Category Archives: Events

Thanks for a Successful Fourth Year & Celebration!

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Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) extends our gratitude to everyone who organized and participated in our successful Fourth Annual Celebration of WIRT on Saturday, March 28, at the 1912 Center Great Room in Moscow, Idaho [1, 2].  We heartily thank Tom Bennett, who coordinated musical performers and created facebook event notices; Pat Monger, who printed and posted color event flyers throughout Moscow; Leigh Robartes, who produced a KRFP Radio Free Moscow announcement promoting the occasion [3]; Rob Briggs, who served as a bartender, beer supplier, and event materials hauler and arranger; Sharon Cousins, David Hall, and Jacki Vorhees, who stored and provided beverages and potluck food, loaned a vehicle for silent auction item retrieval, and prepared the 1912 Center Great Room; and several volunteers who diligently cleared dishes, tablecloths, tables, and chairs, and assisted other arrangements.

We greatly appreciate the talented musicians who drove hundreds of miles to exuberantly offer event participants an inspiring, invigorating, live benefit concert free of charge.  Tom Bennett, the folk/blues, one-man band from north Georgia and Utah, stopped in Moscow during his Northwest tour and opened the evening show with his rowdy, refreshing, real music, after playing at the WIRT fundraising party at The Attic in mid-November 2014 [4].  Pete Sands of ‪‎Blackkiss ventured a long round trip from northern Utah to offer his amazing performance – delayed for Sapaatk’ayn Native American Film Festival attendees – of unique, soul-stirring, Navajo dark country music that participants are still complimenting [5].  When acoustic rock, punk, and blues musician Eugeine Grey could not travel from Chicago to Moscow, core WIRT activist Fiddlin’ Big Al Chidester stepped in to conclude the concert with his rousing, eclectic, traditional, and original folk tunes [6].  Through a background WIRT slide show and intermission talk, WIRT organizer Helen Yost described the successes of our grassroots climate activist collective, including industry-impacting resistance to tar sands, shale oil, natural gas, and coal extraction and transportation [7].

We especially thank Mikey’s Greek Gyros and the Wine Company of Moscow, for donating beer, wine, and a liquor service permit, and these 14 Moscow and Pullman community members and businesses, who generously provided silent auction items together valued at hundreds of dollars.

B&L Bicycles: A bicycle pump

Brused Books: One gift certificate

Cowgirl Chocolates: Eight assorted chocolate bars

Fiddlin’ Big Al: Two KRFP T-shirts and one Fiddlin’ Big Al T-shirt

Glassphemy: Incense and a holder and a hemp wick lighter

Howard Hughes Video: Two movie rental gift certificates

Hyperspud Sports: A Leatherman-like multi-tool and a Hyperspud Sports “Chico” bag

Moscow Brewing Company: A beer growler and one gift certificate

Nectar: Dinner for two gift certificate

One World Café: One gift card and a One World Café T-shirt

Paradise Creek Bicycles: A bike rental coupon and a Paradise Creek Bicycles glass

Patty’s Mexican Kitchen: Two gift certificates

Rico’s Pub: Two gift certificates

Tye Dye Everything: A tye-dye T-shirt and a WIRT contribution Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Bill Moyer 3-30-15

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The Monday, March 30, 2015 Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) gratefully welcomes Bill Moyer, a co-founder and executive director of Backbone Campaign at Vashon Island, Washington.  Bill discusses Solutionary Rail, a bold, thoughtful, and effective vision for transforming the Northern Transcon section of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad between Chicago and the U.S. Northwest into an environmentally sound, electrified rail corridor that could sustain communities, commerce, and alternative energy.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Monday between 7:30 and 9:30 pm PST, live at 90.3 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide climate activism and community resistance to dirty energy developments, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Fourth Annual Celebration of Wild Idaho Rising Tide

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Fourth Annual Celebration of WIRT Flyer

The fourth year of relentless Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) activism has manifested plenty to celebrate!  We invite and welcome everyone to the Fourth Annual Celebration of Wild Idaho Rising Tide, commemorating our anniversary as a direct action collective and reinvigorating our members, friends, and supporters for another year of dedicated commitment and involvement in the passionate climate justice movement.  This yearly fundraising party supports WIRT activists, who confront the root causes and perpetrators of climate change by asserting direct actions and promoting locally organized solutions, in solidarity with frontline communities of resistance and an international, volunteer, grassroots network of activists.  We eagerly anticipate hosting another lively, evening gathering, enjoying shared camaraderie, live music and dancing, and exuberant fun.

