Caroline welcomes denizen of Yosemite, Ron Kauk, who lives in El Portal, the doorway, which is deft because today we get to open portals between worlds, to suffuse the memosphere with sane reverent common sense.
“Ron Kauk is a legendary Yosemite climber. He recently received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his many accomplishments, within and beyond climbing. We talked about life in Camp 4 in the 70s, climbing ‘Astroman’ with John Bachar, influential music and books, stories from a brief career in Hollywood, doing the FA of ‘Magic Line’, his non-profit Sacred Rok, daily practices, connecting with Mother Nature, and much more.”
and a squosh of Star Hawk that we may bless her dedicated effective imminent adventure, on which she will file a full scouting report, upon her return. (See full press release from 1000 Grandmothers for Future Generations below.)
Join the Grandmothers against Line 3: www.1000grandmothers.com/stop-line-3.html
(Instructions to write a letter to the Bidens; Join the demonstration on May 26th in St Paul, Minnesota; & more)
Press Release
For Immediate Release: May 19, 2021
1000 Grandmothers for Future Generations: www.1000grandmothers.com
Grandmothers Supporting Grandmothers to Stop Line 3!
Grandmothers from around the US are journeying to Minnesota this month to support the Anishanaabe Water Protectors at their camps along the route of Enbridge’s proposed new Line 3 pipeline, which would carry dirty tar sands crude oil through pristine watersheds, wild rice lakes, and sacred lands. 26 members of 1000 Grandmothers for Future Generations, along with five Lakota grandmothers will converge on May 22 to support indigenous elders and Water Protectors who have encamped along the proposed route to stop construction of Line 3.
1000 Grandmothers is based in Northern California, and their sister group of elders will be coming from South Dakota. The grandmothers are teachers, writers, homemakers, gardeners, ranchers and health workers, and include newcomers to environmental causes along with longtime activists.
Enbridge, a multinational energy transportation company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, was responsible for the largest inland oil spill in the U.S. It now seeks to build a pipeline corridor through untouched wetlands and sensitive Mississippi River headwaters, violating the treaty rights of Anishinaabe peoples and nations in its path. The pipeline expansion would allow Enbridge to abandon an older cracked and compromised pipeline, avoiding cleanup and restoration. The new line would bring nearly a million barrels per day of dirty tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin, contributing more to climate change than Minnesota’s entire economy.
“Our traditional responsibility as matriarchs requires us to go to Line 3 and visually show our support for the Water Protectors who are standing the line for Mother Earth,” says Lakota elder Madonna Thunder Hawk, a veteran of struggles for indigenous rights for more than half a century, from the Alcatraz occupation in 1969 to the No DAPL Pipeline encampments at the Standing Rock Reserve.
“You know how people say that a mother has the strength to lift a car up to save her baby?” adds Dr. Nancy Feinstein, a Bay Area organizational consultant and founding member of 1000 Grandmothers. “That is how we feel about the climate crisis – We will stop the fossil fuel industry because it is stealing our grandchildren’s futures.”
The Grandmothers will spend four days at the camps, and then take their message directly to the Governor’s Residence in St Paul for a noon rally on Wednesday, May 26, in coalition with 350 Minnesota and Interfaith Power and Light. They will follow up with an ongoing Grandmother-to-Grandmother letter writing campaign directed at Dr. Jill Biden, seeking her support to protect indigenous sovereignty and environmental sanity by stopping the pipeline and preserving clear waters and untainted land for all peoples’ grandchildren.
PRESS CONTACTS:
Carol Rothman [email protected] 510-684-1931
Pat St. Onge [email protected] 510-604-9309
* Update on Diane Wilson (guest on April 29th “Protecting Lavaca Bay“) ~ On Wednesday, May 12th, Texas and CODEPINK activists, Diane Wilson and Ann Wright, were arrested in front of the Galveston District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (they were released the next day). On Thursday, May 13th, Diane Wilson ended her hunger strike after 36 days.
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