#Water protectors

[kropotkindersurprise]

May 10, 2024 - Hundreds of radical environmentalists and anticapitalists have broken through police lines and fences and stormed the terrain of the Tesla Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg. They are attempting to stop the planned expansion of the factory, which would mean the destruction of surrounding forest and farmland. The factory also uses immense amounts of water, and all to sell shitty electric cars to give people the idea that personal consumption choices can save the environment from destruction, and make fascist Elon Musk even richer than he already is. The actions in the past days have forced Tesla to temporarily shut down production at the factory. [video]

[decolonize-the-everything]

"All our needs are met by this land, not by Enbridge.” That’s what Wenipashtaabe (Sandy Gokee), an Anishinaabe water protector, told the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) at a June 4 public hearing in Ashland, Wisconsin about a proposal to reroute Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline. Line 5 currently trespasses through the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s reservation in northern Wisconsin, and a federal judge last year ordered Enbridge to remove that segment of pipeline off the tribe’s land by June 2026. Enbridge’s plan is to reroute the pipeline, but the company needs approval from the USACE first.

[...]At the meeting, Tribal leaders and environmental advocates from across the region voiced concern about the proposed reroute. That’s because Line 5 poses an environmental risk within Tribal boundaries—and the reroute wouldn’t change this, because it would still be located within the larger Bad River watershed. In other words, an oil spill in that area would still drain into the Bad River, endangering wetlands and groundwater along the river’s course to Lake Superior. “We said off the watershed. You said off the reservation,” Gokee told the USACE at the public hearing. The more than 70-year-old pipeline is 20 years past its expiration date. In some places, including the point where the pipeline intersects with a “meander” in the Bad River, it is in imminent danger of rupture.

Folks aren’t counting on Enbridge to fix this, because the Canadian energy company has a terrible track record. A rupture in another major Enbridge pipeline, 6B, caused the 2010 Kalamazoo River spill, which dumped nearly a million gallons of crude oil into the water over the course of 18 hours before Michigan authorities (not Enbridge) reported the spill. It’s one of the largest inland oil spills in US history. Construction along Enbridge’s Line 3 has caused ongoing harm in Minnesota, where Enbridge contractors released toxic fracking fluids while drilling under waterways, and destroyed wetlands.

The proposed new segment of Line 5 would cross and endanger nearly 200 bodies of water and over 100 acres of wetland as it passes through Ashland and Iron Counties. The $450 million reroute would require temporarily and permanently discharging fill material into wetlands, horizontal drilling under the White River (which flows into the Bad River), and would cause the loss or alteration of wetlands in the 30- to 50-foot wide maintenance corridor surrounding the pipeline, USACE states in an analysis of the plan.

“I can drink the water here now. Let’s keep it that way,” added Gokee at the public hearing.

You can donate directly to the tribe to help them on Defend the Bad River dot org and you can read more about their treaties and their history on the Bad River Band website. Absolutely utilize the tools available to you to educate yourself about this further, please and spread the word!

Their homepage

Bonus materials;

The oil pipeline laying in the Straits of Mackinac — is 21 years past it’s intended lifespan. A Line 5 rupture would impact 700 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, take years to clean up, and would devastate our Great Lakes economy — putting 214,000 Michigan tourism jobs at risk. The Great Lakes are 20% of the world’s freshwater — we can’t afford to contaminate them with oil.

Their PDF handout about the case:

I want to highlight their demands for people who just saw that wall of text and skipped it cuz this is important:

This is a decently nuanced 14 minute interview about how turning on Line 3 affected native communities; how most are still just taking actions to survive through ongoing oppression and colonization, how activism isnt a luxury a lot of people can afford with mouths to feed and systemic oppression keeping them in cycles of poverty.

Stand with the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa

It shouldn't be on them to fight Enbridge on their own and nobody should be forced to choose between their people or their planet. Uplift their voices and make their demands known and make it known that they're supported and they're not alone.

[jonasgoonface]

maybe consider violence.

[thoughtportal]

In this episode we explore a relatively new subgenre of science fiction called Solarpunk, which aims to imagine better, more ecologically harmonious, futures on earth. In many ways Solarpunk is a reaction to both the real-world climate crisis and to the many apocalyptic visions of collapse filling our screens. Andrew Sage from the YouTube channel Andrewism joins host Jonathan McIntosh and friend of the show Carl Williams for this conversation.

References & Links • The Andrewism YouTube Channel • Walkaway by Cory Doctorow • Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach • Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation • Fighting for the Future edited by Phoebe Wagner  • Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler • Princess Mononoke from Studio Ghibli • The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin • Emergency Skin by N. K. Jemisin • Monk and Robot book series by Becky Chambers • Dear Alice from THE LINE • Dear Alice’ Decommodified Edition by Waffle To The Left • Our History Is the Future by Nick Estes • 3000-Year-Old Solutions to Modern Problems by Lyla June  • Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher

[nando161mando]

Yesterday, water protectors and forest defenders shut down construction against the Mountain Valley Pipeline in #Appalachia.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Posted by Gidimt'en Checkpoint Facebook page May 24, 2023:

The devastation to our toh (water) and yintah (land) is immeasurable. This is toh we drink. This is where the salmon start their lives. This is our sacred headwaters that feed EVERYONE downstream all the way to the west coast.

We knew this would happen. CGL tries to blame the climate crisis and being surprised/unprepared but the fact is they knew what they were getting into and simply don’t care.

CGL has a stop work order (ref: 20230027_OR001) from the EAO in the Gosnell Creek section EXCEPT for the work to cross Gosnell Creek!

This has to stop. These are the people within colonial government that can do something about it and are choosing not to. They clearly won’t listen to us so maybe they will listen to you. Be loud. Be persistent. We all live downstream.