Between 7 pm and 12 midnight on Saturday, March 28, revel in a benefit concert provided by three bands, along with a home-cooked, potluck dinner and desert, beer and wine for purchase, and dozens of raffle prizes donated by community members and businesses.  To savor our successes, hundreds of selected photos of our demonstrations and initiatives will cycle through a background slide show.  Please join dirty energy resisters at the 1912 Center Great Room, 412 East Third Street in Moscow, Idaho, for a well-deserved wild time full of spirited conversation and inspiring music played by remarkable, visiting songwriters and performers.

Do not miss this upcoming opportunity to support the robust activism of Idaho’s courageous challengers of the government, corporate, and industrial sources of climate chaos, for voluntary admission contributions of only $5 or greater.  WIRT offers our hearty thanks to Tom Bennett of Sweet Salt Records in Salt Lake City, Utah, for co-coordinating the multiple entertainment aspects of this event and arranging live performances by musicians traveling to Moscow from Chicago and Salt Lake City.  For further information and/or to assist with preparing and staging WIRT’s big night, please visit the WIRT website and facebook pages, contact WIRT at wild.idaho.rising.tide@gmail.com or 208-301-8039, and print and post the color Fourth Annual Celebration of WIRT Flyer. Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Jess Moore 3-16-15

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The Monday, March 16, 2015 Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) gratefully welcomes Jess Moore, one of the organizers with Blue Skies Campaign, who staged a sit-in with 350 Missoula activists of U.S. Senator Daines’ office in Missoula, Montana, on Friday, March 13, to protest to his climate change denial and his support of fossil fuel projects.  Jess will talk about the action and its context in Montana of coal mining and export and the Keystone XL pipeline proposal.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Monday between 7:30 and 9:30 pm PST, live at 90.3 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide climate activism and community resistance to dirty energy developments, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Climate Justice Forum: Idaho Senate Bill 50 on Gas Lease Unitization 3-9-15

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The Monday, March 9, 2015 Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) will discuss recent issue updates on Alberta tar sands and Bakken shale oil trains, the Great Falls refinery expansion involving recent megaload transports, and oil and gas legislation and leasing in southwest Idaho.  We will air recordings of March 2 and 4 Idaho Senate Resources and Environment Committee hearings on Senate Bill 50 advancing unitization of mineral leases, which compromises private property rights, mortgages, and insurance.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Monday between 7:30 and 9:30 pm PST, live at 90.3 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide climate activism and community resistance to dirty energy developments, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Climate Justice Forum: Oil Trains & Idaho Oil & Gas Bills 3-2-15

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The Monday, March 2, 2015 Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) will discuss the explosive hazards and issue developments of Alberta tar sands and Bakken shale oil trains crossing the Northwest and six oil and gas regulation bills compromising basic citizen and property rights, considered for passage today by the Idaho Senate.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Monday between 7:30 and 9:30 pm PST, live at 90.3 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide climate activism and community resistance to dirty energy developments, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Climate Justice Forum: Jennifer Ekstrom 2-16-15

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The Monday, February 16, 2015 Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) gratefully welcomes fellow Tar Sands Healing Walker and regional conservationist Jennifer Ekstrom​, who directed, filmed, and produced the award-winning documentary Last Rush for the Wild West: Tar Sands, Oil Shale, and the American Frontier, screening in Moscow on Monday, February 23.  Jennifer will discuss her experiences creating the compelling movie, named one of the Ten Best Eco-Docs of 2014 by EcoWatch, and its context of extreme fossil fuel extraction, watershed and climate pollution, and resolute indigenous and citizen opposition in Utah, Alberta, and beyond.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Monday between 7:30 and 9:30 pm PST, live at 90.3 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide climate activism and community resistance to dirty energy developments, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Utah/Alberta Tar Sands Documentary Screens in Moscow

