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Backbone Community Solar Project Is Ready for Investors!

 

Vashon Community Solar Banner
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Backbone Community Solar Project Is Ready for Investors!

RSVP for Investor Information Meetings

Check out VashonCommunitySolar.org

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Dear Backbone Members,Community Solar Project Q&A

The Backbone Community Solar Project (“Backbone CSP”) is a local laboratory project of the Backbone Campaign. Today, we are deeply proud to announce that the Backbone Community Solar Project is ready for investors! Below is a bit of the story of the journey we have taken and basic information on the project. For downloadable investor information visit VashonCommunitySolar.org.

In gratitude & Collaboration,

Bill, Carol, Cathy and Team Backbone

 

For the last two ye ars a small and changing group of dedicated and skilled community members have moved community solar from dream to reality. Through a journey and process of our own education, a community survey, countless meetings, site visits, legal and financial consultations, document preparation and regulatory reviews… we are now ready to come to you with a solid opportunity to make community solar a reality on Vashon Island and utilize the generous incentive provided through the Washington State Renewable Energy System Cost Recovery legislation!

Finding a Public Host
Washington law requires the community solar system to be hosted on a public property. Because we feel this is a project that demonstrates our commitment to and an opportunity to educate the next generation, we spent about a year exploring possibilities with the Vashon School District. Though VISD was a willing partner, the engineering on existing buildings and timing of new construction made it impossible at this time.

King Co. Transfer Station site

 

So last fall we began a negotiation process with King County. We proposed a site at the retired landfill and transfer station on Vashon. Despite the complexity of the challenge, our shared desire to forge a path forward resulted in an excellent win/win agreement that is in its final stage of approval with the KC Council. We are also proud that though this is not the first community solar project in King County, it will be the first on King County property. As such, the lease agreement and much of the related work can serve as a model for others in the County and likely elsewhere.   

A Regulatory Hurdle
The last and perhaps most challenging process has been with the Washington State DFI (Department of Financial Institutions). Shares in the system are considered a security. After months of honing documents with the help of a securities lawyer, on August 7, our Nonprofit Notification of Claim of Exemption was acknowledged “without further comment” by DFI. This allows us to offer shares of the Backbone CSP to Backbone Campaign’s members without them needing to be accredited investors. Organizing the Community Solar System under the umbrella of Backbone Campaign’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit status has other benefits as well that are made clear in our investor Questions & Answers document and investor presentation.

Basic information about the project:
Investors in the CSP will directly fund a grid-tied solar photovoltaic array that provides power for a local public facility. In this case, the array will be installed at the Vashon Recycling and Transfer Station. The installed system will be rated at approximately 50 kW to 66 kW, depending on the amount of investment raised. Investors will own the array and be able to take advantage of Cost Recovery Incentives provided by Washington State.

VERY IMPORTANT: Investors must meet certain requirements:

  • Be a Puget Sound Energy (“PSE”) account holder;
  • Have their primary residence in Washington State;
  • And, prior to solicitation, have been a contributor, volunteer, or participant in a BC sponsored event or educational program, or be a relative of such a person. (See our Questions and Answers document in the sidebar for more on this requirement.)

Investors may purchase units of the CSP at $1,000 per unit up to a maximum investment of $30,000.   

Upcoming Presentations:
You are not required to attend a presentation in order to invest; the Questions and Answers document and the Application to Invest are all you need to begin the investment process. However, if you would like to attend one of our informative sessions, choose between the below:

  • Wednesday, August 22 5-7pm Sheffield Bldg. Conference Rm., (map) RSVP required
  • Friday, August 24 12-2pm Sheffield Bldg. Conference Rm., (map) RSVP required
  • Monday, August 27 private house party, RSVP required
  • Thursday, August 30 7-9pm Vashon Land Trust building, RSVP suggestedthe next Vashon Land Trust Building, 10014 Southwest Bank Road. (map)

In order to attend, you must meet the investor requirements listed above. Please call 206-408-8058 to reserve a seat.

