Here are some photos from an August climate camp gathering and protest in Dunham, Quebec -- just north of Vermont. A tar sands pipeline and pumping station project ("Trailbreaker") was our main target at the camp.

For more information, see this invitation, and this camp publication.

The main campaign around the climate camp is a way of blocking tar sands expansion, while helping out local victims, at the same time. The pipeline project cuts across Maine, Quebec, Ontario, Michigan, Illinois, and other surrounding areas -- so there are plenty of points of intervention, and plenty of grounds for solidarity.

These photo sets are from the "convergence days" between August 18th and August 22nd.

Our climate camp was one of several during 2010; here is a list of 2010 climate camp web sites, in various Anglo and European countries.

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In the first photo there are signs that say 'No dirty oil in our territory' and 'climate action camp' (in French). The banners in other photos say 'Change the system, not the climate' (in French), 'stop the wave of destruction' (in French), "CO2lonialism", and 'Change the system! Not the climate!' "Trailbreaker = Tar sands".

Our tents we were on a cowfield which the cows had been temporary moved away from. Most of the cow patties were cleared away too. Some people hadn't arrived yet when the tent field photo in this set was taken.

Two forest workshop spaces are visible in these photos. Other workshop tents also can be seen in the photos -- along with a few of the workshops.

A tool tent is visible behind the soccer game.

In the Infoshop there were flyers, posters, books, sign-up sheets, and other materials. The pirate flag on the infoshop is about Canadian mining.

Food was prepared collectively in the makeshift kitchen.

The kitten was our mascot "CJ" -- as in Climate Justice (in English). The bike bloc group rescued the kitten from a rural road during their 9-hour journey from Montreal to the camp site. For a couple of days, the kitten spent a lot of time in the wood pallet at the entrance to the kitchen.

See the individual photo posts on Flickr for more details.

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This August 22nd tar sands protest was organized in Dunham, Quebec, for the last day of the climate camp convergence. This protest was part of the Trailbreaker campaign against tar sands piping and pumping through Quebec.

After brief statements from activists, we embarked on a march along rural roads, toward the site of a proposed pumping station. We chanted, we sang, and we did a collective dance. We also performed what we called a "human oil spill." That spill was somewhat like a quick die-in -- but with some more playful theatre. One protestor also had a tub drum, and another played a harmonica.

After the march -- at the site of the possible tar sands pumping station -- speakers talked about tar sands issues, while food was prepared and eaten. Some of us prepared the corn together there. Francophone and indigenous perspectives were important sides of that gathering.

During the protest, people started to sign on to this tar sands pledge of resistance, which others now can join online. Signatures were collected on French and English paper copies of the pledge, which you can see in the photos.

The trash bags were our oily costumes for the protest. One guy also wore a funnel on his head, with black waste bag plastic coming out of it. A couple of people also had yellow climate crime scene tape wrapped around themselves.

The "coalition" sign says 'pipeline coalition' (in French).

The "danger" sign is about the Enbridge pipeline which already is in place.

It was cloudy and mucky that day, and it was raining. The protest site also wasn't directly beside our camp space -- which posed another challenge for us.

A week earlier, on August 15th, there was another climate camp protest against the pumping station that may be set up in Dunham. Here is a photo set, and a video (in French).

See the individual photo posts on Flickr for some additional details about the protest.