{"id":4625,"date":"2009-07-08T17:03:15","date_gmt":"2009-07-08T17:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=4625"},"modified":"2009-07-08T17:03:15","modified_gmt":"2009-07-08T17:03:15","slug":"breaking-greenpeace-activists-scale-and-occupy-mt-rushmore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/breaking-greenpeace-activists-scale-and-occupy-mt-rushmore\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking: Greenpeace Activists Scale and Occupy Mt. Rushmore"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n [Update: 12 Greenpeace activists were arrested<\/a> shortly after unfurling the banner. Possible charges<\/a> range from trespass to destruction of government property. ]<\/em><\/p>\n At approximately 10:30 AM Mountain Time, Greenpeace activists unfurled a banner at one of America’s most iconic landmarks with a message that reads, “America honors leaders not politicians: Stop Global Warming.\u201d The banner, measuring sixty-five feet by thirty-five feet, features an unfinished portrait of President Obama.<\/p>\n [social_buttons]<\/p>\n The demonstration comes as President Obama meets other G8 leaders in L\u2019Aquila, Italy today to discuss the global warming crisis in the lead-up to UN climate treaty talks in Copenhagen this December.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n High winds made the unfurling of the banner especially difficult, but climbers were able to secure the banner despite the winds and pressure from fast-approaching National Park Police climbers. In a piece of twenty-first century political theater, Greenpeace also tweeted<\/a> from atop the famous rock face and streamed the live video feed<\/a> of the action at their website, providing color and play-by-play analysis from their communications team in D.C. and activists on the ground.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n To bring attention the issue, 11 activists completed a challenging climb to the top of Mount Rushmore, and three rappelled down, hanging the nearly 2300-square-foot banner as they descended.<\/p>\n It was not entirely clear how the activists so easily evaded the security perimeter in the early morning hours on Wednesday, but according to Greenpeace, the highly-trained climbers took special care not to damage the monument, using existing anchors placed by the National Park Service for periodic cleanings.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have individuals who are determined, who are equipped, who are organized, who are willing to do damage to government property, there\u2019s not many systems that are fail-safe to that,\u201d Nav Sing, spokesman for the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial told<\/a> the Rapid City Journal<\/em>.<\/p>\n The demonstration in South Dakota follows a series of protests in Italy<\/a> this morning where other Greenpeace activists hung banners on smokestacks of the dirtiest coal-fired power plant in Italy, calling attention to the collective failure of leadership on global warming at the G8.<\/p>\n