Twitter Bomb – Tweet for Congressional Action on Student Debt NOW

Student Debtors Mach DC
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Aug. 17 “Twitter Bomb” to Force Action on Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012

Watch Video – TWEET – Appreciate!
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PLEASE – Take Action, Tweet This Now:
@RepJohnkline we need #StudentLoan relief NOW! Please #ListenToTheMillion. tip @digg StudentDebtCrisis.org

Beginning TODAY, Friday, August 17, Student Debt Crisis will launch a twitter bomb targeting Rep. John Kline to make him #ListentoMillion and move HR 4170, The Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012 out of committee.Student Debt Crisis was co-founded by our ally Robert Applebaum and our Backbone Student Debt FellowsNatalia Abrams and Kyle McCarthy.Please take a moment to watch the short video that our Backbone Fellows produced to promote this Twitter Bomb.

Press release and more information and resources below and at the Student Debt Jubilee section of our website.

In collaboration,

Bill Moyer
Backbone Campaign

S.A.F.E. & The Be Fair Pirates Declare Seattle an Eviction Free Zone

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For Immediate Release: August 4, 2012
S.A.F.E. & THE BE-FAIR PIRATES DECLARE SEATTLE AN ‘EVICTION FREE ZONE’
Contact: Bill Moyer, Executive Director, Backbone Campaign 206-356-9980
Contact: Joshua Farris, Grassroots Organizer, SAFE 206-913-3423
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Washington-based Backbone Campaign and SAFE, Standing Against Foreclosure and Eviction, introduced a swarthy new crew of pirates to Seattle Friday afternoon. Calling themselves the Be Fair Pirates, members of the organizations arrived by land and sea to take Seward Park by storm, calling attention to the plight of underwater homeowners and demanding relief. Approximately 30% of American homeowners have “underwater” mortgages; their mortgages are higher than the value of their homes.

“We’ve been hornswaggled by Wall Street long enough. The scurvy dogs at Bank of America, Chase and the rest must ‘walk the plank’ for plundering America and hanging homeowners out to dry.”

Eviction Free Zone, BeFair Pirates.org

As an “underwater” home bobbed precariously in the waves of Lake Washington, an enormous puppet depicting a Wall St. Banker was sinking the home and its family deep into the water. The BeFair Pirates sailed to the defense of the beleaguered family shouting “Arrrrrrrrrrgh!!! Paying for the many, profit for the few; Wall Street Bankers we’re comin’ for YOU!” and sent the banker plummeting into the lake the safety of the family and their home were restored, cheers were heard from pirates and bystanders on the shore.

Debtors tow their underwater home

17% of Washington state homes are in distress according to the August, 2011 report “Win/Win Solution” produced by New Bottom Line. The report recommends universal principal reduction for all underwater mortgages. Win/Win targeted the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA), the agency responsible for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA who hold over 50% of US mortgages, calling on them to implement a universal, automatic principal reduction for underwater mortgages. New Bottom Line projects that universal principal reduction would pump $71 billion dollars into the economy each year and create over one million jobs annually.

Bill Moyer, Executive Director of Backbone Campaign, spoke of the possibility for homeowners “Imagine the incredible relief we could bring American mortgage holders while simultaneously stabilizing the housing market for all, by allowing families to keeping their homes and stimulating the economy with money that is currently feeding Wall Street banks.” Moyer made it clear, “Universal principle reduction is how we bail out… America.” The Treasury Department estimated that principal reduction could benefit taxpayers to the tune of $1 billion. Moyer went on to demand the firing of FHFA head, Ed DeMarco citing his recent decision to reject universal principal reduction for over 11 million homeowners underwater on their mortgages.

Be Fair Pirates

 

The Backbone Campaign / SAFE production highlighted the injustice of the burden transference of the financial failure created by the banks squarely onto the backs of working families.Earlier in the day, SAFE and the BeFair Pirate chorus delivered a letter to Sheriff Steve Strachann of King County, demanding an end to the use of department resources to evict families from their homes.Joshua Farris, grassroots organizer for SAFE is challenging homeowners to ‘push back’ against the greed of Wall Street banks. “SAFE is building a movement in South Seattle to stop banks from destroying our homes, our families, and our neighborhoods. Standing together we can fight and win!”