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Last Rush for the Wild West Photo

New Documentary Exposes Destructive Tar Sands Mining Plans in Utah

Last Rush for the Wild West Screens in Moscow on February 23

An award-winning, documentary film that exposes plans to strip mine vast landscapes in the upper reaches of the Colorado River watershed in Utah will screen at 7 pm on Monday, February 23, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse, 420 East Second Street in Moscow, Idaho.  The Palouse Environmental Sustainability Coalition (PESC) and Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) will provide snacks and beverages and accept donations for this co-hosted event that is free and open to the public.

Last Rush for the Wild West: Tar Sands, Oil Shale, and the American Frontier earned the Audience Appeal Award at the 2014 Moab International Film Festival, and EcoWatch named the movie one of the Ten Best Eco-Docs of 2014.  The film highlights industry efforts already underway to strip mine almost one million acres of tar sands and oil shale deposits across eastern Utah and Colorado and Wyoming.  Potential strip mines would overuse and pollute the delicate Colorado River watershed, on which 36 million people living in downstream, drought-stricken areas depend for drinking water, agriculture, and recreation.

The film’s director, Jennifer Ekstrom, will attend this Moscow premier to introduce the film and host a post-screening, question-and-answer session.  Before turning to filmmaking in 2012, Jennifer was born and raised in eastern Washington and has worked as communications director for the statewide Wild Washington Campaign, which met initial success with the designation of the Wild Sky Wilderness near Index, Washington.  Besides assisting several citizen initiative, electoral political, and education campaigns promoting sound environmental and social policies on clean air, smart growth, health care, and the minimum wage, Jennifer recently served as the waterkeeper and executive director for Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper in Sandpoint, Idaho.  Along with Pat Rathmann of PESC and Helen Yost of WIRT, she was among the first Idahoans to participate in the indigenous-led Tar Sands Healing Walk near Fort McMurray, Alberta, during August 2012. Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Gary Dorr 2-9-15

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The Monday, February 9, 2015 Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) gratefully welcomes again Nez Perce activist Gary Dorr, who has been assisting tribal and grassroots resistance of the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline in South Dakota and Nebraska.  Gary will share his involved, localized knowledge about the indigenous Spirit Camp in the KXL path, the U.S. House and Senate push for the pipeline, President Obama’s promise to veto Congressional KXL approval, the recent, damning EPA report on the pipeline, Nebraska court cases on laws facilitating the KXL, and his predictions of emerging issue developments over the next few months.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Monday between 7:30 and 9:30 pm PST, live at 90.3 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide climate activism and community opposition to dirty energy developments, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.

Climate Justice Forum: Sandpoint Oil Train Forum & Idaho Senate Oil & Gas Rules Hearing 2-2-15

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The Monday, February 2, Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) will broadcast the second half hour of the Sandpoint, Idaho, community forum on coal and oil train issues, held in City Council Chambers on January 14, 2015.  The recording features presentations by two of eight citizen, city and county government, and railroad company panelists, including moderator Chris Bessler of Sandpoint Magazine, Jared Yost of the Sandpoint Mapping and GIS Department, and Bob Howard of Bonner County Emergency Services.  WIRT will also air the final Payette County, Idaho, resident testimony during the February 2, 2015 Idaho Senate Resources and Environment Committee hearing, before it passed revised state oil and gas rules.  Alma Hasse of Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction, Joli Eromenok, the closest home and business neighbor to a proposed liquefied natural gas processing and “bomb train” loading facility, and farm and business owner Jim Plucinski share their private property rights concerns.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Monday between 7:30 and 9:30 pm PST, live at 90.3 FM and online, the show also covers continent-wide, grassroots, climate activism and community opposition to industrial, dirty energy invasions, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as her KRFP DJ.