The Monday, August 26, Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) welcomes two regional activists who participated in the indigenous-led Moccasins on the Ground direct action training camp near Whitehall, Montana, on August 23 to 25. We are honored to hear Brooklyn Baptiste tell the epic story of the four-night Nez Perce Tribe blockade on August 5 through 8 of an Alberta tar sands evaporator on Highway 12 in Idaho, as well as updates about a related federal court injunction hearing. Justin Ellenbecker of various social and environmental justice organizations in Spokane also describes Moccasins on the Ground and local coal/shale oil export resistance and media attention, the broadened Gateway Pacific coal terminal analysis, and upcoming scoping hearings about a proposed Longview coal port. 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.
Category Archives: Events
Climate Justice Forum: Meredith Moffett, Elrae Potts, & Debra White Plume 8-19-13
The Monday, August 19, Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) welcomes three female indigenous activists of the Lakota and Nez Perce tribes. Meredith Moffett discusses the August 5 to 8 Nez Perce blockades of tar sands equipment on Highway 12 in Idaho, and Elrae Potts describes the August 12 protest of the same module and convoy in Missoula as well as the upcoming Moccasins on the Ground (MOG) direct action training camp near Butte on August 23 through 25. WIRT is also honored to feature a recorded interview with Debra White Plume, who led a Lakota megaload blockade in March 2012 and coordinates MOG camps and Keystone XL pipeline resistance in South Dakota. 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: Mary Ullrich 7-29-13
The Monday, July 29, Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) welcomes Mary Ullrich of the Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition board. Mary discusses how the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) tried to control public opinion by presenting false information in its guide to the draft environmental impact statement for the Highway 95 Thorn Creek to Moscow reconstruction project. She also updates listeners on the current status of ITD and federal review and response to public comments and document revisions. 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: Chris Nerison 7-15-13
The Monday, July 15, Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) welcomes small business owner and lifelong activist Chris Nerison of Spokane Moves to Amend the Constitution (SMAC). Chris has been advancing the Clean and Fair Elections ordinance that is currently facing an injunction lawsuit by a group of business interests. This qualified and approved city ballot initiative would prohibit corporate lobbying, involvement in initiatives, donations to city candidates, and communications between corporations and the city beyond open forums. 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: David Osborn 6-17-13
The Monday, June 17, Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) welcomes David Osborn of Portland Rising Tide, a climate activist who compiles and creates the Rising Tide North America newsletter every month. David talks on the show about upcoming summer actions and expanding resistance to fossil fuel export corridors traversing Northwest lands and waters, carrying Alberta tar sands, Bakken shale oil, liquefied natural gas, and coal to regional and Asian markets. Roy Zimmerman’s recently premiered song about WIRT, commissioned by Tom Hansen, The Tide is Rising, also airs. 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: Debra White Plume & Alma Hasse 6-10-13
The Monday, June 10, Climate Justice Forum radio program hosted by Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) gratefully welcomes Debra White Plume, a courageous Lakota activist and director of Bring Back the Way. Debra blockaded tar sands megaloads on a South Dakota highway through Lakota land in March 2012 and has been organizing opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline with training camps like the Moccasins on the Ground Tour of Resistance this weekend. Alma Hasse of Idaho Residents Against Gas Extraction talks on the show about the Friday, June 7, anti-fracking protest in Boise and pending natural gas drilling permits, facilities, and new local rules in Payette County. We may also air Roy Zimmerman’s recently premiered song about WIRT, commissioned by Tom Hansen, The Tide is Rising. 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.
Rising Tide Continental Gathering
Our strength comes from our connection, our power from our unity.
Rising Tide Continental Gathering
July 18-20, 2013 Utah
17th arrival, 21st departure
Contact: gathering@risingtidenorthamerica.org
The Pitch
This July, many of the members of Rising Tide-affiliated, anti-extraction, and climate justice groups around the U.S., Mexico, and Canada will converge in beautiful Utah to train, discuss, strategize, and develop the structure, dynamics, and capacity of the Rising Tide network.