Photo below: SAFE organizers stand with leader from Boston’s City Life/Vida Urbana outside the King County Sheriff’s office after calling for an end to use of officers to enforce evictions for Banks.
[Additional photos and links to video will be posted at BeFairPirates.org]



Shiver me timbers! A peak at Yesterday’s action at Lake Washington.

BeFair Pirates Headed to Seafair to make Ed DeMarco Walk the Plank

New BC  banner 600 px
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BeFair Pirates Take Action Against Foreclosures & Evictions

Time for DeMarco to Walk the Plank,
Declare America an Eviction Free Zone and

Bail Out America with Universal Principal Reduction.

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For immediate release August 3, 2012

Seafair BeFair Pirates Take Action Against Foreclosures & Evictions

 

Contact: Joshua Farris, 206-913-3423 info@SAFEinSeattle.org
Contact: Bill Moyer, 206-356-9980 Bill@BackboneCampaign.org

Details will be posted at BeFairPirates.org


On Friday, August 3rd, local advocates will respond to a recent decision by the Federal Housing Finance Agency director, Ed Demarco, preventing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from negotiating lower interest rates and principal reduction. Activists attending Backbone Campaign’s annual action camp from across the country, are coming to support SAFE (Standing Against Foreclosure & Eviction) in Seattle with a demonstration at 3pm Friday August 3rd during SeaFair. Demonstrators will be gathering along the NE Coast of Seward Park Peninsula with the water spectacle occurring just offshore. They will send a clear message through spectacle and direct action that homeowners will accept no more excuses. The time to act in defense of our homes and our communities is now.

The demonstration is being called by the Backbone Campaign, a Vashon-based group that specializes in spectacle imagery and political theater, and SAFE, a Seattle grassroots organization working to stop foreclosures and evictions through direct action and legal/counseling support.

The political theater will include a Pirate Chorus from the BeFair Pirates, a water action including an ‘underwater’ home saved by the BeFair Pirates from a greater than life-size puppet of a Wall St banker. Demonstrators will also deliver a demand that King County sheriffs department stop forcing people from their homes due to foreclosure.

What: Multiple demonstrations and political spectacles.

When: At 3pm Friday August 3rd during SeaFair.

Where: North end of Seward Park Peninsula with water spectacle just off-shore

Sponsors: Backbone Campaign, SAFE (Standing Against Foreclosure & Eviction), and City Life/Vida Urbana

Websites: BackboneCampaign.org and SAFEinSeattle.org

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Eviction Free Zone Community Meeting with SAFE in           Seattle

Tuesday, July 31, 2012 activists from the Backbone Campaign’s Localize This! Artful Activism and Creative Organizing camp joined SAFE in Seattle to canvas the Beacon Hill neighbors in foreclosure and pledge to fight with them to keep their families in their homes. Representative from City Life/Vida Urbana of Boston shared victory stories and their strategy to inspire the community and guide Seattle activists in their nascent but powerful effort.
PacMed Building on Beacon Hill in Seattle - declaring           the neighborhood and Eviction Free Zone

After an inspiring evening presentation by City Life organizers training at the camp, we declared Beacon Hill an Eviction Free Zone with projection on the Pacific Medical building.
Pac Med Projection - We Shall Not Be Moved

Trainer Roster & Schedule – Localize This! 2012 Starts Sunday

Trainer Roster, Schedule Summary & Participant Profile

Friends Don’t Let Friends Miss Localize This! Register TODAY for all or part

Full Schedule HERE

Sunday 7/29:
Creative Tactics (climbing, art, etc) and Organizing preview, Long Term Strategy webcast.

Monday 7/30:
Cultural Competence, Grand Strategy, Campaign Design, NVDA, Art & Creative Tactics, Projection as Protest

Tuesday 7/31:

Community Organizing, Media Skills, Canvassing*, Eviction Protection*, Evening Projection Action*

Wednesday 8/1:

Action Planning, Scouting, Legal, Campaign Consultations, Art & Creative Tactics, Kayak safety, Drumming for Demonstrations

Thursday 8/2:

Organizing Strategies, Fundraising for Community Supported Organizers, Skill Share, Kayak safety, Advanced Tactics, Action Preparation

Friday 8/3: Testing our skills*
Artful Actions in service of eviction protection & universal principal reduction, party & performance w/Chris Chandler & Paul Benoit

Saturday 8/4: Action Assessment, Anti-Burnout, Building a Community Supported Organizer Network, Closing Inspirations

*All or part in Seattle

REGISTER HERE for all or part.

