Yesterday Lucy Emerson-Bell and Sarah Davidson published an open letter to President Barack Obama on the Huffington Post. Their powerful appeal to the President asked him to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, and start to live up to the expectations and hopes of millennial voters who turned out in record numbers to work and vote for the President in 2008. Here’s some of what they wrote: “We know there have been many demands made of you by people much more powerful than us, people with deeper pockets and more political influence. But the generation that elected you would like to remind you that the Obama we campaigned for– Barack Obama, the king of cool and our number one rock star — would never let politics take precedence over what is right. That Obama supported a transition to new, clean, safe forms of energy, and he condemned our addiction to fossil fuels. The Obama we worked so hard for would make a brave, courageous decision even if it was not the most popular. At the end of the day that Barack Obama would still have his integrity and our respect, and he would be a leader worth fighting for, yet again.” Their letter ended with this simple appeal: “Be brave. Be the Obama we voted for.” Click here to read the whole thing at the Huffington Post … Read More...

 Mitch Paine Photography

Randy Thompson is a landowner from Merrick County: I want to thank all of my fellow Nebraskans who are in DC protesting the pipeline, and I want all of you to know that I respect and admire the courage and personal commitment you have shown by being there. It is time that the American people send a message to the big oil companies and their political allies, and that message is this: We are fed up with having our livelihoods and natural resources put at risk just for the sake of corporate profit, and we are also fed up with a politicians who fail to hear to our voices, but instead cater to those who can fatten their campaign coffers. … Read More...

Gus Speth passed along this statement from jail through the his wife: “We the prisoners being held in the Central Cell Block of the D.C. Jail need company and encourage the continuation of the protests against the tar sands pipeline. Help us stop this disastrous proposal! I’ve held numerous positions and public office in Washington but my current position feels like one of the most important.” –Gus Speth … Read More...

Gus Speth passed along this statement from jail through the his wife: “We the prisoners being held in the Central Cell Block of the D.C. Jail need company and encourage the continuation of the protests against the tar sands pipeline. Help us stop this disastrous proposal! I’ve held numerous positions and public office in Washington but my current position feels like one of the most important.” –Gus Speth … Read More...

‘Gasland’ Director Josh Fox calls for Fracktivists everywhere to join the Tar Sands Action in Washington DC with this moving video. Thanks, Josh!

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Thom Yorke of the band Radiohead wrote a very nice note about the action on the band’s website. Here’s a bit of what he said: “if you don’t know anything about the Tar Sands have a quick google… as seems to be the way of politics this won’t happen unless a strong show of resistance can be seen to help obama say no.” Thanks Thom and Radiohead!

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Actor Mark Ruffalo, who has been an outspoken activist on fracking in his home state of New York and across the country, is lending his support to the Tar Sands Action in Washington, DC this August. To join the action, click here to sign up. Nearly 2,000 people are already registered to take part in an ongoing sit-in at the White House this August 20 – Sep 3 to pressure President Obama to stand up to Big Oil and deny a permit for the Keystone XL, a 1,700 mile pipeline from the tar sands in Canada to refineries on the…

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The Honorable Barack Obama President of the United States The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20050 August 3, 2011 President Obama: We are researchers at work on the science of climate change and allied fields. We are writing to add our voices to the indigenous leaders, religious leaders, and environmentalists calling on you to block the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline from Canada’s tar sands. The tar sands are a huge pool of carbon, but one that does not make sense to exploit.  It takes a lot of energy to extract and refine this resource into useable fuel,…

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This post from Rose Marie Berger originally appeared at the Sojourners Blog. Rose is a Catholic poet and peace activist who writes about empire, art, social justice and activism. She is organizing a contingent of faith leaders to participate in the Tar Sands Action on August 29th – to join her, sign up here. President Barack Obama will decide as early as September whether to light a fuse to the largest carbon bomb in North America. That bomb is the massive tar sands field in Canada’s Alberta province. And the fuse is the 1,700-mile long Keystone XL Pipeline that would…

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We’re honored to post a letter from the executive directors, coordinators, presidents and other organizational leaders of the nation’s leading environmental and allied groups, writing in their capacity as individual citizens, encouraging us all to take part in the sit-ins this August at the White House.  Dear Friends, We’re the leaders of some of the continent’s environmental and allied groups, and we’re doing something odd here: writing not in our professional capacities, but as individuals, to urge you to consider taking part in planned protests later this summer in Washington. The demonstrations, which may involve some peaceful civil disobedience, are…

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