NEWS
ACTIVIST
LERT
TOXIC TAR SANDS
PROTEST IN TEXAS
• The annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s will be at
2 pm Sunday, Oct. 14, at Alton Baker Park.
Registration begins at 1 pm. See http://wkly.
ws/1d8 for more information or to donate.
Toxic tar sands oil has not been in the news lately in the
Northwest, but a blockade against the controversial Key-
stone XL pipeline that would carry the crude from Canada
to the Gulf Coast of the U.S. has drawn Eugene-based ac-
tivists down to Texas to oppose the pipeline’s construction.
Ben Jones, a member of the Cascadia Forest Defenders
who is in east Texas with the Tar Sands Blockade, calls
the Keystone XL is one of the largest and most destructive
infrastructure projects in the world.
Johannes Pedersen, a Eugene activist who recently re-
turned from a 10-day trip in September to support the anti-
pipeline action, says he doesn’t think this country or any
other country has any business participating in a project as
destructive as the oil extraction in the Canadian tar sands.
Tar sands oil extraction takes place in massive open-
pit mines in Canada that remove boreal forests and leave
behind toxic mine tailings. The crude, which is said to be
dirtier than sweet crude extracted through conventional oil
drilling. The Keystone XL is a planned route for shipping
the crude oil. Construction of the northern portion of the
pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Neb., going
through wetlands and aquifers, was held up when President
Obama rejected the permit for the pipeline in January and
asked for more review. The pipeline was then split into a
northern and southern portion, and Obama fast-tracked the
Oklahoma-to-Texas portion in what Pedersen calls an act
of “political duplicitousness.”
Jones calls the protest “an amazing conglomerate of
the environmental movement and grassroots organizers.”
He says local landowners are supportive of the protest and
have invited protesters onto private land to conduct actions
against the pipeline. Many landowners object to the gov-
ernment using eminent domain to seize portions of their
land to build the pipeline. Jones says some of the landown-
ers got involved over the land issue, but then became aware
of the environmental concerns as well, such as increased
CO2 emissions.
Awareness of the Texas protest has grown since actress
Daryl Hannah was arrested alongside 78-year-old great-
grandmother Eleanor Fairchild as they attempted to block
pipeline construction on Fairchild’s farm last week. Jones
says in addition, two nonviolent protesters were subjected
to “pain compliance,” pepper sprayed and Tased while
locked down to construction equipment in late September.
• Occupy Eugene’s first anniversary Monday,
Oct. 15, will begin with the Eugene Philanthropy
Network gathering at noon at Ninkasi at 272 Van
Buren, followed by a bank action at 2 pm beginning
at the Park Blocks. Pro-women activists will gather
at 4:30 pm at the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza
at 8th and Oak, for “Women Amplified: Uniting
Against the War on Women.” After the rally, the
marchers will take to the streets. They ask that
attendees bring signs or sign-making materials
and pots and pans or other noise-making devices.
Tabling will go on all day at the Park Blocks followed
by entertainment and talks from 6 to 9 pm.
• Noted psychiatric survivors Celia Brown
from New York City and Jacki McKinney, MSW, of
Philadelphia will be speaking at a free gathering at
3 pm Monday, Oct. 15, at the Eugene Public Library
downtown. Call 345-9106 or email oregon.united@
gmail.com for more information.
• Author Greta Berlin, co-founder of the Free
Gaza Movement, will speak at 6:30 pm Monday,
Oct. 15, at Cozmic, 8th and Charnelton in Eugene.
Free. Sponsored by the Al-Nakba Awareness
Project.
• The Oregon Education Investment Board is
holding community forums and webinars at which
stakeholders can provide input and feedback on
education funding. The Eugene forum will be from
6 to 8 pm Wednesday, Oct. 17, at the UO’s Ford
Alumni Center, 1720 E. 13th Ave. Each speaker will
be given two minutes. Public comments may also
be emailed to: education.investment@state.or.us
• The deadline to apply for the daytime option
of the OSU Extension Service Master Gardener
Program in Lane County has been extended until
Oct. 17. Orientation will be Dec. 5 and classes will
meet Wednesdays, Jan. 9 to March 13, 2013.
Contact the Extension Service office at 344-5859,
or stop by 783 Grant St. to pick up an application.
• The Good Works Film Festival will be back
Oct. 28-29 with multiple screenings of the award-
winning labor film Brothers On the Line, which
documents the leadership of the United Auto
Workers union from 1946 to 1970. Director and
producer Sasha Reuther will be available on Skype
for all screenings at the Bijou. The showings will be
free but seating will be limited. Get advance tickets
at the Bijou or online at goodworksfilmfestival.org
lighten up
BY RAFAEL ALDAVE
Sun ., Oct 14 - 11 am
EWEB - Community Rm
500 E 4 th Ave
Eugene
1-877-MEDITATE
Sant Mat
meditation
on the inner light and the inner sound
as taught by Sant Baljit Singh
talk given by authorized speaker
Admission Free
www.santmat.net
10
October 11, 2012 • eugeneweekly.com
Jones, Pedersen and the other Eugene- and Oregon-
based activists who traveled to Texas for the tree-sit and
blockade are not new to the tar sands issue. They pro-
tested the megaloads of tar sands equipment that were be-
ing brought through Oregon, Idaho and Montana and the
Keystone XL pipeline last summer at the Montana state
capitol in Helena. Pedersen was arrested while practicing
nonviolent civil disobedience locking down in the capitol
building.
More information on the blockade can be found at tar-
sandsblockade.org — Camilla Mortensen
FILM FESTIVAL
FLOWS IN EUGENE
Or egon’s vivid landscapes will hit the big screen at the
Living River Film Festival, a three-day event presented
by the McKenzie River Trust. The festival, which begins
Oct. 12 and includes 11 fi lms with guest appearances by
the fi lmmakers, provides the public with an opportunity
to connect to MRT’s conservation goals.
“We purchase land in order to protect critical fi sh and
wildlife habitat,” says Liz Lawrence, operations manager
for MRT. “Basically, we’re in the conservation real estate
business.”
MRT protects areas span the length of western Or-
egon, including the recently acquired Railroad Island, a
63-acre piece of land in the Willamette River that MRT
will preserve as protected habitat for sensitive species.
“We wanted to connect the festival to the landscapes
directly around us,” says Brandi Ferguson, development
manager for MRT.
One fi lm, Letters from the Big Man, tells the story of
an Oregon fi eld biologist who “encounters a sasquatch
in the wilderness,” the fi lm’s director Christopher Munch
says. His movie, which makes its fi rst Eugene appearance
on Oct. 13, explores how “dangerously removed many of
us have become from nature,” Munch says.
The festival kicks off at 6 pm Friday, Oct. 12, at the
Wildish Theater in Springfi eld, with a sneak peak at the
fi lm Willamette Futures and catering from local busi-
nesses, including Oakshire Brewing and Sweet Life Pa-
tisserie. Seven more fi lms will show at Bijou Art Cinemas
on Saturday, while free fi lms and activities for children
will take place on Sunday at EWEB’s River Edge Pla-
za, with tree-climbing and crafts with the Slug Queen.
— Amy Schneider
After reading the R-G’s editorial endorsing Juan Carlos Valle for City
Council over Betty Taylor — where Taylor is described as “a woman
of incorruptible conviction,” as a person who is “willing to stand for
what she believes in,” and as unwilling to compromise those beliefs
— I felt like moving to her ward just so I could vote for her.