Localize This! workshop fees cover approximately 50% of the actual cost to produce it. PLEASE Pitch In TODAY

Full Schedule HERE Sunday 7/29:
Creative Tactics (climbing, art, etc) and Organizing preview, Long Term Strategy webcast.Monday 7/30:
Cultural Competence, Grand Strategy, Campaign Design, NVDA, Art & Creative Tactics, Projection as Protest

Tuesday 7/31:

Community Organizing, Media Skills, Canvassing*, Eviction Protection*, Evening Projection Action*

Wednesday 8/1:

Action Planning, Scouting, Legal, Campaign Consultations, Art & Creative Tactics, Kayak safety, Drumming for Demonstrations

Thursday 8/2:

Organizing Strategies, Fundraising for Community Supported Organizers, Skill Share, Kayak safety, Advanced Tactics, Action Preparation

Friday 8/3: Testing our skills*
Artful Actions in service of eviction protection & universal principal reduction, party & performance w/Chris Chandler & Paul BenoitSaturday 8/4: Action Assessment, Anti-Burnout, Building a Community Supported Organizer Network, Closing Inspirations

*All or part in Seattle
REGISTER HERE for all or part.

Localize This! workshop fees cover approximately 50% of the actual cost to produce it. PLEASE Pitch In TODAY

 

Participant profile:Kelly Hayes

Kelly Hayes
is a Native American activist, Occupy organizer, street medic, and rescue scuba diver. Kelly has a background in animal and human rights, the mental health movement, and anti-deportation and home reclamation projects. She has most recently worked as an organizer with numerous Occupy groups. During the NATO summit Kelly and others succeeded in an effort to shut down Boeing. She is also involved in a memorial project to be placed in a public space, without a permit, that will honor fallen protesters abroad.
Kelly is coming to Localize This training camp because she knows that “none of us can afford to stop learning.” The powers mounted against us are too great and so is our collective potential.

“Local communities have to be inspired to organize. Otherwise, community members will remain blissfully indifferent, or simply bemoan the corrupt nature of our system. This is why projects like home reclamation are so important. Such efforts encapsulate the overall problems we face as a society, but also drive the message home, to community members, on a personal level. I also believe that fresh approaches, and increasingly creative tactics, will bolster the confidence of those I organize with, and help keep them engaged. Incorporating new ideas into campaigns will be crucial to Occupy’s survival. We all need a wider skill set to succeed.”


Localize This! 2012 trainers:
Complete Trainer Bios
An impressive group of people are coming together and we’ll ALL be learning from each other.

Kim Marks, Portland Rising Tide
(Non-Violent Direct Action Trainer, Campaign Design & Strategy)

KimMarks1Scott Silber, National
Kyle Tanner, Itinerant Agitational Organizer
(Organizing Spiral, Honest Conversations, Fundraising: Hard & Soft Money)

kyle tanner
Ahern “Dreadsen”, Multi Kulti
(Expanding Allies, Security Culture, Cultural Competency, Media & NVDA)
Ahern Dreadsen
Gedden & Susie Rosset
(Climb Team & Tripod Leads)
Gedden Bio Pic
Heather Gordon & Sue Parsons of City Life/Vida Urbana: 39 Years of Putting People Before Profits
(Community Organizing & Eviction Protection Workshops)

CLVUHeather Gordon
Intervention
(12 Step Counselor for Kicking the Corporate Habit)

John Sellers, Other 98% & Ruckus Society
(Action Planning, Design & Making Media Count)

John Sellers
Tom Kertes, United Workers of Baltimore
(Human Rights-based Organizing, Long Term Strategy & Building Power)
Tom Kertes
Chris Lutter, Puppet Farm Arts
(Image Design/Construction/Performance specialist conducting Artful Activism Workshops)

