Presentation: Resistance and Resilience to Climate Change

Tim DeChristopher is a climate change activist and the co-founder of the environmental group Peaceful Uprising and the Climate Disobedience Center.

As a graduate of the Harvard Divinity School, Tim’s work combines environmental activism and religious thought.

His career as an activist was launched by an act of civil disobedience in 2008, when he disrupted an oil and gas land auction to protect land parcels around Utah’s Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. His efforts led to the protection of the land and his imprisonment for 21 months.


PRESENTATION by Tim DeChristopher: 
‘Beyond Fatalism: Resistance and Resilience to Climate Change’
Thursday, October 4, 2:00-3:30pm
Niagara University
Galisano Center for Integrated Sciences, Room 101
Lewiston, NY [Map]

This event is part of the Office of Multicultural Affairs’ Diversity Thursdays Series, the Political Science Department’s Social Justice Speaker and Discussion Series, and is co-sponsored by the Environmental Science Program, the Sociology Department, and the Earth and Social Justice Program Houses.

ADK Niagara Frontier Chapter: Conservationist of the Year Award

Conservationist of the Year - Art Klein

Adirondack Mountain Club - Niagara Frontier Chapter (ADK-NFC)

The ADK-NFC Conservation Committee honored Art Klein with the “Conservationist of the Year” Award at the Chapter's Annual Meeting and Picnic on Sunday, June 14, 2015.

Art Klein (holding the plaque) accompanied by the Conservation Committee.
[Click image to enlarge]

It is with great pleasure that the award was presented to Art Klein. Art has been an ADK member since the 1980’s and has been a Chapter and Conservation Committee chairperson.

His work at the Army Corp of Engineers provided him with special insight into preserving wetlands and waterways.

He actively investigates environmental issues in Western New York and formulates letters and articles to inform and alert the politicians about what needs to be done to preserve the environment.

His advice is that we all can make a difference. Art Klein says, "just get out there and let your voice be heard."

Envronmental Health and Sustainability Expert to Speak at UB

Keynote Speaker: Annie Leonard

Moving Towards Zero Waste 

and 'The Story of Stuff'

• When: Tuesday, March 11th, 7:00 pm

• Where: Drama Theater, Center for the Arts, UB North Campus, Amherst

• Free and Open to the public

Annie Leonard is the founder of the Story of Stuff film series, several 20-minute videos that explain some of the world’s most significant environmental dilemmas using easy, down-to-earth language that gets the message across to people of all ages, backgrounds and education levels. She was named one of the “Five Most Important Environmental Movement Leaders” by the Washington Examiner in 2010.

Since her initial film’s launch in 2007 — which to date has generated more than 13 million online viewers — Leonard has leveraged it into an even more widely-viewed project (www.storyofstuff.com) and a 2010 book of the same title (made from 100 percent recycled and compostable materials, of course). She has become one of the nation’s foremost authorities on the topic of consumer behavior and its impact on the environment, appearing in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Huffington Post, Wired and Fast Company magazines, and on Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report,” among other major media outlets.

Check out Annie Leonard and her Story of Stuff on the Colbert Report.

Earlier videos from Annie Leonard posted at Re-ENERGIZE Buffalo:

• The Story of Solutions

• Sustainability and the Story of Stuff 

• E-Waste: The Story of Electronic Stuff 

• Green Solutions to Fix a Broken Economy 

398 Youth Arrested at White House Protesting Keystone XL Pipeline

Hundreds of Youth Activists Arrested at White House for Keystone XL Protest

Posted by Brad Johnson 

398 youth activists were arrested Sunday in front of the White House, after staging a “die-in” protest against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The protesters marched from the Georgetown University site of President Barack Obama’s 2013 climate speech to the street in front of Secretary of State John Kerry’s house before arriving at the White House.
Kerry is slated to make a decision on on whether the pipeline — which will unlock access to Canadian tar sands and have a carbon footprint equivalent to fifty new coal-fired power plants — is in the national interest. President Obama is responsible for the final determination.

“We are trying to escalate as much as we can,” Michael Greenberg, a Columbia University sophomore who helped organize Sunday’s protest, told the National Journal’s Ben Geman. “We are not playing softball with the president any more.”

