Category Archives: Events

Climate Justice Forum: Chief Carl Sampson 12-16-13

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The Monday, December 16, Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) features Wall Walla Chief Carl Sampson of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, talking about tribal and climate activist resistance to tar sands megaloads on ceded Umatilla territories and ancestral homelands in eastern Oregon and Washington.  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 dirty energy developments and climate activism news, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as his KRFP DJ.

‘Healing Walk’ Looks at Tar Sands

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Six people from Moscow spent a weekend this past summer getting an up-close look at the Alberta tar sands, the destination point for the controversial megaloads that have passed through the Northwest, including Moscow.

On Saturday, those people shared their story of that weekend during a presentation in Moscow’s 1912 Center sponsored by several environmental groups, including the Palouse Environmental Sustainability Coalition.

“It is out of sight, out of mind and people have to understand what’s going on up there,” Dan Rathmann said about the tar sands.

Rathmann and the rest of the group traveled to Canada in July to take part in a “healing walk,” a tour of the tar sands facilities alongside members of local First Nations groups.

The tour spanned about 8 miles near the town of Fort McMurray, where the facilities are located. There they got to see the oil facilities and learn about the extraction and mining of bitumen, the substance that is eventually processed into synthetic crude oil. They also heard from tribe members about how the operations are affecting their livelihood and the environment. Continue reading →

A Healing Walk through the Alberta Tar Sands

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A Healing Walk through the Alberta Tar Sands 1

Tar Sands, Megaloads, Pipelines, Climate Change: What’s the Connection?

Tar sands, megaloads, pipelines, climate change: What’s the connection?  Explore these issues with six concerned local citizens from Idaho, who journeyed in 2012 and 2013 to the tar sands region of northern Alberta, to gather with First Nations and non-tribal activists and journalists from across the continent, for the annual Tar Sands Healing Walk.  Led and inspired by indigenous elders and leaders, participants experienced first-hand the scale of environmental devastation caused by tar sands mining and resulting crude oil production.

Through a slide show presentation and discussion, six local healing walkers – James Blakely, Pat Fuerst, Pat and Dan Rathmann, Anne Remaley, and Helen Yost – will share what they learned on their solidarity journey, connecting tar sands exploitation with regional megaload transports, huge pipeline projects, impacts on people and places, and overarching climate change and moral issues.  Join co-sponsors 350 Idaho, the Idaho Sierra Club, Palouse Environmental Sustainability Coalition (PESC), and Wild Idaho Rising Tide for this insightful talk from 3 to 5 pm on Saturday, December 7, in the 1912 Center Arts Workshop Room, 412 East Third Street in Moscow, Idaho.  For further information, contact Pat Fuerst of PESC at epfuerst@frontier.com.

Stand Up! Fight Back! Against Fossil Fuels in the Northwest!

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Stand Up Fight Back Flyer

Direct Action Training and Planning to Confront Dirty Energy Invasions

Wild Idaho Rising Tide and Spokane Rising Tide activists enthusiastically invite regional community members eager to design and stage arrestable protests to the second Stand Up! Fight Back! Against Fossil Fuels in the Northwest! information sharing, brainstorming, and strategizing session.  Opponents of coal, fracked natural gas and oil, and tar sands extraction and transportation projects are converging from northern Idaho and eastern Washington for these urgent non-violent direct action training and planning workshops.  Duplicate gatherings will occur between 10 am and 4 pm on Saturday, November 9, at the Liberty Park United Methodist Church, 1526 East Eleventh Avenue in Spokane, Washington, and from 12 noon to 5 pm on Sunday, November 10, at The Attic, up the back stairs of 314 East Second Street in Moscow, Idaho.  Workshop participants will learn direct action methods as they share their experiences protecting the public environment and health from corporate pillage, while preparing to confront coal and shale oil trains before November 18 port scoping period deadlines as well as the next tar sands megaloads when they move through the region to Alberta. Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Millennium Bulk Terminal Scoping Hearing Testimony in Pasco 10-28-13

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The Monday, October 28, Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) features recorded and edited testimony from the three-hour Millennium Bulk Terminal scoping hearing in Pasco, Washington, on October 1.  Speakers voice concerns about the global, regional, and community impacts of the proposed Longview coal export facilities and accompanying Northwest coal trains, for agency consideration in a draft environmental impact statement.  Participants note employment opportunities, economic vitality, worker/public safety, and human, environmental, and climate health threats.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Monday between 7:30 and 9:30 pm PDT live at 92.5 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide dirty energy developments and climate activism news, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as his KRFP DJ.