Chris Lutter
Bill Moyer, Backbone Campaign
(Host, Grand Strategy, Creative Tactics
, Local Credit Union Organizing, and more)
Bill on Fox
and more…. and more…


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General inquires: info@backbonecampaign.org

 

Web: http://backbonecampaign.org/
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Challenge Congress to Pass a Student Debt Jubilee, H.R. 4170

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Backbone Campaign is partnering with RootsAction for an online effort to get the word out for a Student Debt Jubilee and free higher education. Today’s action alert featuring our imagery and the policy direction of Backbone Campaign’s Student Debt Jubilee Fellows Kyle McCarthy and Natalia Abrams was sent to over 135,000 people. 


And yes, Backbone is pursuing a new program to lift up autonomous progressive activists and organizers through our nascent CSO (Community Supported Organizer)/Fellowship program. We know that immersion is the best way to learn, and that activism and organizing is no different. That’s why we are working with Kyle, Natalia, and a few select others to generate the stipends they need to continue doing the incredible work they’ve begun through Occupy or elsewhere.

So please, use RootsAction’s online tool and then Support Backbone Campaign Student Debt Jubilee Fellows Natalia Abrams and Kyle McCarthy (by selecting Student Debt Jubilee Fellows in the drop down menu on our donate page.)

At over a trillion dollars, student loan debt is now deeper and broader than credit card debt. Our society has shirked our responsibilities and shifted our obligations to the next onto their very shoulders. Our political cowardice, greed, and shortsightedness are devouring our children’s future.

We could make public colleges free for roughly what we continue to waste each year on the “Bush tax cuts” for the wealthy or for about 7% of what we spend each year on the military.

As a first step, Congress could provide immediate relief for students burdened with outrageous education debt, by passing the Student Loan Forgiveness Act (H.R. 4170). This bill would give relief to borrowers with both federal and private student loans. Let’s challenge Congress to prove that they still matter.
PLEASE, Tell your representative to sign on.

Forward Together!  Team Backbone


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phone: (206) 408-8058
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Student Debt Jubilee & Why Higher Education Ought to be Free

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Student Debt Jubilee & Why Higher Education Ought to be Free, Part Two

Tuesday, July 17th, 8:30pm EST/5:30 Pacific

RSVP for instructions for participating in this webcast.

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RSVOcccupyGraduation.orgP now for instructions for how to participate in this webcast.

Last December, the Backbone Campaign hosted our 84th Conversation with the Cabinet podcast entitled Student Debt Jubilee and Why Higher Education Ought to be Free. On April 3rd, our team led a somber Student Debtor Ball ‘N Chain march to the Department of Education and Sallie Mae in Washington, D.C.; later in the spring, the Backbone Campaign was a key partner in Occupy Graduation.

On Tuesday, July 17th, at 8:30pm EST/5:30pm Pacific, we will host a second Conversation on this topic. For our upcoming Conversation, we will again be joined by incredible organizers using different tactics to demand higher education as a right. Our guests will be Occupy Student Debt Campaign‘s Ann Larson, Natalia Abrams of Occupy Colleges, Robert Applebaum of Forgive Student Loan Debt, anti-Sallie Mae activist Stef Gray, Kyle McCarthy of Occupy Student Debt, and Loan Reform Now founder Rae Ann Roca.

Much has occurred since our last Conversation. In Canada, Montreal students went on strike, conducted ‘casserole’ demonstrations with an expanded base of support, impacted the city’s economy, and met with government officials to demand the re-establishment of free higher education. Here in the U.S., student loan debt surpassed credit card debt in April, rising to $1 trillion; in the following weeks, organizers took to the streets in Washington, D.C. New York City, and elsewhere.

