Category Archives: Uncategorized

Stop GE Trees Before they Start! An interview with Anne Peterman, Global Justice Ecology Project.

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Click here to listen to the interview:

Anne Petermann, of the Global Justice Ecology Project, joins The Final Straw Radio show for an informative interview on the threats posed by Genetically Engineered Trees getting released into the U.S. as the USDA considers allowing Arborgen to plant millions of acres of plantations across the southern U.S. These plantations, reaching from Texas to South Carolina, where the company is based, could destroy forest diversity, kill wildlife, exacerbate droughts, feed fire storms, and spread quickly with the help of cold-resistant gene modification.

In the last week of May, Asheville will be hosting the International 2013 Tree Biotechnology Conference. Concurrently, Katuah Earth First! and GJEP (along with other projects) will be holding protests and workshops around the issues of GE Trees to educate the public and grow resistance. Check out the call to action and how to get plugged into the protests here.

Ramp Up the Resistance Benefit Dinner for Katuah Earth First! Sunday, May 12

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Ramp Up the Resistance Benefit Dinner for Katuah Earth First! Sunday, May 12 6-9pm

Rosetta’s Kitchen 116 N. Lexington Ave. Asheville, NC

$6-20 sliding scale donation

Come on out Sunday evening and support Katuah Earth First! in our fight against genetically engineered trees in the South. We’ll be providing a delectable pasta dish with ramps and locally grown shitake mushrooms (vegan and gluten free options available) as well as some wonderful live music. All you need to do is bring yourself (and all your friends) and a donation for KEF!

KEF! is currently organizing a week of educational events and protests against the 2013 Tree Biotechnology Conference May 26- June 1 in Asheville. This conference is a gathering of many of the major players in the genetically engineered tree business and we hope to give them an Earth First! style welcoming party!

Timber and utility corporations want to plant millions of acres genetically engineered trees throughout the South to burn for electricity, as well as to continue supplying the unsustainable lumber and paper industries. These trees would be engineered to produce their own pesticides, grow straighter and faster, tolerate manufactured pesticides, produce sterile seeds, and reduce lignin content (this is what makes the wood in a tree strong enough to stand up). If these traits escaped into native tree populations, the effects would be devastating and irreversible.

Please come out to Rosetta’s Kitchen Sunday May 12 and help defend our native forests from genetically engineered trees.

Also don’t miss our next KEF! Movie Night at Firestorm Café. May 13 at 6pm

We’ll be showing A Silent Forest, narrated by renowned activist and scientist David Suzuki. A Silent Forest is an excellent documentary exploring the dangers that GE trees pose to humans and the environment. Come on out, its free!

 

www.katuahearthfirst.org

katuahearthfirst@riseup.net

 

 

 

 

 

Defend Native Forests, Resist GE Trees: May 26-June 1, Asheville, NC

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Resist the Tree Biotechnology 2013 Conference

May 26 – June 1, Asheville, NC

Join Earth First!, Global Justice Ecology Project and the STOP GE Trees Campaign for a week of resistance to genetically engineered trees. At the end of May the International Tree Biotechnology 2013 Conference is taking place in Asheville, NC. This conference is a gathering of many of the major players in the genetically engineered tree business and we intend to greet them with spirited protest.

Timber and utility corporations want to plant millions of acres genetically engineered trees throughout the South to burn for electricity, as well as to continue supplying the unsustainable lumber and paper industries. These trees would be engineered to produce their own pesticides, grow straighter and faster, tolerate manufactured pesticides, produce sterile seeds, and reduce lignin content (this is what makes the wood in a tree strong enough to stand up). If these traits escaped into native tree populations, the effects would be devastating and irreversible.

The USDA is already considering approving an industry request to sell billions of genetically engineered freeze tolerant eucalyptus trees.  These non-native, invasive and flammable trees pose an unprecedented threat to the forests and communities of the Southern US.

We stand to lose tens of thousands of acres of our diverse and resilient native forests to sterile monoculture tree plantations that support few if any native species. These protests will send a critical message to the USDA as they are poised to approve the first ever commercial planting of genetically engineered eucalyptus trees in several southern states.

Join activists from around the country for an action packed week of resistance to GE trees.  We are kicking off the week with a teach-in on May 27 followed by a mass march to the conference center on May 28th. We are organizing and encouraging affinity group actions throughout the week to ensure the GE tree industry does not get a moment’s rest during their stay in Asheville.

Please join us! You can help us fight GE trees right now by passing along this call to action and by donating to:

https://npo.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=1004723

 See you in the streets!