Honourable George Heyman

Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy

Email: ENV.Minister@gov.bc.ca

Honourable Josie Osborne

Honourable Josie Osborne

Email: EMLI.minister@gov.bc.ca

Compliance and Enforcement for Environmental Assessment

Christie Lombardi Compliance and Enforcement Officer

Email: Christie.Lombardi@gov.bc.ca

#AllOutForWedzinKwa

[climatecalling]

Minnesota law enforcement – which along with other agencies received at least $8.6m in payments from the Canadian pipeline company Enbridge – made more than 1,000 arrests between December 2020 and September 2021. The protesters, who identified as water protectors, were arrested during non-violent direct actions across northern Minnesota as construction of the 330-mile line expansion jumped from site to site, in what campaigners say was a coordinated strategy to divide and weaken the Indigenous-led social movement – an allegation Enbridge denies. Overall, at least 967 criminal charges were filed including three people charged under the state’s new critical infrastructure protection legislation – approved as part of a wave of anti-protest laws inspired by the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), a rightwing group backed by fossil fuel companies. ... Yet the vast majority of charges were eventually dismissed – either outright by prosecutors and judges or through plea deals, suggesting the mass arrests were about silencing and distracting protesters, according to Claire Glenn, an attorney at the Climate Defense Project. “It was obviously not about criminal sanctions or public safety because otherwise the prosecutors would not be dismissing these cases left and right. Enbridge was paying police to get people off the protest line and tied up with pretrial conditions, so they could get the pipeline in the ground, and it worked,” said Glenn, who has represented more than 100 Line 3 protesters including Vialard.

[charring58]

#Waterprotectors are activists, organizers, and cultural workers focused on the defense of the world's water and water systems. The water protector name, analysis and style of activism arose from Indigenous communities in North America during the #DakotaAccessPipeline protests at the #StandingRockReservation, which began with an encampment on LaDonna Brave Bull Allard's land in April, 2016.[1

[innervoiceartblog]

[the-aila-test]

[kropotkindersurprise]

October 29, 2022 - Thousands of environmental activists clashed with riot police and private security as they charged a site to sabotage an industrial mega-basin that would privatize groundwater in Sainte-Soline, France. [video]/[video]

[tinydumpsterfire]

Just finished watching Wakanda Forever.

This beautiful story is filled with so much hurt and pain. A perfect encapsulation of the hurt and pain that the natives as felt, hispanic and latin people. Of the hurt and pain the Black people have felt, African Americans and those of mixed Afro ethnicity. Of the hurt and pain that Asian people have felt, Asian Americans and the natives of the Hawaiian islands. The hurt and pain that Jewish people have felt. The hurt and pain that we continue to feel today... In the "land of the free"

And in our pain we have clawed our way out. We have fought kicking and screaming to have our basic human rights. Rights that still to this day are ignored in favor of the system of white supremacy.

And in our pain, in our fight we have kicked down others who are equally oppressed. Allowing the colonizer to pit us against each other. When we should be our strongest allies.

And today, while there is still a struggle, we move more and more towards a future where we 100% have each-others backs. We share each other's stories, sign each others petitions, walk together in protest.

But that doesn't mean that with every step of the way the system won't fight back. Abortion rights, the pipe lines and oil drills. Schools banning books on the Lgbtqia+ community, Black and native history. Police brutality. Anti-Semitism. Hate crimes against APPI. Police raiding peaceful protests and arresting water protestors, POC, trans individuals. All for using their human right to speak their voice against destruction of their land, against violence and abuse again their communities.

We have a long way to go but its not FUCKING OVER!!

[commiepinkofag]

Avert Climate Disaster/Subvert Disaster Capitalism

Coal must be phased out 7x faster than is now happening, deforestation must be reduced 4x faster, and public transport around the world built out 6x faster than at present, if the world is to avoid the worst impacts of climate breakdown, 'new research has found'. [Guardian, 2023]

The 6 Year Plan:

Shutdown about 240 average-sized coal-fired power plants a year, every year between now and 2030.

Construct the equivalent of three New Yorks’ worth of public transport systems in cities around the world each year this decade.

Halt deforestation, which is happening to an area the size of 15 football pitches every minute, this decade.

Increase the rate of growth of solar and wind power from its current high of 14% a year to 24% a year.

Cut meat consumption from ruminants such as cows and sheep to about two servings a week in the US, Europe and other high-consuming countries by 2030.

Destroy Capitalism before it destroys us all

[thoughtportal]

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it is nature’s survival

[queerbrownvegan]

The Great Salt Lake is drying up and we need your help to help raise awareness. Just this past day I was in Utah with the @humblebloomco and @livecrude team where they took us on a trip to the Lake that is drying up in Utah. @saveourgreatsaltlake is an organization that works alongside people / community activists to bring awareness to this key lake that is giving life to humans and animals. The toxic dust that has been circulating as the lake continues to become a dumping ground, water is stolen for agricultural use, and continuous mining has depleted its water table.

When I was on here, my stomach instantly felt sick. How can something so sacred that gives life to many of us continue to be plundered? Water is life and they are a living system that moves into our bodies. It doesn’t make sense that local government politicians in Utah are failing at doing their job while being supported by multi-million-dollar corporations that continue lying. I’m angry and I'm sad, but I'm happy to be in a community with many BIPOC trying to regenerate this precious landscape. You save more money by giving respect and ensuring the continued wellness of ecosystems, than exploiting it for continued usage.

-qbv

[nando161mando]

[London, UK]

River Nomads, Liveaboards, Canal-Dwellers and Other People of the Water, friends, family, and accomplices various gather as part of ongoing efforts to fight the gentrification of the waterways.