April 17 is coming on Strong -- Saturday and this is great, but........ We Have to See the Big Picture: Coal, Oceans, Weather, etc.

Everyone, Earth Day 2010, Taking it to the Streets, Spokane! is coming along fine. We have sponsors -- Avista (a lot less this year than last); Community Building Foundation, Eco-Depot, and right now, the lead one, Down to Earth Northwest. Even local activist and character, Bart Haggin and his wife, Lindell, donated. Of course, we need more underwriting as April 17 approaches. Plenty of details are about to be broadcast far and wide on what will happen SATURDAY.

11 -- 6 is outside. Tons of groups, organizations, and individuals will be on the streets with stuff to work the magic of community discussion and community enlightenment about their particular areas tied to the global warming and sustainability umbrella that is Earth Day, 2010, 40 Years later.

6 to Mindnight, April 17 -- Music, dancing, music, food, beer, wine. All ages party at the Warehouse, still, on Main, between Isabella's Food and Gin Joint and Merlyn's Fantasy.

For now, though, while we prepare to celebrate Earth Day in Spokane, April 17, (www.earthdayspokane.org & on Facebook, Earth Day Spokane) consider the larger frame. Copenhagen 15 failed, and mountaintop removal is an ugly force, as is nuclear power plant mumbo jumbo. So, here, now, join the petition, join the fight to stop mountaintop removal, to stop coal, to stop dirty dealings between energy giants and weak misinformed politicians:

Sadly, if leaders reached an agreement today, it wouldn't be strong enough to do much good.*

In order to bring global CO2 back to the safe zone, we need a global agreement now. But we can't wait for politicians to do the right thing. We need to turn the political heat way up.

The good news is that civil disobedience works. A coal-fired power plant recently had its permit withdrawn as a result of a community blockade of the Desert Rock site, in Dine (Navajo) territory, and there have been powerful actions throughout Appalachia, on Mount Rushmore, against the Tar Sands in Canada, and elsewhere.

Last March, in DC, thousands of people risked arrest and shut down the coal-fired plant that supplies Congress's power. (While Congress chose the false solution of natural gas instead, the action proved that civil disobedience does get a response.)

But time is far too short to shut down one site at a time. Massive action is needed today, in order to:

• 
  ensure climate justice for the affected communities around the world that contribute the least to the problem, but are already feeling the effects


• 
  implement a real deal that does not rely on carbon trading, offsets, or other false solutions
  keep all fossil fuels in the ground, and drastically reduce emissions


• 
  end subsidies to climate polluters including oil and gas, coal, industrial bio-fuels, nuclear power, etc.


• 
  end mountaintop removal and industrial logging of primary forests immediately
  invest in local union jobs driven by purpose, not profit, and protect our community health

Go to Beyond Talk:

http://www.beyondtalk.net/

Scientists tell us that the maximum level of CO2 our atmosphere can safely bear is 350 parts per million. Beyond that, our our earth and its species are at imminent risk of catastrophic changes we'll never be able to stop — meaning billions of people will die.Today, the level of CO2 in the atmosphere is already at 390 worldwide — and it's rising at 2 parts per million per year.

for information about Earth Day 2010, Taking it to the Streets, Spokane! contact paulha@spokanefalls.edu