Proposed Orientation for an Approach to Environmental Issues by the Environmental Committee, October2011.org

(Following is the text of an email to the national organizers):

The Environmental Committee of October2011.org met several times in person at Freedom Plaza starting on October 6. Since most of us are no longer in Washington, DC, we are keeping in contact via email. A range of diverse ideas characterize the members of our committee, but we share some commonalities as well—most of all, a sense of urgency and desire to see effective action to stop the destruction of the planet.

On our first day, with the most people present, we came to agreement on several basic principles that describe our basic collective outlook. This represents the collective effort and decision of the thirty-two people who participated in our committee. We would like to offer them to the rest of October2011, plus to other groups who may find them useful (such as Occupy formations), as foundational guidelines for formulating future decisions, actions and statements.

• We encourage a radical, rather than a liberal approach.
• The environment is the most urgent issue—if we don’t solve it, nothing else will matter.
• The struggle to save the planet is deeply interconnected with social justice and other issues. It’s impossible to address it outside the context of our social/political/economic structure.
• Change must happen at all levels, from the personal to the systemic.
• We embrace a range of strategies and believe it’s important to be mutually supportive even of those who approach the struggle differently.
• As we carry out our actions, we do not intend to ask permission from the system, or its representatives, institutions, or apologists.
• Direct action should be part of our strategy.
• Everyone should pledge to act to the maximum of their ability, and be willing to make personal sacrifices in the interests of Earth.
• Dominator/industrialized nations should assume a large share of the responsibility to fix ecological problems, and assist the rest of the world in mitigating their effects.
• We acknowledge that we live on stolen land, and must take leadership from non-colonized, indigenous, land-based communities.
• We insist that greenwashing strategies be eliminated from the environmental movement.
• We need to develop a sustainable way of life based on steady-state, no-growth, local economies (negative growth until the Earth is healed).
• We feel a special, specific urgency to stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. We pledge to resist all attempts to build the pipeline, and encourage others to make this pledge.