August, 29 2011, 01:30pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jamie Henn, 415-601-9337, jamie@tarsandsaction.org
Daniel Kessler, 510-501-1779, daniel@ran.org
NASA's Lead Climate Scientist, Daryl Hannah, and Religious Leaders To "Draw Line in the Sand" at White House Oil Pipeline Protest on Monday
Almost 400 Already Arrested in Two Week Protest; Monday’s Group Largest of Arrests To Date
WASHINGTON
More than 60 religious leaders, NASA's lead climate scientist Dr. James Hansen, and actress Daryl Hannah are expecting arrest on Monday when they join the largest civil disobedience on climate change in US history. At issue is the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, now the top environmental decision on President Obama's desk before the 2012 election.
Visuals: More than 60 religious people arrested in front of the White House wearing Roman collars, religious stoles, Franciscan robes, Jewish kippas, and other religious wear. Dr. James Hansen addressing the White House with a bullhorn,
"Climate change hurts the poor first," said Rose Berger, a Roman Catholic and lead Sojourners organizer for Tar Sands Action. "The tar sands development and the permitting the Keystone XL pipeline will worsen climate change and should be stopped.."
Dr. James Hansen told ClimateWire last week that "If Obama chooses the dirty needle it will confirm that Obama was just greenwashing all along, like the other well-oiled coal-fired politicians, with no real intention of solving the addiction."
Where: Lafayette Park, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
When: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Voices: Dr. James Hansen heads the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City; Rose Berger, religious witness organizer for Sojourners; Marie Dennis, director of Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns; Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation; Bill McKibben, Methodist environmentalist, and protest organizer; Fr. Jacek Orzechowski, OFM, Franciscan priest and chair of the Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation Directorate for the Franciscans of the Holy Name Province; Rev. Craig C. Roshaven, Witness Ministries Director, Unitarian Universalist Association; Rev. Kathleen Stone, chaplain of the Church Center for the United Nations.
CONTACT: Daniel Kessler, 510-501-1779, daniel@ran.org; Jamie Henn, 415-601-9337, jamie@tarsandsaction.org;
Tar Sands Action is a program of Peaceful Uprising, which is a project of International Humanities Center a 501(c)(3) charitable trust.
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Since Israel launched what the International Court of Justice has said is a "plausibly" genocidal assault of the Gaza Strip in response to a Hamas-led October attack, the Biden administration has blocked three cease-fire resolutions at the Security Council. Under mounting global pressure last month, the U.S. finally abstained last month, allowing a cease-fire measure to pass.
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"We came to the Security Council today as an important historic moment, regionally and internationally, so that we could salvage what can be saved. We place you before a historic responsibility to establish the foundations of a just and comprehensive peace in our region."
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