> Immediate Call For Support From Indigenous Resistance Communities of Big Mountain, Black Mesa, AZ in their struggle for Life, Land and Dignity. January 18, 2010

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> Although there’s been a recent victory against the reopening of the Black Mesa Complex, the Kayenta mine is still operating and elders on the front lines fighting the continued impacts of coal mining and forced relocation efforts are still requesting support.

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> We are writing with a request for direct on-land support on behalf of families of traditional resistance communities of Black Mesa, AZ.. One of the Big Mountain elder matriarchs, Blanche Wilson, the mother of Mae Tso, who hosted the 2008 caravan, passed away yesterday. Please hold her and her family in your thoughts and prayers. Mae and Samuel, two of Blanche’s children, and elders themselves, are living alone at their homesite. They are in much need of support–they will need to take four days away from basic necessities and work for the traditional funeral. Additionally Mae injured her back on Christmas day and has been in pain for the last three weeks and at a limited work capacity; Samuel has been working double what he normally does. There are supporters there now until Wednesday the 20th. The funeral will be after that so, as mentioned, they really need the help at this time.

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> If you are available for any days from this Wednesday on, please let us know ASAP, so we can tell the family that the homesite and sheep will be covered. Please forward this to anyone you know who could possibly be available to support.

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> Furthermore, after this year’s Caravan/Fall Wood Run to Black Mesa, BMIS is receiving an unprecedented amount of direct requests for on-land support from elders–we usually have about 2-3 per month and this month we have NINE requests, besides Mae and Samuel Tso. There are several sheepherders on-land right now, but nearly all of them are leaving by the end of the month. February is a difficult month for the elders to live out in the vast canyonlands of Black Mesa in such high altitude in the cold and snow without paved roads and supporters are much appreciated. One of the elders is undergoing knee surgery at the end of January and will be out of commission for several weeks. If you contact us we will give you details.

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> It is extremely important that we try as hard as we can to have supporters up there to honor these requests and make sure that we continue our support beyond the caravan. If you have come on a caravan or spent time on the land before please consider reconnecting with the struggle and staying with a family requesting support. If you can’t come out put the call out to your community and offer to talk to interested sheep herders about your experience before getting them in touch with us.This is vital to remain connected to the struggle and to show our solidarity. Please consider coming out if at all possible. Let us know, and let anyone else who could possibly come out know.

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> Forward this widely.

> Many Thanks,

> Black Mesa Indigenous Support Collective

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> http://www.blackmesais.org

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> http://www.blackmesais.org

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> http://www.blackmesais.org

Black Mesa, AZ – A Department of Interior Administrative Law Judge withdrew Peabody Coal Company’s Life of Mine permit for operations (Black Mesa Complex) on Black Mesa, AZ, handing a major victory to tribal and environmental organizations who appealed the permit decision in January. The permit had been granted on December 22nd 2008 by the Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining (OSM) in one of several fossil-fuel friendly 11th hour decisions by the Bush Administration. Continue Reading »

Together we <a href=”http://www.climategroundzero.org/2010/01/callmasseyonjan25″>made hundreds of phone calls yesterday</a> to Massey Coal, flooding their phone lines asking them to stop abusing the tree sitters and stop blasting Coal River Mountain. We did a great job, but it wasn’t enough and we need to take the next step and get WV Governor Joe Manchin to make them stop.<br><br>

Governor’s office: 1-888-438-2731<br>

<a href=”http://climategroundzero.net/2010/01/manchin_save_mountain_stop_harassment/”>Click here to report your call</a><br><br>

Massey Coal continues to break the law, harassing the two remaining tree sitters with horns at dangerous decibel levels, likely to cause permanent ear damage. This act is violent and can be classified under West Virginia State Code as felony endangerment.<br><br>

West Virginia state police have acknowledged the illegal nature of this act, but have done nothing in response to repeated pleas to state emergency numbers, state and federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, and other legal resources.<br><br>

Yesterday, Governor Manchin said “We will not in any way, shape or form in this state of West Virginia tolerate any violence against anyone on any side.” Massey air horns haven’t stopped. In addition, the sitters overheard the guards talking on the radio about using fire-hoses as an abuse tactic. Getting sprayed with water in sub-freezing temperatures while 60 feet up in the tree would be outright deadly and would prevent them from being able to even safely descend.<br><br>

Call Governor Manchin’s office and ask him to intervene in the violence against the sitters and support the end to mountaintop removal.<br><br>

Governor’s office: 1-888-438-2731<br>

<a href=”http://climategroundzero.net/2010/01/manchin_save_mountain_stop_harassment/”>Click here to report your call</a><br><br>

This abuse must stop. Massey has proven itself to be a criminal corporation, both in it’s policies towards the sitters and the people of the mountains. We need Governor Manchin to protect clean drinking water in West Virginia and nationwide. An end to mountaintop mining will protect the quality of life for Appalachian coalfield residents who face frequent and catastrophic flooding, heavy metals pollution and loss of freshwater streams as a result of mountaintop removal coal mining.<br><br>

What action can you take?<br>

Report your call here and let us know how it went<br>

Tell your friends by forwarding them this email or checking out our Facebook event<br><br>

Eric Blevins and Amber Nitchman are in high spirits, swinging high up in the trees. See <a href=”http://picasaweb.google.com/climategroundzero/CoalRiverTreeSit”>photos from their cell phones</a> and <a href=”http://www.youtube.com/user/ClimateGndZero”>watch videos of the activists talking about this fight</a>. <br><br>

Thanks for contributing to this strong national effort — we all live downstream.<br><br>