Climate Justice Forum: Millennium Bulk Terminal Scoping Hearing Testimony in Pasco 10-14-13

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The Monday, October 14, Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) features recorded and edited testimony from the three-hour Millennium Bulk Terminal scoping hearing in Pasco, Washington, on October 1.  Speakers voice concerns about the global, regional, and community impacts of the proposed Longview coal export facilities and accompanying Northwest coal trains, for agency consideration in a draft environmental impact statement.  Participants note employment opportunities, economic vitality, worker/public safety, and human, environmental, and climate health threats.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Monday between 7:30 and 10 pm PDT live at 92.5 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide dirty energy developments and climate activism news, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as his KRFP DJ.

Tunes with ‘Tude

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Jeanne McHale

Jeanne McHale

Galactic Tofu Farmers

Galactic Tofu Farmers

Undiscovered Country

Undiscovered Country

Proceeds from fundraising concert will go to Nez Perce tribal members arrested in megaloads protest.

Area protestors captured national headlines in August by obstructing megaload shipments through the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest bound for the Canadian tar sands.  A parade and benefit concert on Friday in Moscow will support and aid those arrested.

“We want to express our appreciation and show our solidarity with the Nez Perce people who worked so hard,” says Jeanne McHale, a member of Wild Idaho Rising Tide and Friends of the Clearwater, two of four Moscow-based environmental groups sponsoring the event.

Several Moscow environmentalists joined tribal members in protesting the use of a wild portion of U.S. Highway 12 as an industrial corridor.  Twenty-eight Nez Perce tribal members were charged on September 12 with public nuisance infractions, after last month’s protests against an Omega Morgan megaload shipment traveling through the Nez Perce Reservation.  Those arrested included eight members of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee.  Funds raised will go toward the protest, travel, and legal efforts and expenses of those arrested.

“Moscow has become something of a sacrifice zone for Highway 12.  When things did not go well there, loads came through Moscow,” McHale, a board member of Friends of the Clearwater, says of past protests against megaloads in the area. Continue reading →

Benefit Concert for Nez Perce Megaload Protesters

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August 5 Nez Perce Blockade - Shannon Jackson

At 7 pm on Friday, September 20, four Moscow conservation and activist groups are co-hosting a benefit concert at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse, 420 East Second Street in Moscow, Idaho.  The event seeks to raise appreciation, solidarity, and funds for the protest, travel, and legal efforts and expenses of arrested Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) anti-megaload activists.  Starting at 6:30 pm after the weekly peace vigil, the Moscow Volunteer Peace Band will lead a parade, perhaps joined by Nimiipuu drummers, gathering participants from Friendship Square through downtown to the church.  The festivities open with original, politically-charged music by Jeanne McHale and assorted singers, including megaload songs and an audience performance of the Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) anthem, The Tide is Rising.  Nez Perce speakers will next describe their megaload resistance, and tribal drummers will share songs and chances to partake in round dances.  The local bands Galactic Tofu Farmers and Undiscovered Country will play original Americana and folk rock music to activate hearts, minds, and feet until 11 pm.  Throughout the evening, the co-sponsors will offer free snacks and inexpensive beer, wine, and non-alcoholic drinks provided by Mikey’s Greek Gyros and the Wine Company of Moscow.  Wild Idaho Rising Tide, Friends of the Clearwater, Palouse Environmental Sustainability Coalition, and Palouse Group of the Sierra Club welcome everyone to contribute voluntary five dollar or more donations for admission and courageous, arrested Nimiipuu allies. Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: J.P. Kemmick 9-9-13

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The Monday, September 9, Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) welcomes J.P. Kemmick of Coal Export Action in Missoula, describing the planned actions and rallies of the September Showdown Against Coal Export on September 15 and 16 in Helena, Montana.  J.P. also discusses the Northwest coal export issue and resistance to coal extraction and transportation in Montana.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Monday between 7:30 and 9:30 pm PDT live at 92.5 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide dirty energy developments and climate activism news, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as his KRFP DJ.

Climate Justice Forum: Herb Goodwin 9-2-13

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The Monday, September 2, Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) welcomes Herb Goodwin, an Occupy Bellingham and anti-coal export activist who participated in the indigenous-led Moccasins on the Ground direct action training camp near Whitehall, Montana, on August 23 to 25.  In an interview recorded when he visited Moscow, Herb talks about the western Washington coal export resistance movement and the street and court experiences of the Bellingham 12, who formed an “octopus” to blockade Bellingham train tracks on December 12, 2011, the first coal export direct action in the Northwest.  Broadcast on progressive, volunteer, community station KRFP Radio Free Moscow every Monday between 7:30 and 9:30 pm PDT live at 92.5 FM and online, the show covers continent-wide dirty energy developments and climate activism news, thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as his KRFP DJ.