Rising Tide is an international, all-volunteer, grassroots network of groups and individuals who organize locally, promote community-based solutions to the climate crisis, and take direct action to confront the root causes of climate change. Some network members are called Rising Tide, others are not. In its essence, Rising Tide seeks to create a broad, long-term, international, collaborative platform for direct action and climate justice organizing.
The Rising Tide North America network consists of groups and local contacts throughout Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Local groups work on a wide variety of issues that pertain to the local communities in which they reside. If you are already part of the Rising Tide network, if you are interested in joining as an individual or a group, or if you want to find out how a grassroots, horizontally-organized, dedicated network of direct action-oriented, climate justice organizations can change the world, the Rising Tide Continental Gathering may just be the place to come.
All of the groups involved in the Rising Tide network are actively organizing on the ground in their communities. Many are taking the lead in staging bold direct actions that are altering the course of the climate fight. Many are participating in national and international projects that are at the forefront of movement building and solidarity work against tar sands, fracked oil and natural gas, and coal exploitation.
The Rising Tide Continental Gathering will provide a significant venue for networking and forwarding proposals that will impact the course of the burgeoning anti-extraction and climate justice movement. The gathering will also promote solidarity work with frontline and fenceline communities that must be a part of our struggles. The network itself is collaboratively creating the agenda for the gathering, ensuring that participants will get out of the gathering what they put into it. Come, participate, and help it grow.
Read more: Rising Tide Continental Gathering (facebook page)
(By Rising Tide North America)
Paradise Ridge Field Tour
The Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition (PRDC), Palouse Prairie Foundation, and Idaho Native Plant Society encourage everyone to join a field tour of sites along and near the proposed U.S. Highway 95 E-2 realignment on the west flank of Paradise Ridge. On Sunday, May 19, starting at 2:00 pm, participants will meet at the parking lot of the University of Idaho Arboretum, 1200 West Palouse River Drive in Moscow, and carpool to Zeitler Road east of Highway 95. People attending the field tour will view sites with ungulate/big game habitat, spring wildflowers, and native Palouse Prairie. Regional botanists and wildlife biologists who know the area well will help guide the tour. The co-sponsors are inviting the public as well as the Moscow mayor and city council, Latah County commissioners, Idaho state legislators, and the press. After the planned field tour, hosts will also lead a hike to the top of Paradise Ridge, for participants who wish to enjoy the natural areas and vast views of the ridge. Continue reading
WIRT Activist House Party
On a beautifully balmy Moscow Saturday evening in May (especially with reduced university traffic noise and carbon emissions!), Wild Idaho Rising Tide invites you and your friends and family to our humble house to celebrate our collective, its amazing activists, allies, and base camp, and to strategize and energize for a summer of successful actions. The party starts at 7 pm on Saturday, May 18, and continues far into the evening. Come and bring beverages, snacks, or dishes to share with your comrades, for a lively night of radical elbow-rubbing, merry-making, and music-playing. Activists inclined to jam can join the acoustic fray in the front room, dancers can enjoy the roomy kitchen, and party-goers can relax in the back porch and yard. WIRT would be delighted and infinitely grateful for the honor of your revolutionary presence amongst this revelry! Continue reading
French Royalty at 40th Ren Fair
This year’s Moscow Renaissance Fair king and queen planted their roots here 25 years ago, and have been accepted locally as business owners and activists fighting to keep their kingdom pristine.
Bill and Dianne French grew up together in Lincoln, Nebraska, eventually moving to Indiana where Bill studied to be an optometrist.
“I got my eyes dilated a lot when he was going through optometry school,” said Dianne. “…We knew that we wanted to be self-employed, so we started looking at communities around the country.”
The Frenchs were drawn to Moscow in 1988, because they said it was a good place to raise a family, affect local change, and be heard.
“And the downtown was alive,” Dianne said, “and we saw a lot of towns in ’88 where the downtown was boarded up.”
Together the Frenchs own and operate Palouse Ocularium and recently purchased Ex-Sightment Optical in Moscow. Dianne is also a client. Continue reading



