350 Updates

Fighting alongside the #PacificWarriors

We're still waiting on photos to roll in from a bunch of the Pacific Islands from the Pacific Warrior Day of Action - but incredibly moving solidarity photos keep pouring in from around the world (see the Solidarity Photos here). In Kiribati their internet has been moving so slowly they can't load up any photos to us - which is not suprising - whenever I've visited Kiribati, the internet is often down for a day or two at a time. In Tonga, the team loaded up their amazing footage only for their computer to get all viral on it and wiped their entire collection of photos and video. As for Nauru - it remains largely a mystery as to what happens there, but we do on occassion hear from our organisers there - and when we do, it's usually something spectacular. For example, last year for the Connect the Dots day of action, they convinced the electricity company to turn off the generator, which powers the whole island, for 350 minutes! Then this morning I've just heard from our coordinator in Vanuatu, who has been stranded because of a massive storm that hit Vanuatu over the weekend, which has pegged back the internet to snail pace. Thankfully they are all ok there though. We did however receive these amazing photos from the teams in Pohnpei, the Federated States of Micronesia, Niue, and Palau (you can see the full collections on 350 Pacific's Facebook page).

FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA

NIUE

PALAU

 

Meanwhile, we've been blown away by the incredible solidarity shown by people around the world. Here are just a few more of the hundreds we've received. 

ENGLAND

GUYANA

 

 

Photo highlights: Pacific Warrior Day of Action

Throughout the day, photos have been rolling in for the 350 Pacific Warrior Day of Action - not just of the amazing warrior dances in the 14 Pacific Islands nations - but also of the solidarity from people around the world. Here are just a few of the amazing photos that we've seen today - we're expecting many more to keep rolling in. So stay tuned to the Day of Action photo site, and if you're on Facebook, check out 350 Pacific.

Tokelau Warrior Dance

Tokelau warrior dance

 

Marshall Island Warriors 

Marshall Island Warriors 

Solidarity came from around the world

Bangladesh

Kazakhstan

Norway

Canada

New Zealand

 

Some tough news on Keystone XL

Friends,

Yesterday Time Magazine declared that Keystone had become the Stonewall and the Selma of the climate movement -- and today we got a reminder of just how tough those fights were, and how tough this one will be.

On a Friday afternoon, with Secretary of State John Kerry half a world away and D.C. focused on the budget fight, the State Department released a new environmental impact statement for the pipeline. Like the last such report, it found that approving a 800,000 barrel-a-day fuse to one of the planet’s biggest carbon bombs was “unlikely to have a substantial impact” on the tar sands or the climate.

That, in a word, is nonsense -- some of our most important climate scientists in the U.S. have written the State Department to explain exactly how dangerous Keystone is. Just yesterday Europe’s top climate diplomat pointed out that it would send a truly terrible signal to the rest of the world.

President Obama will be making a decision in a few short months. I won’t lie: today’s report makes the odds look even tougher -- and the power of the fossil fuel lobby hasn’t waned one bit.

But I’m reminded that the last time the State Department issued an environmental impact statement about the pipeline, we were just beginning this fight. That day in 2011, 50 people were arrested at the White House during the very first wave of protests against the pipeline.

This time around we’re tens of thousands of people stronger, and once again, I think we are just beginning to fight.