A fundraiser to oppose the Trans Mountain Pipeline
The Return to athabasca
save the salish sea!
My name is Phillip Jones, I live in the Salish Sea on Whidbey Island in Washington State, and I’m concerned about the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project in Canada.
The expansion project is an effort to install a second, larger pipeline alongside the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline, which stretches from Edmonton, Alberta, to Vancouver, British Columbia, winding through national parks, towns, watersheds, and indigenous First Nations territories. Expanding it would nearly triple its existing capacity from 300,000 bpd to 890,000 bpd.
This pipeline does not transport crude oil, but diluted bitumen.
It is impossible to clean if it spills.
This dramatic increase in diluted bitumen would require a seven-fold increase in tankers through the waters of Seattle and Vancouver.
A place shared by millions of people and resident Orca pods alike in one of the most fragile and beautiful places on Earth.
In solidarity with massive efforts to derail the pipeline project, in 2015 a group of friends and I made what became a 1000 mile pilgrimage by bicycle from Anacortes, WA, to Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, the epicenter of Athabasca tar sands extraction. This was called “The Road to Athabasca” and we followed the course of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline on our way, interviewing over 50 people and learning everything we could.
Since then, the project was delayed and nearly stopped thanks to an outpouring of action and the stout efforts of indigenous First Nations such as the Tsleil-Waututh. After it was purchased by the Canadian government, progress has been forced forward, and legal challenges tossed aside. It is racing toward completion.
Therefore, reviving the spirit of The Road to Athabasca, I am starting a campaign called “The Return to Athabasca”, starting with a fundraiser to benefit the Tiny House Warriors, a group of indigenous people reclaiming unceded territory by placing their homes directly in the way of the project.
HOW THE FUNDRAISER WORKS
Throughout Spring 2021, 47 people contributed or fulfilled sponsor pledges. Many folks joined our campaign, and dared me to ride my bicycle as MUCH as I could during the month of May 2021 by sponsoring me for 10, 20 or 30 cents for every mile. I achieved my goal for the month to ride 1000 miles, the length of the 2015 pilgrimage, by riding 1004 miles.
Along the way, as I have been passing mile-markers of our old 2015 journey. You’ll get to hear stories and interviews from along the actual pipeline.
Donations are tax deductible thanks to my generous fiscal sponsor, For the People, a collective of community supported organizers working in the Pacific Northwest. For the People has and will continue to route donations to the Tiny House Warriors.
The tiny house warriors
The Tiny House Warriors are putting their bodies in the way of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, re-occupying their own unceded Secwepemc territory!
If recent history has taught us anything, it's that indigenous action makes a difference. In the United States, the Standing Rock protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Canadian Wetʼsuwetʼen protest of the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline have shaken up the energy industry and garnered international attention.
By supporting the Tiny House Warriors, you are helping one such group who are doing the same thing. Your pledges and resulting donations will directly help people hold on, and defend the rights of not only themselves, but all of us.
Follow phil’s progress
Follow Phil as he virtually rides the distance between home and the Alberta tar sands.
What is this stuff, and where does it come from?
What is the Trans Mountain Pipeline? What are the tar sands? What is diluted bitumen? How does it affect all of us?
(Image: Alberta Tar Sands by NWFblogs used under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
What was
the road to athabasca?
Learn about a journey along the Trans Mountain Pipeline route by bicycle!