“WHY WE ARE TRAVELLING FROM EUGENE, OR, AND VANCOUVER, WA, TO WASHINGTON, DC, TO BLOCK ROADS.”
DECLARE EMERGENCY NEWSLETTER #2
By Declare Emergency on January 17, 2022
“WHY WE ARE TRAVELLING FROM EUGENE, OR, AND VANCOUVER, WA, TO WASHINGTON, DC, TO BLOCK ROADS.”
Why will a mother and grandmother and a nature lover walk onto a major road in Washington DC during rush hour this coming Thursday morning and block traffic? Michelle and Tina explain why.
MEET MICHELLE AND TINA
My name is Michelle. I am a Canadian and permanent resident, a 55 year old mother, grandmother and aunt and I’m prepared to make any sacrifice necessary to protect the lives of my young family from the worst of the climate and ecological catastrophe. Because of this I am on a 3-day train ride from Eugene OR to Washington DC to join the Declare Emergency campaign in nonviolent civil disobedience.
Growing up, our family treasured our time in the outdoors. Camping, backpacking, fishing, crabbing, hiking and more. As a young adult, I continued my outdoor passions, and was eventually lucky enough to be able to call it “my office”; working as a wildland firefighter in the summer and a ski patroller in the winter. I want my son, grandson, nieces and nephews to be able to experience the things I did. The clear starry night with shooting stars behind a quarter moon. The sound of crickets and frogs raging a fierce and beautiful chorus all around them. The smell of fresh air sapped with pine and earthy notes. The feel of the tall grass whisking through their fingers as they wander through a meadow. Witnessing the magnificent power of a grizzly digging fiercely for a meal it’s looking to find under a large gray-dappled boulder. Oh , I could go on and on with all the beauty that should surround them.
Instead they are facing a future of mass starvation, collapsing civilisation, mass migration, war, rape, and mass death. The atrocities they will soon be facing absolutely horrify me. I keep asking myself over and over, “Why did we let it go so far? Why is there still nothing being done?”
I naively believed that those we elected to serve and protect us were doing everything they could to ensure our wellbeing. That belief was shattered when I learned that not only were they doing nothing, but that the climate and ecological crisis has gotten far, *far* worse. Absolutely f*@#ing criminal to knowingly decimate the communities they were elected and charged to protect.
Every day I struggle with the wretched sadness of facing our extinction. My conscience no longer allows me to sit by idly hoping. Hope doesn’t change the world, action does.
I joined the Declare Emergency campaign *because* it focuses on action through nonviolent civil disobedience. Even though I am an immigrant, I feel compelled to boldly and unapologetically *act* to mitigate the horrors that will come to my young family if we don’t.
~Michelle Wehner
Hi, I’m Tina.
I live on the west coast, Vancouver WA, which is now most summers on fire. Right on my doorstep.
I like to garden and spend time outside hiking. I can SEE that there are less insects and birds. I can SEE my veggie garden struggle. I can FEEL the heat domes.
Feels like I should have been Greta 30 years ago. But I never thought I was that kind of special activist person. Took me this long to pluck up the courage - hell, what am I saying - to be SCARED ENOUGH to start getting out in the streets to try and change what I have felt was going so very wrong pretty much my whole life. And to realize that just waiting for others to do something means that nobody takes action.
The verdict? Stepping up is the worst thing I’ve ever done to myself. Lots of tears. I feel even more despair than before, when I was not quite looking the catastrophe straight into the eye yet. It breaks my heart to see the destruction of our home, and the suffering of so many living beings.
But it is now, in no longer looking away, that I feel peace with my authentic self. I have a community of other people who support me and share my pain.
I’d still rather just be sitting on the couch with chocolate and a cup of tea, cat in lap, reading. Hiding in blissful ignorance and denial.
Not an option.
I’ll see you out there.
~Tina Barrows
WE NEED YOU: WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
TALKS AND TRAININGS
Every Sunday and Thursday at 6:00pm EST we are providing a presentation on zoom about Declare Emergency and why we have chosen to use direct action and civil disobedience to persuade our government to tell the truth and act now on the climate emergency. We’ll have more details to share about our next talk in our next newsletter. Stay tuned!
HELP NEEDED
Whatever your comfort level - from off-site support/promo to a road-blocker willing to sacrifice the risk of arrest - there’s a role for you in our rebellion. Email declareemergency@protonmail.com and someone from our Mobilizations team will call or email you for a chat.
CALL TO ACTION
We really appreciate, and need, donations - whatever you can afford - to help us provide resources, mass mobilization and pay legal costs for rebels in the legal system.
Share this link with your friends: bit.ly/decemergencyinfo
MUST READ/WATCH
The Radical Act of Blocking Traffic
WHERE CAN I FIND MORE INFORMATION?
Facebook, Twitter, Declare Emergency website
THANK YOU
Thanks for reading. If you have any questions or queries, please get in touch at declareemergency@protonmail.com :)
With love and rage,
Declare Emergency Mobilization Team