Home

Tell Sen. Michael Bennet to REJECT THE KXL PIPELINE!

On April 22nd Senator Michael Bennet voted to support the KXL tar sands oil pipeline via a budget amendment.  On April 5th, the 2-week anniversary of this vote, 350 Colorado and partners gathered outside Sen. Bennet’s office for a “Funeral for Our Future” to mourn future impacts of climate change if the KXL pipeline is not stopped. The purpose was to send Sen. Bennet back to DC with a strong message: if he cares about climate change and our future, he must change his position and reject the KXL pipeline!

Thanks so much to the 120+ people who joined the event and shared their grief and their gratitude for those who are standing against the pipeline! There was a beautiful eulogy from Rev. Peter Sawtell of Eco-Justice Ministries (read it here) and moving statements from all who spoke.  Everyone wrote down what they are in mourning for should the KXL pipeline be approved and climate change accelerate as anticipated.  These notes were placed in a black coffin one by one.  After the ceremony, the notes were delivered to Senator Bennet’s staff.

One of Sen. Bennet’s staff members appeared toward the end of the action, expressed anger about our last action being too raucous and disrespectful and about the chalk art messages our children left for Sen. Bennet.  We explained that we feel Sen. Bennet’s vote for the pipeline was disrespectful to all of us and our children’s futures.  The staff again tried to say that the vote was simply procedural and did not have bearing on the Senator’s feelings about the pipeline.  Again we explained that neither the amendment’s sponsors nor political analysts saw it that way, that the vote puts pressure on Pres. Obama to accept the pipeline, and that if Sen. Bennet opposes the KXL pipeline, he should release a statement explaining that immediately.  In the absence of such a statement from Sen. Bennet, we’ll just have to keep amping up our efforts. Our sense of responsibility demands it.

Pictures from today’s event are available here.  Please share your pictures from the event on our 350 Colorado Facebook page.

Thank you for helping to protect our future!

(And thanks again to the ~100 people who joined us March 26th (4 days after the vote) to express our disappointment with Bennet’s pro-KXL vote.  We staged a “human oil spill” on the office steps.  You can read this blog to learn more about that event and pictures are available here.)

Want to take action now? Leave a message for Sen. Bennet regarding your concerns about the pipeline.  Denver Office: 303-455-7600.  DC office: 202-224-5852.

*** 

Thanks to everyone who participated in our

#ForwardOnClimate Solidarity March & Rally!

You made it A HUGE SUCCESS!

On February 17th, nearly 50,000 people from around the country converged on Washington, DC to demand that President Obama take strong action on climate change and stop the Keystone XL pipeline. Here in Colorado, we also hosted a #ForwardonClimate Solidarity March and Rally in Denver with over 1,000 participants!

We kicked it off with a student-led “Go Fossil Free” rally, then marched as a human pipeline to Civic Center Park. There we converged with other groups for a mass “human oil spill” and rally, with awesome speakers like James Balog of “Chasing Ice”, Auden Schendler of Aspen Skiing Company, Taryn and Cheyenne from Idle No More, Jodee Brekke of The Mothers Project and Protect Our Colorado, Rev. Peter Sawtell of Eco-Justice Ministries, Mark Chavez of GoFossilFree.org campaigns across Colorado and more!    Thanks to our emcee Xiuhtezcatl Roske-Martinez, the 12-year-old leader of the Earth Guardians youth group, who also performed with other members of the groups performance group.  And thanks to other awesome performers including Jonny 5 of the Flobots, Laura Holdhammer, and DJ Cavem!

We’ll keep calling for fossil fuel divestment on college campuses, demanding a clean energy future, and standing up to oppose extreme energy projects like the Keystone XL pipeline.

Thanks to the event co-sponsors:  GoFossilFree.org Campus Divestment Campaigns, 350 Colorado, Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Environment Colorado, Protect Our Colorado, What the Frack?! Arapahoe, Earth Guardians, PLAN-Boulder County, Be the Change, Clean Energy Action, Eco-Justice Ministries, Colorado Move to Amend, Climate Ministry of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder, Idle No More, AspenSnowmass, Protect Our Winters, American Indian Movement of Colorado and other allies

Media coverage:

***

It’s time to Go Fossil Free!

Students at more than 200 universities and colleges across the U.S. have launched Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaigns on their campuses.  Go to www.GoFossilFree.org to learn more and join or start a campaign on your campus!  Graduated?  Alumni, donor, and community member support is also much needed – and consider starting a fossil free campaign in your city, place of worship, or with your pension plan!

Why it’s time to go fossil free – do the math: we can burn 565 more gigatons of carbon dioxide and stay below 2°C of warming — anything more than that risks catastrophe for life on earth. The only problem? Fossil fuel corporations now have 2,795 gigatons in their reserves, five times the safe amount. And they’re planning to burn it all — unless we rise up to stop them.

Let’s build the movement that will change the terrifying math of the climate crisis!

Want to get more involved?

Comments are closed.