Fighting Fossil Fuels All the Way to Prison

Tim DeChristopher, Founder, Climate Disobedience Center

In 2008 Tim Dechristopher heard Stanford professor Terry Root deliver a chilling lecture on the irreversible impacts of climate change. After her talk, Terry put her hand on Tim’s shoulder and said, “I am so sorry, but my generation failed yours.” Those words haunted Tim, and put him on a path to climate activism. He later infiltrated an auction for oil and gas leases on public lands in Utah near Canyonlands National Park. Tim intended to stand up and make a speech or create some other kind of disruption. Once inside, however, he was able to bid and actually won several auctions. When organizers realized he had no intention to pay, he was prosecuted for two federal felonies and sent to prison for two years. He was released in 2013 and is on a three-year probation. Before his release, he was accepted to Harvard Divinity School where he is studying justice movements.

One day after America celebrates Martin Luther King Jr., join us for a discussion about what lessons climate activists can learn from history and where carbon advocacy is headed.