Over 150 Gather for 350.org Event in Abingdon

Over 150 people gathered at Abingdon's Farmer's Market building last week to demonstrate their commitment to curb climate change. They put down their hats in the shape of the number 350, which is the number of carbon dioxide parts per million that experts believe the atmosphere can safely sustain. The event was emceed by Ed Davis, while speakers included Abingdon mayor Ed Morgan and author Barbara Kingsolver, who prompted participants not to allow "anybody tell you it’s unpatriotic to oppose a sector of the economy that you believe is evil”. To see more photos from the event, click here.

The action in Abingdon was organized around a worldwide campaign by 350.org, an international environmental organization, headed by author Bill McKibben. Its goal is cutting atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions to 80% by 2050, from 2006 baseline emissions of 9,180 million tons of carbon. 350.org takes its name from the research of NASA scientist James Hansen, who posited in a 2007 paper that 350 parts-per-million (ppm) of CO2 in the atmosphere is a safe upper limit to avoid a climate tipping point. The current level is 389 ppm of CO2.

According to the group's website, the Abingdon 350 action on October 24, was part of the world's "most widespread day of political action", which included 5245 actions in 181 countries. To get involved with 350.org's work in the Bristol and Abingdon area, contact the Climate Change Coalition by clicking here.
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Event to mark International Climate Day in Abingdon

The 350 Committee of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) is working feverishly to prepare an eye-catching International Climate Action Day on Saturday, October 24th at 1:30 at the Abingdon Farmers' Market (Cummings St. and Brent Remsburg Blvd.) We need YOU to be there. Ours will be one of 1825 events planned in over 143 countries--the list grows hourly. International Climate Action Day in Abingdon will include speeches by Mayor Ed Morgan, world-reknowned author Barbara Kingsolver, and Appalachian Sustainable Development Director Anthony Flaccavento. You can download fliers for the event here and here.

We are asking people to bring baseball caps which we will configure into a huge "350" to symbolize the 350/parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere that we can live with. Currently, we are way above that figure at almost 386! All over the world people will be getting the word out in ways like this, which will be a picture for our local media.

Please print out this document. This 2-page document is not only a description of our Climate Action Day event, but it also begins the process that we all must begin--to trim our own personal carbon footprint. We do this by pledging to make some changes in our own behavior that reduce our contribution of greenhouse gases. We are hoping to collect 350 pledges by the event. Please send in your pledge in to be counted.

If we want our planet to be compatible to future life, we must work diligently together, across borders, to bring that number down. This Climate Action Day is a beginning of that process. Joining hands with people in 143 countries to inform our fellow citizens--asking them to go to www.350.org to learn about the climate crisis, make personal behavioral change, and demand their leaders act. In December, an international conference will be held in Copenhagen to replace the Kyoto Accords with updated targets, reflecting recent research about appropriate greenhouse gas abatement needs.

We need to join in this chorus: If Obama can go to Copenhagen for Chicago, he can go to Copenhagen for the planet. For more information on this event, contact Rees Shearer at rrshearer [at] gmail.com.
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Event to Mark Eight Years in Afghanistan

OCTOBER 7 MARKED THE EIGHTH anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. On October 7th, 2001, US submarines launched cruise missiles from the Arabian Sea and B-52 and B-2 stealth bombers began air strikes. The war was on. It came less than a month after 9/11. The Pentagon called it “Operation Enduring Freedom”. Since then, nearly 900 US troops have been killed, 230 of them in this year alone, putting 2009 on track to be the deadliest year for US forces. There is no reliable count on the number of Afghan civilians killed, but some estimates put the figures in the tens of thousands. To mark the entry into the ninth year of yet another bloody American war, the Appalachian Peace Education Center (DNTC's parent organization) will be sponsoring a screening of the documentary “RETHINK AFGHANISTAN” on WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2009, at 7:00 p.m., at the WASHINGTON COUNTY LIBRARY, 205 Oak Hill Street, Abingdon, VA. A discussion will follow. The screening is free and open to the public. During the event, APEC members and friends will discuss plans for launching the AFGHANISTAN STUDY GROUP, which will hold regular meetings. The group will be open to everyone interested in learning more about the geopolitical situation in Afghanistan, and what can be done to demilitarize America’s involvement in that region. For more information about the October 14 event, contact Buckey Boone at 276-628-8446.
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APEC Board of Directors to Meet

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF the Appalachian Peace Education Center (APEC) will meet on Tuesday, November 17, at 6:45 p.m., at the home of APEC Chairwoman Laura Weaver in Abingdon, VA. To participate and to get involved with APEC, call (276) 944-5355. APEC is the Tri-Cities (TN/VA) region's most historic active citizens' group fighting for peace and social justice. You can contact the group by clicking here.
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Tri-Cities residents make case for healthcare reform during Obama visit

NEARLY 50 TRI-CITIES RESIDENTS from all walks of life gathered yesterday on Wagner Street in Bristol, VA, a couple of blocks down from the Kroger store visited by Barack Obama, to voice their support for radical reform of America’s crumbling healthcare system. Numerous SEIU members were there, as well as several DNTC members and supporters, APEC volunteers, members of the First Presbyterian Church in Elizabethton, as well as DRC volunteers from Johnson City.

Photographs showing the SEIU rally made The Associated Press, including this nice photo showing a sign held by a DNTC member attending the event. Unfortunately, the coverage by The Bristol Herald Courier, reached its usual depths of anti-union and pro-conservative bias. The articles in today’s paper focus mostly on the handful of anti-Obama protesters who were in the area, drawn from the usual mix of neo-confederate “don’t-tread-on-me” groupings and ultra-right identity movement fundamentalists. The paper, which supported John McCain in the 2009 presidential election, gave token coverage to the SEIU rally.

Since you can’t depend on our region’s press to find out about the details of the event, you can click here to see photographs from the rally. For another report of the rally see John Shuck's blog, here.

DNTC wants to thank the tireless SEIU organizers who put the rally together, as well as everyone who turned out to support healthcare reform. It is about time for America to join the rest of the industrialized world in recognizing that HEALTHCARE IS A RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE!
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July 29 health care reform event scheduled to coincide with Obama's Bristol visit: BE THERE!!

FOR THE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has initiated its Change that Works project in every state of the union, to fight for real health care reform. This coming Wednesday, July 29, SEIU Change that Works activists in our region will be holding a press conference to stress the importance of health care reform based on inclusiveness and universal coverage. This event has been scheduled to coincide with the visit in Bristol by President Barack Obama on the same day. The President will be speaking at around 4:00 p.m. at a closed-door forum at the Kroger store located at 31 Midway Street in Bristol, VA. Tickets have been reserved for Kroger employees and only those with tickets will be admitted to the event.

The SEIU press conference will take place at 1:30 p.m, at 20 Wagner Street, Bristol, VA (click here for map). They have requested that as many people as possible be present at that event, which will include not only local, but also national media as well. This is an urgent call for everyone who can make it to be at 20 Wagner Street in Bristol, VA, at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 29, to help make the case for radical health care reform now!

For more information about this event, call Adam Brien at 270-703-3141. Please help spread the word.
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