It's been a seriously good news / bad news kind of week. We had several incredibly powerful events earlier this week: Following a hugely successful M
It's been a seriously good news / bad news kind of week.
We had several incredibly powerful events earlier this week: Following a hugely successful Mermaid's Parade (12,000 flyers distributed!) we had 2 terrific rallies (photos below). Plus informative forums on the proposed plastic bag ban and NYC's other trash issues, a new composting program--all initiatives that will make for positive changes in our climate impact. Josh Fox rocked it on The Daily Show. And this weekend, there are two more GREAT actions we hope you'll attend (details below).
While Obama's climate plan included a mandate for government offices to consume 20% of its power from renewables, his promotion of domestic gas and oil drilling, and punting on the XL pipeline was a punch in the gut.
And right now we have an emergency action alert regarding a project that we reported on last week, the Liberty LNG port. Liberty has filed and the public input period is very short; we have only until July 23rd to comment, and public hearings are in 2 weeks. We'll do more in-depth posts shortly, but right now it's important to keep up with fast-developing news. For that, connect with our facebook page, where we'll be posting info all weekend long.
Saturday June 29th @ 10am: Human Rockaway Pipeline
A human pipeline will form along the route that National Grid and Transco Williams proposes for the Rockaway pipeline. Join Coalition Against the Rockaway Pipeline (CARP) and other local opponents at Flatbush Avenue from Floyd Bennett Field to the Gil Hodges Bridge. 2 train to end of the line (Flatbush Ave.) transfer to Q35 Bus or take ferry. Please sign up and share the facebook event. (Raindate 6/30)
Sunday: The Best Pride Parade, Ever!
LGBTQ and Friends Against Fracking: This is an historic year to march! Celebrate news of the Supreme Court striking down DOMA with our gay friends who'll be bringing eco-awareness to a pumped up parade crowd. Fracktivists have much in common and much to learn from the gay rights movement: Cuomo was persuaded to support their agenda; now a law that blocked their civil rights has been struck down. These are 2 things that our movement very much needs to do as well.
Sunday June 30th, starting at 11:30 AM: Meet on 39th street just east of 6th Avenue. For more about the parade, contact information, and the details about a sign making party at 2pm on Saturday, June 29th, please sign up here. Friends of ALL persuasions are welcome!
Reportback
photos copyright Erik McGregor (Thank you Erik!)
Tuesday's rally at The Plaza greeted Governor Cuomo's fundraising event with 400 LOUD activists stretched across a city block opposite the entrance to the fete. Faux greeters passed out blue cards imitating the original invitations that read, "It's like Paul Simon (the musical guest) said, Fracking's still crazy after all these years!" A huge greeting card signed by protestors was delivered to the party and the crowd got to wave to former Governor, Mario Cuomo, as he entered his son's party. People traveled from as far away as Poughkeepsie to join the rally, and activists showed up with terrific reworked lyrics to Cecelia and Mrs. Robinson. A great energetic crowd and clear messaging to Cuomo, who'd been bird dogged just the day before in Binghamton. What can we say? We just like staying in touch with our governor!
Wednesday's lunchtime flash mob at City Hall was another fabulous action brought off by Occupy the Pipeline and Occupy Puppets (with support from several other groups): Marchers accompanied by a funereal tune (thanks to Rude Mechanical Orchestra!) slowly entered the park carrying pipes marked "Spectra" and "Rockaway." At the central fountain, where local office workers looked on, windmills beat back the pipelines, defending our city from another infrastructure invasion. The crowd roared approval! Mic checks plus a march and rally afterwards are now a documented part of countless tourist and native facebook pages, given the number of cell phones and cameras whipped out to catch the action!
Stay Tuned!
The summer is off to a busy start and it's about to get busier. We have a LOT of outreach to do and that means extra printing costs. If you'd like to help our effort against any of the pipelines or the LNG port, we appreciate donations of all types: time, creativity, research, data entry, etc. Drop us a line if you'd like to help: contact@SaneEnergyProject.org; we'd love to hear from you!