Mainstream media coverage of politicians discussing the issue has exploded; politicians need voter turnout among the 36 million Americans impacted by this issue. We have witnessed calculated sympathy for student debtors by presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. And although House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) worked tirelessly for years to increase profits for predatory student lenders, recently he was self righteously tweeting that Democrats are to blame for the increasing impoverishment of student debtors. One of Boehner’s biggest campaign contributors is predatory lender Sallie Mae (which, like other lenders, also owns student debt collections agencies). And although Congress just voted to postpone a doubling of federally funded student loans, future borrowers will be saddled with an additional $20 billion in costs.
Student walk out and march i Seattle 2010
Only Green Party Presidential Candidate Dr. Jill Stein has publicly endorsed immediate student loan forgiveness and tuition-free higher education at public universities.

Our podcast aims to facilitate discussion about strategy on this issue. With diverse organizations, people and short-term goals, how might groups collaborate? How will last year’s Occupy phenomenon influence future tactics? And what upcoming public actions will we see during this turbulent election cycle?

Election-year craziness and partisan politics aside, student debt rebellion and free higher education organizers are building alliances and making plans!

We are thrilled to feature guest Co-Host Glenn Daniels Jr. A recent graduate of Towson University, Glenn organized Occupy Towson after participating in Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Baltimore. In the last semester of his senior year, Glenn screened Default: The Student Loan Documentary and organized a May 1st Rally on campus that brought students, professors, activists, and union members together to speak about student and worker rights and debt.

RSVP now for instructions for how to participate in this webcast.

Onward together to education as a right,
Diane Wittner, Co-Host
Glenn Daniels Jr., Guest Co-Host
Conversations with the Cabinet
Backbone Campaign
Student Debtors March

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phone: (206) 408-8058
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Localize This! Action camp: Vashon Island — Creative Tactics for Land & Sea

Localize This! Artful Activism – Strategy, Creative Tactics & Community Organizing Intensive
Vashon Island, WA July 29 – Aug. 4, 2012

Join us this year July 29-Aug 4 at Localize This!
Online updates can’t compare to hanging out with the amazing network of action oriented activists and organizers from around the country who gather each summer at our Localize This! action camp. (See poster at bottom right).
Set the time aside for one of the most amazing weeks of your life. No one is ever turned away for lack of funds, because people like you support our trainings with generous contributions large and small. Pitch in HERE.


Register for Localize This! HERE

Poster for Localize This! Action Camp

Northwest Extraction Resistance Workshop: Spokane, June 8 & 9

Northwest Extraction Resistance Workshop
Spokane, WA June 8 & 9, 2012

Workshop Location:
Salem Lutheran Church Youth Center
1428 West Broadway Avenue, Spokane, Washington

Workshop Schedule & Registration form HERE.
Donate to support this effort HERE.

Backbone is partnering with our Rising Tide, Forest Ethics and other allies to produce a workshop in Spokane, WA to support our mountain state allies working on the many variations of extraction resistance. Join veteran trainers Kim Mark and Jasmine Zimmer-Stucky, and myself Friday and Saturday, June 8 and 9. See link and poster on the right to register.
Poster for Extraction Resistance Workshop

Production and transportation of carbon-dense, dirty energy fuels across the Northwest increasingly threaten the health of people, places, and the planet with their risky and toxic byproducts of polluted air, water, land, and policies. Incoming Alberta tar sands megaloads and pipelines, expanding hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) for natural gas, and outgoing coal trains bound for West Coast export crisscross our region, as they transform our continent into a resource colony for Asia and beyond. Our governments consistently fail to defend us from the ravages of Big Oil, Gas, and Coal, as multinational corporations plunder our public resources, taxpayer coffers, and civil liberties in pursuit of their billions in profits.

Because conventional avenues for citizen recourse to corporate crooks and colluded public officials predictably succumb to industry influenced rules, laws, and elections, Northwesterners must challenge this corruption and confront the root causes of ecological and economic oppression and devastation in more creative and assertive ways. On Friday and Saturday, June 8 and 9, Backbone Campaign and Wild Idaho Rising Tide enthusiastically invite you to push back the boundaries of your community’s resistance to industrial invasions, with new allies, tactics, skills, and strategies. Direct action trainers Jasmine Flora and Kim Marks of Portland Rising Tide and Bill Moyer of Backbone Campaign will offer you and your co-participants from throughout the four-state area the knowledge necessary to stand up to, stall, and stop the forces that are destabilizing our climate and destroying our democracy.