Taking Risks to Protect the Planet in Trump Era of Climate Change Denial

Interview with Tim DeChristopher, activist with the Climate Disobedience Center, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

Climate activist Tim DeChristopher spent 21 months in federal prison for a creative, non-violent direct action in 2008 that succeeded in stopping the auctioning of public lands in Utah for fossil fuel development. In 2015, he co-founded the Climate Disobedience Center, which works with groups and individuals who risk imprisonment for breaking the law in the interest of protecting the climate.

The Center’s current focus is assisting five individuals and their support team, who on Oct. 11 last year turned off the valves of five pipelines that bring tar sands oil from Canada into four U.S. states. They are facing several criminal charges, including conspiracy, burglary and trespass. In advance of the action, they took safety precautions and notified the pipeline companies. The group is now facing up to 30 years in prison. DeChristopher says these cases will test the rights of political dissidents in the Trump era.

Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with DeChristopher while on a break from painting banners in Washington, D.C., that would be used in a protest during the Jan. 20 inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States. Here, he discusses the urgency of taking risks to protect the climate, and thereby human beings and other earth species who rely on a healthy, sustainable environment for survival.

For more information, visit the Climate Disobedience Center’s website at climatedisobedience.org.

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