Please visit: www.treebiotech2013.org

Or contact: katuahearthfirst@riseup.net

KEF! Movie Night: Blockadia Rising, Voices From Tar Sands Resistance

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Katuah Earth First! Movie Night

 Showing: Blockadia Rising – Voices From the Tar Sands Resistance

 Tues. April 9, 5:30pm at Firestorm Café

 Join Katuah Earth First! for a screening of the exciting new documentary, Blockadia Rising. This film documents the grassroots direct action campaign waged by Texas landowners and environmentalists against construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Blockadia Rising is packed full of amazing action footage and inspiring interviews. You don’t want to miss it!

 www.katuahearthfirst.org

Act Now to Stop Genetically Engineered Trees in the Southeast!

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ImageKatuah EF! is organizing a week of workshops and protests against the 2013 Tree Biotechnology Conference coming to Asheville, NC May 26 – June 1. The conference is an international gathering of scientists and industry executives pushing to replace our native forests with mono-crop plantations of genetically engineered trees. We’ll be announcing more details on that soon. In the meantime, tell the USDA NO GE TREES:

URGENT ACTION ALERT: USDA Begins Deregulation for 1st Genetically Engineered Forest Tree

PUBLIC COMMENTS NEEDED BY APRIL 29, 2013

Tell the USDA NO WAY on Genetically Engineered Trees!

 The USDA is accepting public comments on a request by GE tree company ArborGen to commercially sell hundreds of millions of freeze tolerant genetically engineered eucalyptus trees annually for vast plantations across Texas, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina.  

For more on the dangers of GE trees and detailed information for your comments, read our GE trees fact sheet.
 
Government approval of GE eucalyptus trees would set a dangerous precedent that could lead to the legalization of GE versions of native forest trees, including poplar and pine, that would inevitably and irreversibly contaminate native forests with destructive GE traits, devastating forest ecosystems and wildlife.  Once GE trees escape, there is no way to call them back.   Continue reading →

Katuah EF! Shuts Down TD Bank in Protest Against Keystone XL Pipeline

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taking over the lobby

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Four arrested at lively protest against fossil fuel infrastructure

Press Contact: Henry Lowry, katuahearthfirst@riseup.net

PICTURES AVAILABLE AT: http://www.katuahearthfirst.org

Asheville, NC -  60 people took to the streets today to protest the Keystone XL pipeline in downtown Asheville. After a rally in Pritchard Park, the march made its way to TD Bank, a major investor in the Keystone XL pipeline and occupied the lobby, forcing the bank to close for the rest of the day. Protestors carried banners reading, “Obama, Your Pipedream is a Nightmare” and “TD Bank, divest from dirty oil.” Police arrested four protesters who refused to leave until TD Bank agreed to divest from the tar sands industry.

The action was organized by Asheville based Katuah Earth First! and is part of a week of nationwide protests called for by Tar Sands Blockade  a coalition of Texas landowners and environmentalists fighting the southern leg of the pipeline.

“We are going to hold accountable the companies that threaten our future with their dirty investments. With every dollar TD Bank invests in the Keystone XL pipeline we can feel the noose tightening around our necks,” said Patty Petroluse, a student in Asheville. TD Bank holds over 13 million shares in Transcanada, the company building the Keystone XL pipeline.

“In a time of escalating drought, wildfires, and super-storms fueled by climate change it is suicidal to invest billions of dollars in new fossil fuel infrastructure. The Keystone XL pipeline would be delivering the dirtiest fossil fuel imaginable, tar sands oil”, said Henry Lowry.

If built, the pipeline would tear through thousands of miles of sensitive ecosystems, farmland, and Native American tribal lands in order to deliver Canadian tar sands oil to Gulf Coast refineries. Contrary to industry claims, the vast majority of the oil would be destined for export, not for US consumption. Canada’s tar sands oil has been labeled by environmental groups as the “dirtiest project on earth.” Extraction of tar sands requires massive strip mines that have already destroyed hundreds of square miles of Canada’s boreal forest. Tar sands oil production is extremely energy intensive and produces far more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional oil.

The week of protest has seen protests in over 30 cities around the country and over 40 arrests as activists express their opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline. Katuah Earth First! is proud to contribute to the nationwide movement against new fossil fuels infrastructure.

Protestors refuse to leave

Protestors refuse to leave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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APD locks protestors inside bank, shutting it down for us. Thanks!

APD locks protestors inside bank, shutting it down for us. Thanks!

