Description
So what am I doing to address the climate crisis? How far will I go to defend the earth? What price am I willing to pay for climate justice?
Since 2014, hundreds of people have been arrested while engaging in non-violent civil disobedience to protest the “TMX” Trans Mountain pipeline project. Standing on High Ground: Civil Disobedience on Burnaby Mountain includes twenty-five stories of people who put themselves on the line for climate justice. While some of those arrested were longtime activists, others felt compelled to act for the first time in their lives. Editors Rosemary Cornell, Adrienne Drobnies, and Tim Bray showcase the profiles of Indigenous leaders, academics, faith leaders, political leaders, engineers, artists and writers, scientists, physicians, and ordinary folk from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Their reflections on the protests and their arrests explore our moral duty to future generations, government’s collusion with corporate power, the violation of Indigenous Law, and unsustainable worldviews. Climate activists in protest movements such as the one against the TMX pipeline are critical in the existential fight for a sustainable future and habitable planet. They show us that we can all take a stand.
Includes contributions by Tawahum Bige, a Łutselk'e Dene, Plains Cree poet who resides on unceded Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territory (Vancouver). Red Deer Billie Pierre of Nlaka’pamux Nation. April Thomas a land defender and member of the Secwépemc Nation, from the Canim Lake Band. Jim Leyden a traditional Indigenous land defender and water protector with Anishinaabe and Irish-Italian ancestry who was invited by Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Elders to became the Elder at Kwekwecnewtxw (Coast Salish watch house) on Lhuḵw’lhuḵw’áyten (Burnaby Mountain).