We had a blast in Richmond, marching on Chevron. Our new banner was super cool, carried by our smiling 350 Santa Cruz crew. 210 were arrested, including a bunch of us, at the gates of Chevron. Check us out in this fab video!
Click Here to Watch !
Thank you for joining our last action
Saturday 8.3
We joined Bay Area 350's
Summer Heat Richmond
MARCH, RALLY & NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION
at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond, CA
at the Chevron Refinery in Richmond, CA
We joined 350.org, 350 Bay Area, the Richmond Progressive Alliance, Communities for a Better Environment, Gathering Tribes, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Urban Tilth, labor unions, and others for a family-friendly march and spirited rally at the refinery’s main gate.
Bill McKibben's letter inviting us to action!
Dear friends,
I’m really looking forward to being in the Bay Area this weekend to
take action against Chevron -- because Chevron is a seriously bad
neighbor.
They're a bad neighbor to the people in Richmond, where their
refinery used to be an accident waiting to happen -- until the accident
happened, and the company’s emergency plan involved texting people
telling them more or less not to breathe. There’s not a purer example
of environmental injustice that I know of (ask yourself if Chevron could
get away with having a refinery in, say, Nob Hill).
And they're a bad neighbor to the planet too. Last year Chevron gave
what may be the largest corporate campaign donation since the Citizens
United decision. It was designed to make sure the House stayed in the
hands of climate deniers, and it was successful -- and so the planet
goes on heating, and their profits keep climbing.
The big action will be at 10 AM on Saturday
the 3rd, starting at the Richmond BART station, and then proceeding to
the gates of Chevron's refinery itself. There's a children's contingent,
and I've heard that a very diverse coalition of unions, community
groups and environmentalists will be representing as well. I hope you
can be there too: joinsummerheat.org/bay
If you want to participate in the civil disobedience of the day --
I've heard quite a few people will be -- you'll need to attend the final
action briefing and training at 8:30am that morning at the Bobby Bowens Progressive Center in Richmond (right next to the BART).
I'll also be sharing the stage in San Francisco the night
before with several powerful movement leaders to talk about how all this
work weaves together. It starts at 7 PM on Friday the 2nd, and you can get a ticket to be there here: cityboxoffice.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=1853&c=18&pg=
In the past two weeks I’ve gotten to stand with people in Michigan,
Oregon, Washington, Utah, Maine, Massachusetts, the District of
Columbia, and rural Ohio as part of the Summer Heat wave of actions.
This fossil fuel resistance is growing fast, and I'm glad you're a part
of it.
But there’s never been a better example of how the local and global connect than Richmond. This weekend, it's game on!
Bill McKibben
Bill was arrested along with 200 more, including a bunch of us at the Gates of Chevron.
________________________________________________________________________
Thanks to everyone who came out to our showing of 'Do The Math' at Resource Center for Non-Violence. We had a great crowd and a good talk together afterward.
There were more than 30 new faces and all were eager to speak, ask questions and share. We had a blast and many were still yakking when the time came to turn off the lights.
We'll be showing 'Do The Math' again soon .. come and bring as many friends as you can! Ending our fossil fuel addiction sounds like a big job .. but when we do it together, it's more like fun.
