My first Change.org guest blog

I'm going to be guest blogging once a week at GlobalWarming.Change.org, basically on behalf of Greenpeace, but also more broadly on the topic of global warming activism. It's a pretty exciting time to be part of the movement, so I'm stoked to be writing about it on this new venue.

My first post actually doesn't have anything to do with Greenpeace, it's about Tim DeChristopher, the guy who bid on and won over 22,000 acres of Utah land that was being auctioned off in a fire sale at the end of the Bush Administration. Some of the land being auctioned off — to companies who wanted to drill for oil and natural gas, the absolute worst kind of corporate looters and pillagers — was close to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. So DeChristopher stepped up and did the only thing he could to stop the shameless looting: he messed up the whole damn auction, winning several parcels he wasn't going to buy, driving up the price on others, and basically calling attention to what a horribly crass move this was by the Bush Admin.

The good news is that Obama's Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, basically invalidated all of the leases won that day, because the process used by the Bush Admin to select and lease off the parcels was so shady. The bad news is that DeChristopher is still, incomprehensibly, being charged with two felonies and slapped with over $800,000 in fines — for messing up leases that are no longer valid anyway. Pretty bizarre, and rather unconscionable.

But this is a huge opportunity for the grassroots movement in this country to show how strong we are. We'll step up and defend what's right, and we'll deal with the consequences. When brave activists like DeChristopher stand up, we'll get their back. We're determined not to let the powers that be continue to rape and pillage this planet. The best way to demonstrate that determination right now is by supporting DeChrsistopher and his legal defense fund. Go to his site now and donate.