Michael Brune and Allison Chin Arrested for Climate Protest
A few minutes ago, I watched history made as Washington, D.C., police arrested Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune, Board of Directors President Allison Chin, and an amazingly broad coalition of almost 50 other climate-crisis activists outside the White House. This protest came, as you know, because the Club's grassroots leadership decided that the obligation to address climate disruption has become so urgent, and the opportunity to attain clean energy prosperity so real, that we had a moral duty to act.
This act of civil disobedience, the first in the Club's 120-year history, was an announcement to President Obama and other leaders that they must take bold action now to address the threat of fossil fuel pollution -- with stopping construction of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline as a critically important first step.
I could not have been more proud as I watched the protest unfold in the peaceful, purposeful spirit in which it was intended. The conscientious planning so many of you contributed paid off with an orderly event, witnessed by over 300 supporters and more than 100 representatives of print, national broadcast, and online media.
Among those arrested were former Sierra Club president Adam Werbach, Nebraska cattle buyer Randy Thompson, labor leader Joe Uehlein, United Church of Christ Reverend Doctor Jim Antal, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., actress Daryl Hannah, and longtime NAACP chair Julian Bond.
We will keep you updated as coverage of this historic action unfolds.
Thanks, again, for all of your contributions to this important moment in the fight against climate disruption.
Sincerely, Sarah Hodgdon
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