March 22 – PROTEST AGAINST THE KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE

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Friday March 22nd 

Meet at 4:30 pm, Pritchard Park, Downtown Asheville

March at 4:45 pm to TD Bank (a major investor in the Keystone XL pipeline)

 Join Katuah Earth First! in a spirited march against the dirty KXL pipeline. If built, the pipeline would tear through thousands of miles of wilderness, farmland, and Native American tribal lands. The pipeline is necessary for Canada to expand the tar sands oil industry in Alberta, which has been called the dirtiest project on the planet. Without it they do not have an economical way to get the dirty oil to US refineries.

 A group of Texas landowners and direct action activists (www.tarsandsblockade.org) fighting the southern leg of the Keystone pipeline have called for a week of action against tar sands profiteers March 16-23. Katuah Earth First! is answering the call with a protest against TD Bank. With 13 million shares, TD Bank is one of the top investors in Transcanada, the company building the KXL pipeline.

Join us for a fun Friday afternoon fighting for the land, indigenous rights, and climate justice!      

 katuahearthfirst@riseup.net

www.katuahearthfirst.org

STOP THE COURTHOUSE CREEK TIMBER SALE!

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FOREST SERVICE THREATENS UNIQUE FOREST WITH MASSIVE LOGGING OPERATION

The Forest Service has proposed logging 472 acres of sensitive forests in the Pisgah Ranger District near Brevard. Here is some more info from the Southern Environmental Law Center:

Located below Devil’s Courthouse in western North Carolina’s Pisgah National Forest, the Courthouse Creek area is a scenic and ecological gem flanked by steep slopes and high-elevation forests that harbor a host of rare species. These cold, clear-running streams form the headwaters of the French Broad and are a popular destination for trout fishermen and outfitters. Waterfalls, tucked in steep terrain, are abundant, especially the popular and calendar-worthy Courthouse Falls.

Unfortunately, the sensitive streams and scenic surroundings of Courthouse Creek are being targeted by the Forest Service for a 500-acre timber sale. Nearly 200 acres of logging would occur in a state-designated Natural Heritage Area, identified by biologists as one of the most important rare species habitats in the state.  The heritage area supports a host of rare animal and plant species, including pink-shell azalea that attract hikers with awe-inspiring blooms in late spring.  Logging would be visible from Devil’s Courthouse, a sacred Cherokee site and a popular overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway just north of Courthouse Creek.  Timber operations would also be visible to hikers on the popular Art Loeb and Mountains-to-Sea trails. Logging on the area’s steep, landslide-prone slopes will inevitably generate runoff loaded with sediment, threatening 17 miles of high-quality streams, wild trout, and other sensitive aquatic species.

The official public comment period is over but you can still let the Forest Service know you oppose the plan. Contact:

Pisgah Ranger District
District Ranger, Derek Ibarguen
1600 Pisgah Highway
Pisgah Forest, NC 28768
(828) 877-3265
pisgahrd@fs.fed.us

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From our friends, the Katuah Medics:
Katuah Allies,

Spend December 27th – January 2nd in Rockaway with survivors of Sandy!  We will be working on community homes, the YANA Center, and much needed campaign support housing.  Those with interest & experience will also be provided the forum to train local individuals on construction, pluming, or electrical skills.
 
Learn about the plans for the Restore YANA project here:  
 
Logistical Details:
 
Dates & Times:
Arrive by 5pm December 27th, Leaving anytime on January 2nd
 
Housing:
Those without contacts in NYC will be allowed to camp on the beach (we are hearty mountain folks, after all!) with their personal gear.  
 
Any skill level welcome (including hard working beginners) in: 
Construction, pluming, electrical, mold remediation, tiling, and those willing to get their hands dirty.  Medics, childcare, and kitchen support is also welcome from organizers of the YANA Center.  A list of helpful tools to bring will be sent out by December 20th.
 
Food:
While there are some support kitchens in Rockaway, those who register with Jo will be provided a lay-of-the-land one week prior to our arrival.  This is due to how quickly things are changing on the ground in NYC.
 
 
 
Welcome in 2013 celebrating community resiliency and solidarity with your radical  family!
 
E-mail Jo @ nc.nj.sandy@gmail.com to register & find out more information ASAP.
 

Treehugger’s Ball co-hosted by KEF! and WWC’s ECO Justice Crew

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Treehuggers near and far! Grab your best realtree camo (or mossy oak, if you prefer) and head on over to Warren Wilson for a night of revelry.

The Treehugger’s Ball is being co-hosted by our friends, the Eco Justice Crew. The night will be filled with contra dancing (lessons will be provided), delicious delights, and a raffle for assorted goodies. All of this will be in direct support of the Coal River Mountain Watch which has been on the frontlines in the war against mountain top removal.

So invite your friends, get gussied up, and throw down on the dance floor!

For information email katuahearthfirst@riseup.net or visit the Facebook event page.