When: Thursday, February 9, 2017, 7 pm
Where: Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Great Hall, 2620 Capitol, Sacramento
Cost: Free; we will pass the hat to help with the Valve Turners’ legal fund
Sponsor: 350 Sacramento
RSVP: www.350sacramento.org; please RSVP so we know how many people to expect

NEWS FLASH: “Jury Fails to Convict ‘Valve Turner’ Ken Ward, Who Faced 30 Years for Climate Disobedience” 

Last October, five people in four states shut the valves on pipelines carrying tar sands oil. The “Valve Turners” say their actions are not only necessary, but morally and legally justified to avoid the catastrophic harm caused to humanity by unprecedented climate disruption. They now face serious charges, up to decades in prison.

The first trial began Jan 31, 2017 for Ken Ward in Washington. Read more about it here.

Why did the Valve Turners take these actions and what is the correct moral response to the escalating crisis that will determine whether the climate will support life as we know it? The public is invited to this presentation to meet the Valve Turners and hear their stories.
 
Climate change is heading out of control and there is a very small window of time left to rein it in. The Valve Turners are moral, caring people who have dedicated their lives to working on legal, incremental, reasonable methods for ameliorating climate change, but have now come to the conclusion that the unfolding climate cataclysm requires more. This action was carried out with serenity and resolve, and serious consideration of personal and ecological risks, knowing that sacrifice is necessary if civilization is to survive. For more information: shutitdown.today.org.
 
Meet the Valve Turners:
Ken Ward: “We are methodically, with full awareness and in the presence of acceptable alternatives, destroying the conditions which allow the wild riot of diverse life on the planet and have made civilization possible, for reasons of greed, fear and lassitude. Our only hope is to step outside polite conversation and put our bodies and ourselves in the way.”
 
Annette Klapstein, an attorney and mother of two grown children, is one of five Valve Turners who visits Sacramento to tell of her act of civil disobedience on behalf of the planet and its children.

Annette Klapstein: “I am a retired attorney and the mother of two grown children. Like mothers everywhere, I act from a deep love for my own children that extends out to all children and young people, and all living beings on this planet. I have come to believe that our current economic and political system is a death sentence to life on earth. This is my act of love.”

Emily Johnston: “To be honest, I’d love to be able to lead a quiet life right now. But to live like that at this moment in time would be to shrug off responsibility for the very world I was busy loving. I feel incredibly privileged to be alive in this moment, when so much is still so beautiful, and there’s still a chance to save it.”
Leonard Higgins: “Because of the climate change emergency I am committed to the moral necessity of participating in nonviolent direct action to protect life.”
 Michael Foster: “I love the quote from Chief Arvol Looking Horse, ‘Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in a time of such terrible danger? Know that you yourself are essential to this world. Understand both the blessing and the burden of that. You yourself are desperately needed to save the soul of this world. Did you think you were put here for something less?’”
ken ward
Ken Ward: “Our only hope is to step outside polite conversation and put our bodies and ourselves in the way.”