Protecting the Rights of
People & Nature From
the Local Up
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People are Mobilizing to Stop a Massive Lithium Mine in High Desert Wilderness
Paul Cienfuegos reports from his visit to Thacker Pass, Nevada in April.
The site of a proposed massive open pit lithium mine in a vast expanse of Nevada is called Thacker Pass. It is both stark and gorgeous and not far from the Oregon border. In mid-April, I drove 20 miles down a county highway, west of the tiny village of Orovada, Nevada to the Protect Thacker Pass camp. We were surrounded by high mountains still covered in snow. The land is mature sagebrush country, a classic southwest US landscape. To the untrained urban person’s eye, it appears mostly lifeless. But in fact, this desert ecosystem contains pronghorn antelope, burrowing owls, sage grouse, sliver-haired bats, bald eagles, horned lizards, prairie falcons, springsnails, pygmy rabbits, deer, loggerhead shrikes, and much more.
A large Canadian corporation, Lithium Americas Corp, and its local subsidiary Lithium Nevada Corp are proposing this massive (miles-long and hundreds of feet deep) open-pit mine. If allowed to be built, it would release into the industrial world’s hungry maw 25% of all of the known lithium so-called “reserves” globally, which would be essential for any significant future shift towards an all-electric-cars society. (Lithium Americas Corp is also currently developing a gigantic lithium mine in Argentina, which is co-owned with a Chinese corporation)…
Read more HERE about Paul’s adventure and his thoughts on why so many people who have class and race privilege still feel so powerless to stop corporate atrocities in their own backyards.
Photo credit: ProtectThackerPass.org
Dilbit is for Dummies
Tyler Norman, our new director, also took to the road this past month. He visited a blockade camp in Northern Minnesota and submitted this report.
Corporate criminals at Enbridge are currently building “Line 3,” a pipeline which would carry nearly 1 million gallons/day of a partially-refined oil-like product from the world’s most destructive and inefficient source of petroleum in Alberta, Canada… pumped 1,100 miles across precious Northwoods wetlands, sacred wild rice beds, and abundant wildlife habitats… eventually to the Great Lakes where the pipeline terminates at an antiquated port in Superior, Wisconsin. There this exceptionally corrosive and dangerous product called “diluted bitumen” or “dilbit” will be loaded onto ships to be transported to refineries on the Gulf Coast or abroad…
Every step of this path is exceedingly risky. But Tyler says the fight against Line 3 is one we can win. Read more HERE.
We hosted our first livestream fundraiser
On April 30 to May 1, Community Rights US had an absolutely fabulous Livestream Arts & Culture event! We have uploaded recordings of the many performances, skill-shares, and educational interviews to our YouTube Channel (more coming soon). Here are a few of our favorite highlights:
David Rovics – indie songs of social justice significance
Ferananda Ibarra – “Where Evolution Meets Social Change” poetry reading (pictured above)
CRUS Director Tyler Norman shares the work of his collaborative art group Beehive Collective
CRUS Founding Director Paul Cienfuegos in conversation with CRUS Board President Bryan Lewis
The campaign to stop the Thacker Pass Lithium Mine in Nevada with Will Falk
The Doctrine of Discovery with Indigenous Law Scholar Steven Newcomb
All of our diverse guest streamers donated their time because they believe in Community Rights US and they wanted to support our fundraising efforts. The performances were truly stellar and the skill-shares and interviews were fascinating and eye-opening. So we encourage you all to enjoy these videos! While you do, please remember that CRUS is still actively fundraising. If you enjoy the music, theater, art, or conversations, please consider donating a little bit – as always, you can do so on our Donation Page.
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Essential CR News from the Web
International Listening Circle on Rights of Nature and Rights of Rivers
The Pope, a Prince and a Judge Walk into a Bar…to Argue for Nature’s Rights (Commentary)
Poisons vs. Local Say on Public Health to be Heard by the Oregon’s Court of Appeals
Fact vs. Fake – Why Don’t We Trust Science Anymore? — Documentary
Blue Mountains City Council becomes First Council in Australia to Adopt Rights of Nature as a Foundational Principle
Photo credit: “Blue Mountains, Australia” by GothPhil is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Want to help further the work of Community Rights US?
Over the next couple weeks and months, we at Community Rights US will be introducing more ways to support our work protecting the rights of people and nature. You can still donate via our PayPal as you did previously, but now we also have a new Action Network fundraiser! Through this link, you can sign up for one-time or monthly recurring donations quickly and easily. Check it out and consider supporting Community Rights US, so together we can take our country back from corporate rule, and reclaim our rightful authority to govern ourselves (from the local up).