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capital coal

Its been a long day, I’m exhausted and my knee is killing me…and I’m thrilled!

Today I was one of the thousands of people who risked arrest at the Capitol Climate Action. There was a huge contingent of indigenous folks leading the march, and folks from coal impacted communities in Virginia, Kentucky, New Mexico, the Tar Sands in Alberta, Canada.

There were also some big names there from the environmental and organizing world. Bobby Kennedy, Bill McKibben, Wendell Berry, Tom Goldtooth, Tzeporah Berman, James Hansen, Jim Warnow, Heather Milton-Lightning, Mike Brune and Darryl Hannah were all in the house.

There were tons of young people who went through the training for this action, learning what nonviolent action is and how mass mobilizations work, how to blockade a space, how to get good action media. All of these lessons were tested in this huge successful action today, it was dope to watch.

I was there risking arrest, jail support number on my arm, nothing but my ID and cash on me to get out of jail. There was a film crew from Canada (they made Sharkwater, second biggest environmental documentary ever) following us on the action. They were incredibly sweet, I am excited to see the film grow.

It was cold, but we were remarkably taken care of – hordes of people on logistics and medics and guiding us to the right places.

I am beyond tired now, and my injured knee is throbbing and shaky, but I am excited to think of this year of action, to share a vision with so many people of an end to the damage of coal on our communities – asthma, cancer, exploded mountaintops, coal covered cities.

Now its time to sleep – tomorrow, next steps.