The Climate Ground Zero team<br><br><br>

<i>Read about Governor Manchin’s statement yesterday on escalating violence in the coal fields on Coal Tattoo:<br>

<a href=”http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2010/01/25/manchin-calls-for-calm-in-the-coalfields/#more-1732″>http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2010/01/25/manchin-calls-for-calm-in-the-coalfields/#more-1732</a><br><br>

Read the day 5 update on Climate Ground Zero’s website:<br>

<a href=”http://climategroundzero.net/2010/01/coal-river-tree-sit-day-5-inside-the-action/”>http://climategroundzero.net/2010/01/coal-river-tree-sit-day-5-inside-the-action/</a></i>

BUENOS AIRES – Touted as “harvested forests,” single-crop tree plantations are fast encroaching on the native forests and grasslands of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, affecting the environment and the lives of local communities, rural women say. Continue Reading »

Click the map for regional information

MOBILIZE! – NOVEMBER 30, 2009

As the world’s biggest companies and their friends in government continue to fight a transition to more just and sustainable ways of living, climate change threatens to turn our world upside down with water shortages, crop failures, sea level rise and ecosystem collapse.  A million species face extinction by the end of the century, and the people who have contributed least to the problem will continue to be the hardest hit.  What can be done at this critical juncture, with our future at stake?

Throughout history, social change has come about when regular people get fed up with business as usual, get organized, and take to the streets. If we leave climate solutions up to politicians and corporations, then we will lose – not just a political battle, but the life-support systems of the planet.  Time is running out to avert the worst impacts of climate change: the time to act is now.

A broad coalition of organizations working for social, ecological, racial and economic justice has come together under the banner of the Mobilization for Climate Justice. Join us as we organize mass action on climate change on November 30, 2009!  November 30 (N30) is significant both because it immediately precedes the upcoming UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen and is the ten-year anniversary of the protests that shut down of the World Trade Organization meetings in Seattle, demonstrating the incredible power of collective action.

Every indication is that any agreement that emerges from Copenhagen will be nothing more than business as usual—sacrificing real emissions reductions in favor of market-based approaches that enhance corporate profits while delaying a transition away from fossil fuels. The current approach to climate change in the UN, and in the US Congress, is based on the creation of a new market in carbon emissions.  Carbon trading (aka “cap and trade”) and carbon offsets do not address the root causes of global warming, nor do they reduce emissions.  They are designed by and for corporations, and are a dangerous distraction that should be abandoned.

We urgently need to implement real solutions like ending excessive consumption, keeping fossil fuels in the ground, re-localizing production and consumption, and drastically reducing greenhouse emissions.  We must also protect the rights of workers, displaced peoples, and others affected by the transition.

In recent months, people of the world have taken valiant action for climate solutions. On Oct. 24th, people in 181 countries staged over 5,200 actions calling for global action on climate change. And on November 4, African delegates walked out of pre-Copenhagen negotiations in Barcelona – demanding that rich countries commit to deeper and faster emissions cuts – while European activists used civil disobedience to disrupt the talks.

And now, we’re asking you to join us in taking the next step – a global day of action for climate justice on Monday, November 30, 2009. Take the day off, get together with friends, and take a stand for real, just and effective solutions to the climate crisis!

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WHAT YOU CAN DO ON N30:

Several actions are already being planned for November 30 – and many more will be coming soon – so if there’s an action happening in your city or region, we urge you to join it!  See the MCJ site for a map of N30 actions across the country and across the world.

If there isn’t an action being organized in your town, organize one! If you’re already involved in a campaign against a company that’s contributing to climate injustice, organize an action on against them November 30.  You can submit actions by clicking HERE.

If you’re organizing an action from scratch, we’d suggest you go after one of the following companies: Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Chevron, BP, or American Electric Power. We picked these six companies because they’re all, through their investments, lobbying, and day to day business, going out of their way to obstruct real solutions to the climate crisis.  For more info about them, see our Corporate Criminals page.

Corporations like these will keep trying to distract us with false solutions, but we will send them a loud, clear message: Our climate is not your business!

Help us spread the word – we’ll see you in the streets!

If you can’t make it out, please consider helping others take action by making a donation.

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The Mobilization for Climate Justice is: Alliance of Community Trainers, Art in Action, Asian-Pacific Environmental Network, Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace and Justice, Bay Localize, Beehive Design Collective, Burmese American Democratic Alliance, Communities for a Better Environment, Community Coalition for Environmental Justice, Direct Action to Stop the War, Earth First!, Eco-Cycle, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Environment and Social Development Organization, Environmental Justice &

Climate Change Initiative, Enviro Show, Filipino American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity, Forest Ethics, Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Global Exchange, Global Justice Ecology Project, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, Headrush, Indigenous Environmental Network, Institute for Social Ecology, International Forum on Globalization, International Rivers, Justice in Nigeria Now!, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Movement Generation, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Pacific Environment, Poor Magazine, PR for People & the Planet, Rainforest Action Network, Richmond Mayor’s Taskforce on Environmental Justice and Health, Richmond Progressive Alliance, Rising Tide North America, Ruckus Society, SmartMeme, Solidarity, Uganda Network on Toxic Free Malaria Control, West County Toxics Coalition, Women of Color United, Youth In Focus, Zero Waste Vancouver, and 350.org

PETTUS, W. Va. – Early this morning two concerned citizens, Dea Goblirsch and Nick Martin, locked down to a drill rig on Coal River Mountain’s Bee Tree mountaintop removal site, effectively stopping blasting. Two others, Grace Williams and Laura Von Dolen, joined them in direct support, holding a banner with the message “Save Coal River Mountain”. Continue Reading »