Tim DeChristopher

Bill McKibben of 350.org finds inspiration in Tim DeChristopher’s message, which he summaries as “Do more. Dig deeper. Don’t be afraid.” McKibben’s Orion blog, “Dig Deeper,” discusses how the environmental movement had lost impact and needed new tactics. With climate change as the current challenge, the timing for the environmental movement’s power loss was unfortunate, but DeChristopher’s actions have enlivened the cause and sparked activism on new levels.

For more from Orion about Tim DeChristopher, check out Terry Tempest Williams’ interview, “What Love Looks Like.”

At Mountainfilm last May, two of our favorite people, activist Tim DeChristopher and author Terry Tempest Williams, sat down together in a hotel room in Telluride and talked for three hours. Orion Magazine has published the transcript of their engaging and thoughtful conversation.

From the moment I heard about Bidder #70 raising his paddle inside a BLM auction to outbid oil and gas companies in the leasing of Utah’s public lands, I recognized Tim DeChristopher as a brave, creative citizen-activist. That was on December 19, 2008, in Salt Lake City. Since that moment, Tim has become a thoughtful, dynamic leader of his generation in the climate change movement. While many of us talk about the importance of democracy, Tim has put his body on the line and is now paying the consequences.

Looking back at 2011, this has certainly been the year of the protester, something that Time Magazine crystalized with its Person of the Year issue. Of course the magazine rightly mentions the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street movements, but they neglected to write about one of the most significant protesters of the year: Tim DeChristopher. DeChristopher is currently serving two years in prison for disrupting a federal auction of land for natural gas and oil drilling.

From Festival Director David Holbrooke:

Tim DeChristopher is serving a two year term in Federal prison near Ferlong, California. In a recent letter to Mountainfilm Festival Director David Holbrooke, he wrote:

"Overall, I'm doing really well. The moving around before I got here was stressful but it's been nice to settle in here the last couple of weeks. In a way, I have been waiting to get here for over two and a half years, so I actually have a relieving sense of moving on with my life."

If you want to write him, you can get all the details here. Also, check out a recent interview Mountainfilm 2007 guest Jeff Goodell did with DeChristopher for Rolling Stone.

Jeff Goodell was a guest at the Energy Symposium in 2007 and is a regular contributor to Rolling Stone. In his latest piece, Jeff makes a list called: Environment - Ten Things Obama Must Do. Number 9 is Pardon Tim DeChristopher.

"When Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, he declared that future generations would remember it as "the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal." More than three years later, the oceans are still rising and our planet has done more howling – in the form of extreme weather – than healing."

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Tim DeChristopher, two-time Mountainfilm in Telluride festival special guest and well-known climate activist, was sentenced on July 26 in Federal Court in Salt Lake City to two years in prison for his activism in disrupting a corrupted oil-gas lease sale by BLM in Utah.  Immediately after sentencing Tim was taken by Federal Marshalls directly to jail to begin serving his sentence.  Over 200 people were at the Federal Court House in support of Tim and his climate awareness actions.  Upon hearing the sentence and learning that Tim was taken directly to jail to prevent him from speaking, against the norm in these types of cases, many of Tim's supporters decided to speak for Tim in the form of a spontaneous protest to proclaim that citizen voices cannot easily be silenced.  Twenty-six were arrested in this peaceful protest and taken to jail.  Two of those arrested were from Telluride; locals Chris Meyers and Skip Edwards.  Local Tellurider's have set up a defense fund to help with Chris's and Skip's fines with the remainder going to help Tim DeChristopher's appeal expenses, said by his pro-bono attorney's to be in excess of $50,000.
 

Judge Dee Benson was right in determining that Tim DeChristopher is dangerous. He was right in delivering a stiff sentence in a federal prison to try and silence him if what the judge fears is an evolving democracy. And we can all thank him for showing us how terrifying civil resistance is to the power structures of the United States of America, when a citizen, especially a student, steps forward in an act of courage when justice is being denied.

But Judge Benson was dead wrong when he reprimanded DeChristopher for speaking out after his conviction in March. He stated during the sentencing hearing that DeChristopher might not have faced prosecution, let alone prison, if it were not for that “continuing trail of statements.”

We rounded up some of the reactions and comments to Tim DeChristopher's sentencing this week:

Mountainfilm Festival Director David Holbrooke:

While we are sad that our friend Tim DeChristopher is going to prison, he has always known he was going to face time for his courageous actions. Today, we at Mountainfilm find ourselves - once again - inspired by his deep and fierce commitment to combating climate change and we hope the Mountainfilm community will take action, locally and nationally, on this crucial issue of our time.

Stephanie Paige Ogburn, High Country News:

On that life-changing Friday in December, DeChristopher stepped out of that respect for law and appealed to a higher authority -- a care for the Earth and for future generations. The government has declared him, as Thoreau predicted, to be an enemy. The American public may beg to differ.

After his sentencing on Tuesday July 26, 2011, Tim Dechristopher gave a 35 minute statement to the judge. Grist has published the entire statement on their website, here is an excerpt:

Thank you for the opportunity to speak before the court. When I first met Mr. Manross, the sentencing officer who prepared the presentence report, he explained that it was essentially his job to "get to know me." He said he had to get to know who I really was and why I did what I did in order to decide what kind of sentence was appropriate. I was struck by the fact that he was the first person in this courthouse to call me by my first name, or even really look me in the eye. I appreciate this opportunity to speak openly to you for the first time. I'm not here asking for your mercy, but I am here asking that you know me.

Tim DeChristopher was sentenced to two years in federal prison on Tuesday July 26, 2011 as well as a $10,000 fine.

From The Salt Lake Tribune:

Tim DeChristopher will face prison time for disrupting a federal oil and gas lease auction, a federal judge has ruled.

DeChristopher, the 29-year-old climate activist turned environmental folk hero, was sentenced Tuesday to spend two years in prison. He also will face a $10,000 fine.