With global warming reaching a state of crisis, the Sierra Club has decided to participate in an act of civil disobedience for the first time since it was founded in 1892.

“Next month, the Sierra Club will officially participate in an act of peaceful civil resistance,” Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune wrote on his blog. “We'll be following in the hallowed footsteps of Thoreau, who first articulated the principles of civil disobedience 44 years before John Muir founded the Sierra Club.”

Brune explained that the organization has always been committed to “lawful means” to achieve its goals, including lobbying, litigation and grassroots organizing. “Now, for the first time in our history, we are prepared to go further,” he added, without specifically saying what the Sierra Club plans to do. He has said that it will deal with the exploitation of tar sands and its relationship to climate change.

He cited last year’s record-breaking heat and severe drought that affected much of the nation as reasons for the decision to move in a different direction.

“We are watching a global crisis unfold before our eyes, and to stand aside and let it happen--even though we know how to stop it--would be unconscionable,” Brune said.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

From Walden to the White House (by Michael Brune, Sierra Club)

Sierra Club Turns to Civil Disobedience to Stop Keystone Pipeline (by Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones)

Sierra Club Took $26 Million from Natural Gas Industry (by Matt Bewig, AllGov)