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Updated: Bidder 70: "The Path We're On Is Scarier Than Prison" Tim DeChristopher Trial: Bidder 70 Says "The Path We're On Is Scarier Than Prison"

Tim DeChristopher's trial is underway in Salt Lake City. Watch this great interview with a true climate hero.

[Updated with links to DeChristopher's testimony below.]

We've been following the story of Tim DeChristopher, aka Bidder 70, since he first disrupted a multi-million dollar Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease auction by simply walked in and bidding. His trial is currently underway in Salt Lake City. In my interview with him last year, DeChristopher brought up the Gandhian concept of "being the carbon tax."


You know how Gandhi said you have to “be the change you want to see in the world.” Well the change that most of us wish to see is a carbon tax, but our leaders aren’t doing that for us, so Gandhi’s call is then for us to be the carbon tax.

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The man obviously makes a great interview, and is a smart, powerful voice for the climate movement writ large. This essence is captured in a great video interview that the New York Times ran yesterday.

This man is a true hero. He is willing to sacrifice his own future for the collective good. I can't shake these words from his interview:

I understand that prison is a very horrible place, but i've been scared for my future for a long time. The scariest thing that I see is staying on the path that we're on right now. Obedience to me is much scarier than going to prison.

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The "path we're on" is scarier than prison. Spoken like a true leader.

As always, to learn more, get involved, or donate to Dechristopher's cause, go to the Peaceful Uprising site.

Update, 3/3/2011, 8:28am ET: The Salt Lake City Tribune has a full transcript of DeChristopher's testimony. The case will be in the jury's hands today, Thursday. To follow throughout the day, you check the #bidder70 hashtag on Twitter and local Fox13 reporter @BenWinslow or the Tribune's @aaronfalk.

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