Tar Sands Rally - 10/7

What are you doing this Friday at 12 PM?

A. Nothing.

B. Something I don’t feel like doing anyway.

C. Something important that I can’t miss.

I’m going to guess that 95% of you answered A or B. In that case, I’ve got something exciting and worthwhile for you to do! Come to the Tar Sands rally at the Ronald Reagan Building, for the final State Department hearing on the Keystone XL pipeline. (Don’t worry, there’s no risk of getting arrested this time.) Here’s a link to the Facebook event, and here’s the invitation:

"Three months ago when Bill McKibben and others put out a call for a sustained nonviolent action at the White House against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, we didn’t know what the response would be. But the urgency of the issue drove 1,253 people to take a leap of faith, and risk arrest to stop the Keystone XL pipeline.

We made history from August 20 – September 3. The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is now the biggest environmental decision facing the President before the next election. We have an opportunity to hold President Obama to his campaign promises and begin to put a dent in the flow of carbon into the atmosphere.

Here’s the next step. We’re asking all of you who are able to get there to join us again in Washington, D.C. on Friday, October 7th for a noon time rally at the Ronald Reagan Building outside the final State Dept. hearing on the Keystone XL pipeline. We’ll be meeting at the 14th St. entrance between Pennsylvania Ave. and Constitution Ave.

The President’s team will be watching this hearing to see if we can keep up public pressure after our big action, so we need a big crowd to show them that we will continue to hold him to his promises. Can you join us? http://www.tarsandsaction.org/october7th/

The rally on the 7th event will kick off one month of escalating actions across the country, culminating in a giant action on November 6th back in DC – one year from the next election – that will try to encircle the White House. This is bigger than anything we have ever attempted before* we’re not sure exactly what to expect. But we know it’s the type of bold, audacious action that just might make an impact.

We don’t have much time – the President will be making a decision by the end of the year.  We’re counting on folks who can make it to DC on the 7th to help inspire our friends across the country to take action in the coming weeks and months.

Already a dozen D.C.-based organizations have joined together to support this rally. Our goal is to bring together many hundreds of people outside the Ronald Reagan Building, to send a clear message to the President that will also reinspire our friends across the country to keep this movement on the move. I’d love to see you there on the 7th – and definitely mark November 6th on your calendar as well.

*A previous version of this email said that noone has ever encircled the White House, which it turns out is not the case – a few other folks have tried similar actions at critical moments of their own fights. We’ll be taking lessons from folks in those efforts to make this action as successful as possible."