from RRR Organizers
Join us in occupied Ute land, in the Uinta Mountains of northeast Utah, this July 3 – 10 for the Earth First! Rendezvous. There will be (very cold) swimming! There will be rad workshops, trainings, and presentations–e.g., direct action, Indigenous land defense, resisting borders, grassroots media, climate change and wildfire ecology, dismantling patriarchy, basic camping and woods skills, and a shitload more. There will be action in defense of life and against the machinery of death! There will be campfires, singing, and plant walks.
As organizers of this year’s Earth First! Rendezvous,we are grateful to be able to offer travel support to POC organizers, Indigenous land defenders, and other folks from directly impacted communities. But we’ve maxed out our budget! Can you help us in supporting even more rad folks in attending this year’s gathering? DONATE HERE.
If you need travel support, get in touch with us at 2019rrr.org/contact. (more…)
by Graham Readfearn / DeSmog Blog
The Adani Carmichael coal mine — one of the most controversial fossil fuel projects in Australia’s history — has been handed its final environmental approval.
Based in Queensland, the Indian-owned mine has been beset by controversy after gaining its first set of approvals back in 2014, sparking a nationwide “Stop Adani” movement and multiple legal challenges.
Initially proposed as a massive 60 million metric ton per year mine, the project, including a rail line, has since been downscaled and is expected to export an initial 10 million metric tons per year, with plans to ramp up to about 27 million metric tons annually.
Adani jumped its final legal hurdle on Thursday, when the Queensland state government passed the mine’s underground water plans. (more…)
by Jocelyn Stacey / Intercontinental Cry
“The fires were never a threat to us. It was the state that was the threat.”
In two short sentences Chief Joe Alphonse, Tribal Chair of the Tsilhqot’in National Government, conveyed to a House of Commons committee a central insight of disaster studies. The environment does not create disasters — people do. (more…)
by Liu Caiyu/North American Animal Liberation Press Office
A cyber police force in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province listed fighting extremism as its foremost mission to purify cyberspace, which has sparked wide discussions online on Tuesday.
Extreme organizations use so-called justice to influence the public and unite those with radical views when they are in need, aiming to deliberately disturb the public order, and spark conflicts rather than solve problems, the cyber police force of the Mianyang Public Security Bureau said on its Sina Weibo post on Monday.
It said extremist organizations worldwide are financially supported by certain forces to push the agenda of their patrons on the internet. When the forces hide behind military strikes or a trade war against the country, such extreme organization and individuals would show up to deliver dire forecasts on the economy, spread anxiety, smear certain industries and create social disorder and tensions.
The Galápagos Islands are at the centre of a political row in Ecuador after the government agreed to allow US anti-narcotics planes to use an airstrip on the archipelago which inspired Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Dozens of people demonstrated outside the main government office in Quito on Monday to protest against a plan they described as a threat to the world heritage site’s unique environment – and an attack on Ecuador’s sovereignty.
The Galápagos Islands, 563 miles west of the South American continent, are renowned for their unique plants and wildlife. Unesco describes the archipelago – visited by a quarter of a million tourists every year – as a “living museum and a showcase for evolution”.
By Jan Wesner Childs / Weather
Scientists studying climate change expected layers of permafrost in the Canadian Arctic to melt by the year 2090.
Instead, it’s happening now.
A new study published this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters revealed that unusually warm summers in the Canadian High Arctic between 2003 and 2016 resulted in permafrost melt up to 240% higher than previous years. (more…)
submitted to Earth First! Newswire
Submitted to EF! Journal
Petrolia, CA (June 17th)—In the predawn darkness this morning, a 40 ft. “mono-pod” blockade structure was erected in the road at the main access gate to controversial logging plans in the Mattole River watershed, and several people on the ground were arrested. Twenty people were on site to protest logging by Humboldt Redwood Co. (HRC) in the Rainbow Ridge area, where HRC first started operations in early June.
At least eight sheriffs’ vehicles arrived and immediately threw several people on the ground and subsequently arrested them, while they were standing on the public access road, ostensibly in a legal area. Lear Asset Management, the private security hired by HRC is also on site. So far reports are that several people were arrested and taken to jail, and there is a sitter in the pod.
Scotia, CA— At 2 P.M. Thursday, June 13, a dozen protestors engaged in an office demonstration in Scotia to establish communication directly with Humboldt Redwood Co. (HRC) decision-makers, and make clear their demands, in light of the increased threat from HRC to protesters opposing logging in the forest on Rainbow Ridge.
They entered the Humboldt Redwood Company offices, requesting to speak to John Andersen (director of Forest Policy at HRC) about the safety and treatment of tree-sitter Rook. They were given Andersen’s cell phone number by the receptionist. The protestors then marched through the entire two floors of the facility with drums and chants, demanding that HRC’s hired security “Leave Rook alone! Protect Rainbow Ridge!” While in the office, they took time to inspect the maps posted in the HRC offices. (more…)
from Fight Toxic Prisons / It’s Going Down
Washington, DC — In response to a federal lawsuit filed by Green Justice attorneys, the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) announced it withdrew its intent to construct a new $510 million federal prison in Letcher County, Kentucky, the most expensive proposed federal prison in U.S. history. The lawyers represented prisoners and activists concerned about the new facility being sited on a former mountaintop removal coal mine and near an active mine and coal sludge pond.
Marianne Cufone, lead attorney with Green Justice, said, “The lawsuit highlighted that both the process and actual building of the USP Letcher facility conflicted with various federal laws. The Bureau of Prisons did the right thing in withdrawing its construction plans.” (more…)