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November 6 at the White House is a big day and an important place. That afternoon, one year before the 2012 elections, thousands of people from around the country will be doing something that has never been done before. We will be surrounding the White House, a mile or more in circumference, in a Circle of Hope.

We will call upon President Obama to reject the dirty-oil, Keystone XL pipeline Big Oil wants built across the middle of the USA, from the Canadian tar sands in Alberta province to the Texas Gulf Coast refineries (http://tarsandaction.org).

We will be doing this carrying banners and signs with some of then-candidate Obama’s words during his 2008 Presidential campaign. Words like:

“We can be the generation that finally frees America from the tyranny of oil.”

“The next generation will not be held hostage to energy sources from the last century.
We are not going to move backwards. We are going to move forward.”

“We understand the gravity of the climate threat. We are determined to act. And we will meet our responsibility to future generations.”

“The threat from climate change is serious, it is urgent, and it is growing.”

Many thousands of climate, environmental and environmental justice activists will be there on November 6. What about activists from the broader progressive movement?

I know that there will be some from the Occupy movement, which is very important. As a primarily young people’s movement, it is young people, as well as low-income, Indigenous and other people of color, who will be most impacted as our earth gets hotter and hotter.