Wednesday, April 18: Sandpoint WIRT Meeting & Film Screening

Invite your friends and families, and join the regional, climate activist community, #No2ndBridge group members, and Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) organizers for the April, third-Wednesday, monthly, WIRT gathering at the Gardenia Center, 400 Church Street in Sandpoint, at 7 pm on Wednesday, April 18.  Discussions and action plans include Earth Day and Farmers Market outreach in Moscow and Sandpoint, an oil and gas waste injection well protest and petition presentation in Boise, and ongoing, dirty energy transportation monitoring and reporting.  We especially need your participation in work on a #No2ndBridge petition, banner, brochures, comment talking points, Sandpoint rally and demonstration with speakers on Saturday, April 28, information sessions around the inland Northwest, regional attendance and expert testimony at the May 23 hearings in Ponderay and Sandpoint, and summer, direct action training camp, all opposing Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway track and bridge expansion of the coal, oil, hazmat, and possibly tar sands pipeline-on-wheels across Sandpoint and Lake Pend Oreille in north Idaho.

All are welcome to bring their creative ideas and energies and potluck food and beverages, to share current, issue updates and background, and to explore strategies and tactics in support and solidarity with grassroots, Northwest, fossil fuels resistance.  At this convergence, we will also view the 2016, Break Free documentary Disobedience, a brief film that describes the global, climate justice movement led by common people taking courageous actions against the power and pollution of the fossil fuel industry, and accelerating the clean energy revolution on the front lines of every continent [1, 2].  Contact WIRT via email or phone, with your questions and suggestions about potential meeting topics and activities.

Sunday, April 22: North Idaho Earth Day Celebration

Hosted and sponsored by 350Sandpoint, North Idaho Women, and the Sandpoint Annual Earth Day Festival, this 48th, public, Earth Day celebration and march will highlight local concerns over HiTestSand’s silicon smelter proposed for Newport, Washington, and planned construction of doubled railroad tracks and three bridges across Lake Pend Oreille and Sandpoint [3, 4].  Other event offerings include free health screenings, activities for children, live music, and an Earth-themed, costume contest with prizes for kids aged 12 and younger and adults.  Organizations working to keep Idaho healthy, wild, and beautiful, by educating and activating the local community, will offer information booths, voter registration, the Idaho Medicaid petition, and much more.  Enjoy and learn with your friends and family, between 12 and 3 pm on Sunday, April 22, at Farmin Park, Oak and Fourth streets in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Sunday, April 22: Moscow Nelsebration

The family, friends, and north Idaho/Palouse community of Nels Peterson lost a beautiful soul on March 21.  WIRT activists and supporters knew Nels from the Panhandle Artisan Bread Company and as a drummer with the Moscow Volunteer Peace Band and Henry C and the Willards, who played at more tar sands megaload protests and Annual Celebrations of Wild Idaho Rising Tide than any other musicians.

In memory and spirit of the tremendous love, strength, and peace that Nels brought to the Moscow area, his community invites everyone missing Nels during his transition to join with all the lives he touched, in a Nelsebration party in honor of Nels [5].  On Sunday, April 22, at 5:30 pm, the Moscow Volunteer Peace Band will gather at Friendship Square in downtown Moscow, and proceed to the 1912 Center, at 412 East Third Street in Moscow.  From 6 to 9 pm there, Henry C and the Willards and The Intentions will perform live music shows, Moscow Brewing Company will provide beer and wine, and participants may bring dishes of food to share.

Postponed: Spokane Train Blockader Necessity Defense Trial

In August and September, 2016, six Spokane area members of local Raging Grannies and Veterans for Peace chapters blocked coal and oil trains, with two acts of nonviolent, civil disobedience [6, 7].  Police arrested and charged all six protestors with trespass and obstructing a train.  Five pled guilty, for various reasons, at summer 2017 hearings in Spokane District Court.  Only Reverend George Taylor chose to move forward with his case to jury trial, and filed a motion asking Judge Debra Hayes to allow his attorneys to present a necessity defense, arguing that he committed one harm to prevent the greater health risks, environmental dangers, and imminent harms of fossil fuel train pollution, derailments, explosions, and fires (like in Mosier, Oregon, on June 3, 2016) and of their cargo’s combustion, greenhouse gas emissions, and consequent exacerbation of climate change. Continue reading →

Seventh WIRT Celebrations Thanks & Funds Request

Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) sends our deep gratitude to the gracious musicians, core WIRT activists, allies, guests, non-profit organizations, and businesses who contributed their efforts, donations, and supplies for the Seventh Annual Celebrations of WIRT benefit concerts at the Moscow 1912 Center and the Sandpoint Little Panida Theater, on Friday and Saturday evenings, March 30 and 31 [1-3].  We especially thank:

* Acoustic guitarist and singer John Firshi, for playing his inspiring, original, and improvisational music for participants and venue employees and volunteers at the Moscow and Sandpoint anniversary events

* Talented, hard-rocking, Sandpoint musicians Jeremy Kleinsmith and Brandon Watterson of OWULL, for sharing their exuberant sounds on the Sandpoint, fossil fuels frontline

* The seven band members of Los Caipirinhos, for traveling from the Tri-Cities, Washington, but not performing their danceable, Latin ska, reggae, and rock, due to an almost absent, Moscow audience (-$200)

* Jenny and Robby of the 1912 Center in Moscow, for Great Room reservation, rental, arrangement, and clean-up on the night before the KRFP Real Radio Dinner on the WIRT anniversary, March 31 (-$246)

* Trish, Bill, and three Little Panida Theater  volunteers, for venue rental, projection of the background, WIRT slide show, beer, wine, popcorn, and camaraderie (-$255)

* Wine Company of Moscow manager Terry, for WIRT-purchased beer and a temporary liquor license (-$27), and the Rosauers and Safeway stores in Moscow, for potluck food, wine, and ice (-$49)

* WIRT activists and friends David, Denise, Pat, and other Moscow and Sandpoint celebration participants, for delicious, potluck food, supply transportation and preparation, insightful conversations, and admission donations (+$50)

* The Bonner County Daily Bee, Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Panida Theater, and Sandpoint Reader, for publicizing both events via newspaper and website notices drawn from online, Panida Theater posts and a WIRT media release [4] Continue reading →