ANNOUNCEMENT: FIGHT GLOBAL WARMING

(1)The West Coast Convergence for Climate Action
Wednesday, August 8th - Tuesday, August 14th

6 days of low-impact living and high-impact action near the mouth of the Columbia River in Skamokawa, Washington.

With extreme weather, massive species extinctions, and melting ice caps becoming a more dire reality each day, it is high time for us to come together to take firm actions against the root causes of climate change.

Today, with large fossil fuel development projects planned at the mouth of the Columbia River, this iconic waterway is ground zero in the global struggle against the violence of the energy industry and for a livable climate future.

The West Coast Convergence for Climate Action will be situated near a community that is fighting a proposed Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal on the Columbia River. Currently, LNG development is being met with local, community-based resistance due to the immense safety risks, environmental destruction, local economic impact, and social injustice related to this foreign fossil fuel. We are working with and supporting many of the local residents in their campaign against LNG, as well as with activists resisting dams, highway expansions, nuclear and other forms of dirty and unjust energy.

The convergence will be a space for celebration, for kids and families, a place to socialize with friends old and new. We intend to show that less energy intensive, less "stuff-centered" living is not just more environmentally friendly, but that less can be so much more FUN!

(2)Southeast “Convergence for Climate Action” to combine low-impact living with high-impact civil disobedience
Wednesday, August 8th - Tuesday, August 14th

What: The Southeast Convergence for Climate Action will be a week of trainings, workshops, and strategy sessions focused on building a no-compromise movement against the fossil fuel industry and “false solutions” to climate change like nuclear energy, “clean coal,” and carbon trading. The convergence will culminate in a massive day of direct action against fossil fuels and for climate justice.

When: August 8-14 (The 13th is reserved for direct actions and other protests.) Media are welcome to attend the convergence on Friday the 10th for site tours and interviews.

Where: On private land near Asheville, North Carolina. Directions available on request.

Why: Climate Chaos is here. In the face of rising sea levels, melting ice caps, government inaction, and corporations profiteering from market-based “solutions” that don’t work, regular people must act. The Convergence aims to promote a just, rapid transition away from fossil fuels; support the efforts of communities that are fighting dirty energy developments in their backyards – including new coal and new nuclear power plants; encourage non-violent civil disobedience as a means for challenging dirty energy and empowering the movement to stop climate change, and increase networking and strategizing amongst the diverse social justice and environmental movements fighting climate change, its false solutions and the energy industry.

Who: The Southeast Convergence is being organized by Southern Energy Network, Rising Tide, the Nuclear Information Resource Service (NIRS), and Energy Justice Summer. See our website for a list of co-sponsors.

Background: With mountain top removal coal mining ravaging the mountains and communities of Appalachia, a host of new dirty coal plants proposed for the region, and the nuclear industry attempting to re-establish itself as a “solution” to climate change, the Southeast is rapidly becoming a national sacrifice zone for cheap electricity. To counter this onslaught of dirty energy projects, the Southeast convergence will bring together a wide variety of people to share skills in community organizing, direct action, indigenous support work, sustainable living skills, grassroots disaster relief, and much more.

The Southeast Convergence for Climate Action is taking place in conjunction with a West Coast convergence targeting liquefied natural gas and a Camp for Climate Action at London’s Heathrow Airport. Each convergence location has been strategically chosen to support existing local organizing efforts against the fossil fuel industry.