is a retired outfitter/naturalist and youth minister and Linda is a former physicist and engineer. All are activists who live in Livingston, MT and represent a non-profit organization called Montana Women For... which provides the community with educational events, political protests, and town hall meetings with legislators.

We are four women who have lived a long time. For many years we have worked for social justice and environmental responsibility. We have taken part in numerous movements that battle the forces of greed that would destroy our world with no thought for the future. We are from an organization called Montana Women For... Together we have acted for positive change, for peace with justice and equality, and for a healthy ecosystem. When we heard about the plan for the Tar Sands Action, we all decided it was time to intensify our commitment. It is time to put ourselves on the line.

We live in Montana, the first place the Keystone XL Pipeline will cross into the United States. We live on the beautiful Yellowstone River. During the spring floods this June, 42,000 gallons of conventional crude oil was dumped into the Yellowstone from a much smaller pipeline than the proposed Keystone. The river and the farmlands and wilderness areas that border the river will not recover for many, many years, probably not in our lifetimes. We are acutely aware of the increased danger posed by the high temperature, high pressure, corrosive tar sands oil flowing through pipes three times the size of the one that ruptured so destructively into the Yellowstone this spring. We see the map of the proposed route crossing the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers and the wilderness, farmland, rangeland and wild prairies of our state. We are appalled at the risk the oil companies are willing to have us live with here in our backyard.

We have spoken up against the widening of US Hwy 12 along the wild and scenic Lochsa River, over historic Lolo Pass, through the center of Missoula, and along the Rocky Mountain Front to Canada for the purpose of transporting gigantic pieces of machinery and parts for pipelines and mining operations in the Alberta Tar Sands. We see the threat to our magnificent state from development of the Tar Sands as immediate and potentially devastating.

But more importantly, here in Montana we feel the effects of the unstable climate caused by the excess of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Pine bark beetle infestations are destroying our forests. Glaciers and snowfields are disappearing. Our winters are generally shorter and our snowpacks are generally smaller. Entire species are dying, threatening the web of wildlife and fisheries that support our economies and nourish our souls. Droughts and wildfires are more intense. The increasing severity of El Nino and La Nina events create havoc as we swing wildly between drought years and flood years. This is all happening here, in Montana, in our backyard.

The diminishing of conventional oil reserves and the end of cheap oil seem like welcome catalysts to shift our technology and our infrastructure to something more sustainable; to move away from fossil fuels and toward other sources of energy for transportation and industry. At this moment in time we have a choice: put our wealth into the development of new sustainable energy sources or sink fortunes into developing the devastating, difficult, dangerous tar sands oil that will keep our dependence on oil going a little longer while dumping obscene amounts of carbon into our atmosphere. The future of Montana is at stake. The future of the world is at stake. We can move away from coal and oil and bring the carbon concentration down, or we can develop more of both and push our climate over the tipping point.

We are women whose grandchildren are growing up with a wild, beautiful Montana that may not be there for their children and grandchildren. This is personal for us. The four of us are only the few from our organization who can make the journey. Standing behind us are many, many others who have chipped in to help pay for our trip, have written us and called us and stopped us on the street to offer words of appreciation and support for what we are doing. Montana will be represented at the Tar Sands Action at the White House by four grandmothers who speak for generations of Montanans who say “No” to the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Our Fifteen Minutes of Local Fame

The Press has responded to our announcement that we're going to be arrested in Washington DC. Last Wednesday, Margie, Joanie and Linda were interviewed by ReillyNeill from the Livingston Current.

To see the Livingston Current story, go to http://www.livingstonweekly.com/ and, if it is not the top story, go to August 12, 2011 in the Archives

On Thursday, Liz Kearney from the Livingston Enterprise came to our board meeting and took pictures and interviewed all four of the Montana Women For board members who will be going to DC. Watch for her article soon. Meanwhile, here is a picture they took: