March 10: Vote for Bernie!

If you are an Idaho or Washington resident, please vote for Senator Bernie Sanders in the Tuesday, March 10, presidential primary election from 8 am to 8 pm at Idaho polling places, where you can also register in-person as a voter with identification, or contact your county elections department in Washington in-person to register, update your address, and request a ballot for deposit in an official, election mail, drop box by 8 pm [1, 2].

Although this election decision is your personal choice, voting records on numerous, progressive, environmental and social justice issues, including fossil fueled climate chaos, suggest that Senator Sanders will seek better resolutions than former Vice President Joe Biden or current President Donald Trump.  Consider who will most effectively end worldwide, U.S.-initiated, political and resource wars, institute a Green New Deal and ban fracking, and establish affordable college education, a livable minimum wage, and Medicare for all [3-5].  Senator Sanders is the strongest candidate who can win the Democratic nomination in July and the U.S. presidency in November [6].

During this crucial, transitional time of planetary tragedy, choosing political expediency, moderate candidates, and half-measures risks the lives, health, and safety of millions of Americans [7, 8].  As Ben Franklin warned, during another momentous era, “Those who would give up essential liberty (a better democracy for all), to purchase a little temporary safety (election defeat of Trump), deserve neither liberty nor safety.”  Climate activists encourage you to elect the only viable, progressive candidate remaining from an inspiring field of grassroots leaders and committed to implementing critically necessary plans and policies that can resolve energy systems and climate change [9, 10].  Please show up and cast your ballot in support of climate crisis solutions and Senator Bernie Sanders on March 10, and participate on Saturday, April 4, in selection of county delegates for the Idaho Democratic Convention in Boise, on June 4 to 7.  Idahoans will send 22 delegates to the Democratic National Convention on July 13 to 16 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where small states could swing the nomination.

March 12: Black Snake Killaz #NoDAPL Film

On Thursday, March 12, at 7 pm, KRFP Radio Free Moscow, Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment, Palouse Environmental Sustainability Coalition, and Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse Environmental Task Force are sponsoring a showing of the documentary Black Snake Killaz at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre, 508 South Main Street in Moscow, Idaho.  For free or donation admissions, hear from Gary Dorr, Al Chidester, and other activists who participated in protests against the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL), recently proposed for expansion, and created displayed art from their experiences of Standing Rock and indigenous resistance camps in North Dakota in 2016 and 2017.

Produced by the on-site videographers and reporters of Unicorn Riot, Black Snake Killaz highlights the actions of water protectors to stop Bakken oil pipeline construction, and investigates the actions of law enforcement, military, and corporate mercenaries attempting to quell the months-long protest.  This collaborative, creative commons film describes the historical events that unfolded at Standing Rock, and shares the raw, frontline experiences of direct actions.  Although energy companies completed the Dakota Access pipeline, the importance of water protectors’ stories and their resistance movement grows, as fossil fuel extraction projects continue to impact some of the most vulnerable communities throughout the world.

KRFP will host an information table with literature, bumper stickers, a donation jar, and ticket sales for the Real Radio Dinner on Saturday, March 28 [11].  Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) volunteers and other north Idaho groups will also present outreach tables, for participants to learn and engage in Idaho and Northwest struggles against climate-wrecking fossil fuels infrastructure, extraction, and transportation.  Please widely share the two attached event posters, to augment film and dinner attendance.

March 12 & 26: WIRT Meetings & Movies

The Wild Idaho Rising Tide climate activist collective welcomes opportunities to involve you and the regional, environmental and indigenous community in critical issues, as we together relentlessly confront the fossil fuel causes of climate chaos, through frontline actions and solutions.  WIRT organizers invite you to participate in potluck gatherings that include climate action films and conversations planning tactics, strategies, and activities, starting on a new schedule: the second and fourth Thursdays of every month, respectively in Moscow and Sandpoint [12].  WIRT is holding March meetings at 6 pm on Thursday, the 12th, at The Attic, up the back stairs of 314 East Second Street in Moscow, and on Thursday, the 26th, at the Gardenia Center, 400 Church Street in Sandpoint.  We encourage you to offer your unique advice and assistance in arranging the Ninth Annual WIRT Celebrations in Moscow at 7 pm on Friday, March 27, and in Sandpoint on Sunday, March 29, #No2ndBridge attorney search, litigation, and petition signature gathering and delivery at state and federal agency offices, documentary and panel presentations, direct actions and training workshops, and public outreach.  For updates and articles on ongoing and emerging, Northwest and North American, fossil fuels issues, please check WIRT website and especially facebook pages, listen to WIRT’s weekly radio program, and sign the Petition to Deny and Revoke Permits for the BNSF Sandpoint Junction Connector Project [13].

February 21: Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Actions Report

Thanks to Inland Northwest groups who so crucially helped organize and expressed heartfelt solidarity during successful Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Actions in the downtown plazas of Spokane, Washington, and Moscow and Sandpoint, Idaho, on Friday, February 21 [14]!  Wild Idaho Rising Tide and allies are proud to stand with Wet’suwet’en First Nation hereditary chiefs and clans defending their sovereignty and territory in west central British Columbia (B.C.), from Royal Canadian Mounted Police invasions imposing TC Energy (formerly TransCanada) construction of the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline from northeastern B.C., across unceded, Wet’suwet’en lands, to an unbuilt, liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Kitimat, B.C.  We also appreciate the staff of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Sandpoint Online, and Sandpoint Reader, for publishing brief articles or listings in events calendars, drawn from the quickly condensed, WIRT event announcement.  Although the resulting photo caption does not accurately reference the topics of objection, the Bonner County Daily Bee visited and printed a picture of the Sandpoint protest [15].  Please see the linked, three-event report that publicly acknowledges and integrates information, photos, and a video compiled from post-action, conversational insights, facebook comments and posts, and emails, which we shared with admired, Wet’suwet’en and other land, water, and climate protectors [16].

[1] Vote Early for Bernie, by 5 pm on Friday, March 6! March 5, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[2] Dates and Deadlines 2020, Washington Secretary of State

[3] Some reasons to choose Senator Bernie Sanders as the Democratic (yuck!) 2020 presidential candidate…, March 3, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[4] Vote for Bernie on Tuesday, March 10! March 9, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[5] Sanders: We’re Trying to Transform This Country, Not Just Beat Trump, March 4, 2020 Rachel Maddow/MSNBC

[6] Bernie Sanders Can Still Win the Nomination and the Presidency, March 4, 2020 Jacobin

[7] No Idaho Nukes! March 3, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[8] Joe Biden Mistakes Idaho for Iowa in Visit to Boise Fundraiser, March 9, 2020 Boise Times

[9] Bernie Sanders on Climate Change: Where the Candidate Stands, January 4, 2020 Inside Climate News

[10] Joe Biden on Climate Change: Where the Candidate Stands, January 9, 2020 Inside Climate News

[11] Real Radio Dinner and Auction Gala, KRFP Radio Free Moscow

[12] Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Actions and February WIRT and Allied Events, February 16, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[13] Petition to Deny and Revoke Permits for the BNSF Sandpoint Junction Connector Project, September 30, 2018 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[14] Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Actions, February 16, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[15] Thanks to Keith Kinnaird and the Bonner County Daily Bee…, February 25, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide

[16] Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Actions Report, February 23, 2020 Wild Idaho Rising Tide