“Young people are tired of watching a president who ran on the promise of ‘ending the tyranny of oil’ keep caving to the fossil fuel industry,” wrote Jamie Henn, Communications Director for 350 Action, at MSNBC.com

There is a Flickr set of XLDissent photographs, and Annie-Rose Strasser at Climate Progress has compiled photos from Twitter of the march and protest.

“An entire movement has thrown itself into in this Keystone fight, from local frontline groups to big national green organizations,” said 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben. “But this weekend shows the power and bravery of some of the most crucial elements: young people, and activists who understand the centrality of environmental justice.”

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 What You Need to Know About the Keystone XL Pipeline
The project has become politically charged. You’ve no doubt heard the talking points on both sides of the issue. But digging past the politics, what’s really at stake? Who stands to win and who stands to lose if the pipeline is approved? 

To answer those questions, and others, Bill Moyers & Company put together an essential KXL reader. To read it, Click Here.


Comment on the Keystone XL Pipeline to the U.S. Department of State:

 

The comment period is open until Friday, March 7, 2014.  To submit your comment, Click Here. 

 

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XL Dissent: 398 Youth Arrested at Anti-Keystone XL Pipeline Protest at White House

On Sunday, 398 opponents of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline were arrested in front of the White House in what could be the largest youth sit-in on the environment in a generation.

Students from more than 80 colleges rallied at Georgetown University and then marched to the White House, wearing mock "hazmat suits" and holding banners with slogans like "Keep your oil out of my soil" and "Even Voldemort Hates Tar Sands."

President Obama is expected to issue a decision in the next few months on the pipeline, which would transport 830,000 barrels of crude every day from Alberta's oil sands to the U.S. gulf coast.

To hear Democracy Now's Amy Goodman speak to American University student Deirdre Shelly about why she was arrested on Sunday and the growing student-led movement to convince universities, colleges and cities to divest from fossil fuel companies, click here.

 

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Hundreds of Keystone protesters arrested at White House

By Emily Stephenson 
Sun Mar 2, 2014 7:57pm EST

(Reuters) - Police arrested hundreds of young people protesting the Keystone XL project on Sunday, as demonstrators fastened themselves with plastic ties to the White House fences and called for U.S. President Barack Obama to reject the controversial oil pipeline.

Participants, who mostly appeared to be college-aged, held signs reading: "There is no planet B" and "Columbia says no to fossil fuels," referring to the university in New York City.

Another group, several of whom were clad in white jumpsuits splattered with black ink that was meant to represent oil, lay down on a black tarp spread out on Pennsylvania Avenue to stage a mock spill.

Organizers estimated 1,000 people protested and said several hundred agreed to risk arrest by refusing to leave the sidewalk in front of the White House. Citing U.S. Park Police figures, the organizers said later that almost 400 people were arrested.

Petition to Name New Bridge for the Late Pete Seeger

Gov. Cuomo: Name the new Tappan Zee bridge for Pete Seeger! By Bill Swersey New York, New York Sign Bill's Petition

Singer/Songwriter/Activist Pete Seeger, who died January 27, 2014 at the age of 94, was a champion of justice, civil rights and the environment. Naming the new Tappan Zee bridge across the Hudson River for this lifelong resident of New York State would be a fitting tribute to a man who did so much to help improve the mighty Hudson and the towns along its banks. Seeger pushed for a cleaner river in the 1960s — long before others took on the cause — and used music to push for an environment friendly river. He was the founder of the Hudson River sloop Clearwater which to this day sails up and down the river helping to encourage environmental activism and the waterway's rebirth. Over the years, Seeger's efforts have lead to a significantly cleaner river; today swimming is possible in many formerly polluted areas. The idea of naming the new bridge, which is expected to open in 2018, has been put forth by Greenburgh town supervisor Paul Feiner who hopes naming the bridge after Seeger will inspire travelers to keep the river clean. Feiner has promised to bring this proposal to NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo and members of the NY State legislature. Let's show them that this idea has the support of the people!

Sign Bill's Petition