On March 24, 2017, President Trump announced his approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, and our local activist community did not hesitate to begin building the fightback! Organizers from 350 Seattle, indigenous leaders, and members of the #Defund DAPL coalition reached out to my office and asked me to co-author a resolution calling on the City of […]

On February 8, 2017, the movement to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline won a significant victory when the Seattle City Council unanimously voted on the bill I wrote with activists to divest Seattle from Wells Fargo.  On February 1, after our committee vote, I spoke about how this was a stunning rebuke of Wall Street, Big Oil, […]

On December 12, I brought forward an ordinance to divest the City of Seattle from Wells Fargo, due to their investment in the Dakota Access Pipeline and a series of other unethical banking practices.  The ordinance also changes the City’s financial policies to make social justice concerns a factor when choosing where to deposit public funds. […]

Thursday in North Dakota, a police force backed by corporate paramilitary agents and armored vehicles moved against indigenous people and other activists courageously protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline. Organizers were beaten, maced, shot with rubber bullets, threatened with automatic weapons, and more than 100 arrested for having the audacity to stand up and protect indigenous […]

On September 12, 2016, the Seattle City Council unanimously passed a resolution in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the nearly 200 allied tribes, numerous environmental organizations, and thousands of activists who have joined in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline. See my remarks below. Since April, despite a longstanding media blackout, we […]

On January 12, 2016, we held the first meeting of the Energy and Environment Committee. The committee, in my view, is mandated with providing leadership on environmental policy and energy and allied technology policy. Below are my introductory remarks, regarding the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris and the beginning of the trial of courageous climate activists […]

A day before the largest climate action in history, Kshama Sawant joined Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, activists Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben and Chris Hedges in New York City for a panel discussion to debate the way forward for the environmental movement. Video jumps directly to Kshama, and you can read the speech below. Transcript of […]

UPDATE: Live-stream the event here starting at 5pm Pacific Time, and a complete HD video of the proceedings will be posted by The Real News Network around 9:30pm Pacific Time. The event will also be live-tweeted from @socialistclay. Saturday, September 20th, 8pm EST (5pm Pacific) Kshama Sawant will join Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Van Jones, activists Naomi Klein, Bill […]

On Thursday, the City of Seattle dodged a bullet when a BNSF train carrying Bakken crude oil derailed under the Magnolia Bridge without a leak or explosion. This is extremely alarming. It is important to stress how lucky we were that it wasn’t a real disaster. More oil was spilled last year by BNSF and […]

UW workers endorse the Sawant/Licata Transit package I also wanted to include an update to the endorsements that we have received for the more progressive Metro plan that is being proposed by Councilmember Nick Licata and me to avert the cuts to Metro. On Friday, the Executive Board of WFSE Local 1488 voted unanimously to […]