Tech | July 02, 2011 | 31 comments

Environmental leaders encourage civil disobedience to stop Keystone XL pipeline

source: http://www.care2.com/causes/environmental-leaders-encourage-civil-disobedience-to-stop-keyst...

Image
JanforGore
Last week, eleven veterans of the environmental movement issued an open letter to Canadians and Americans inviting them to participate in a massive public protest of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline expansion.

The letter’s signatories, which include David Suzuki, Bill McKibben, and Wendell Berry and climate scientist James Hansen, say that the time has come to move from letter writing and petition signing to something that’s more likely to get the government’s attention: civil disobedience at the nation’s capital.

The invitation can be read in its entirety at tarsandsaction.org, but here are a few choice excerpts (emphasis and links added):

As you know, the planet is steadily warming: 2010 was the warmest year on record, and we’ve seen the resulting chaos in almost every corner of the earth.

And as you also know, our democracy is increasingly controlled by special interests interested only in their short-term profit.

These two trends collide this summer in Washington, where the State Department and the White House have to decide whether to grant a certificate of ‘national interest’ to some of the biggest fossil fuel players on earth. These corporations want to build the so-called ‘Keystone XL Pipeline’ from Canada’s tar sands to Texas refineries.

The pipeline crosses crucial areas like the Oglalla Aquifer where a spill would be disastrous—and though the pipeline companies insist they are using ‘state of the art’ technologies that should leak only once every 7 years, the precursor pipeline and its pumping stations have leaked a dozen times in the past year. These local impacts alone would be cause enough to block such a plan. But the Keystone Pipeline would also be a fifteen hundred mile fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the continent, a way to make it easier and faster to trigger the final overheating of our planet, the one place to which we are all indigenous.

And Secretary of State Clinton has already said she’s ‘inclined’ to recommend the pipeline go forward. Partly it’s because of the political commotion over high gas prices, though more tar sands oil would do nothing to change that picture. But it’s also because of intense pressure from industry. The US Chamber of Commerce—a bigger funder of political campaigns than the RNC and DNC combined—has demanded that the administration “move quickly to approve the Keystone XL pipeline,” which is not so surprising—they’ve also told the U.S. EPA that if the planet warms that will be okay because humans can ‘adapt their physiology’ to cope. The Koch Brothers, needless to say, are also backing the plan, and may reap huge profits from it.

So we’re pretty sure that without serious pressure the Keystone Pipeline will get its permit from Washington.

This won’t be a one-shot day of action. We plan for it to continue for several weeks, till the administration understands we won’t go away. Not all of us can actually get arrested—half the signatories to this letter live in Canada, and might well find our entry into the U.S. barred. But we will be making plans for sympathy demonstrations outside Canadian consulates in the U.S., and U.S. consulates in Canada—the decision-makers need to know they’re being watched.

Twenty years of patiently explaining the climate crisis to our leaders hasn’t worked. Maybe moral witness will help. You have to start somewhere, and we choose here and now.



Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/environmental-leaders-encourage-civil-disobedience-t...
more at the link


I say, hell yes.
  1. groups:
    Community,   Tech,   Green,   Actual News,   6 more
  2. tags:
    Environment,  Obama,  Climate Change,  Oil,  16 more
  3.     
    |

31 comments // Environmental leaders encourage civil disobedience to stop Keystone XL pipeline

  • Mark701
    • +1
      Mark701  

    • "And Secretary of State Clinton has already said she’s ‘inclined’ to recommend the pipeline go forward. Partly it’s because of the political commotion over high gas prices, though more tar sands oil would do nothing to change that picture."

      Unfortunately Ms. Clinton is naive or playing dumb. The high gas prices are not connected to any kind of shortage. Gasoline and crude are plentiful. Like most of the economic chaos in this country, high gasoline prices are due to Wall Streets energy speculators.Pumping more oil will not resolve the issue of high prices when Wall Street is waiting for someone in the Middle East to fart in the wrong direction for a reason bid up the price.

      Second, and more importantly, oil companies are not required to sell the oil they pump from the US to the US. Crude oil is placed on the open market and sold to the highest bidder. So US oil could just as easily be sent to Samoa as this country.

      The only way to curb the price of oil is to reign in energy speculators on Wall Street. Force them to take physical delivery of the product they are trading instead of just moving electrons from trader A to trader B.

    • 11 months ago
  • letsliveinpeace
  • alexsmith01
    • 0
      alexsmith01  

    • i two think its way too much and think it has to be stopped . we need some real ideas however they should have worked with a few people to get some suggestions and ideas out there of what to do

    • 11 months ago
  • TheChameleon
    • +1
      TheChameleon  

    • I haven't engaged in a good old fashioned civil disobediance since that Protest March I staggered in for DAMM. (Drunks Against Mad Mothers)Didn't do a damn bit of good... But at least I tried.

    • 11 months ago
  • Throowrocks
    • -2
      Throowrocks  

    • transition to what? Windmills?The average windmill only produces 30% capacity. Solar and wind could not run this country. You cant pass a law mandating technology that hasn't been invented yet. Oil is a blessing, give it up if you like, live any life style that makes you happy.

    • 11 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  
    • Throowrocks:

      The sun hasn't been invented yet?

      "Solar and wind cannot run this country."

      When the oil runs out then what? Will you be down on your knees digging through the rock to find it like a drug addict? Solar and wind most definitely could run this country, only the greedy bastards controlling the energy supply now are doing all in their power to not let that happen by spreading falsehoods about its capacity because they don't want to see it reach parity with their falsely priced dirty energy sources. Just like you are doing here. Add indirect costs to fossil fuels, and renewables blow them out of the water.

    • 11 months ago
  • squarethecircle
  • artemis6
  • Throowrocks
    • -2
      Throowrocks  

    • Have you discovered a way to make plastic from wind mills? Should we beam the oil to the refinery's? Our you willing to disconnect the pipes that provide your home with utilities? The answer is your disconnected from reality! Can all our electrical needs be supplied by solar and windmills?

    • 11 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • +1
      Gravity_Man  
    • Throowrocks:

      Water heaters that run all day long, dishwasher motors that stay semi-turned on all day long, heatpump motors staying trickle-charged for the next run, all day long, those are the reasons solar falls short.

      Dishwasher motors are closer to a woman's ovaries, all day long. Ever hear of cancer? How about testicular cancer then? How about short children their thyroid and eyes and brain down near these motors semi-turned on all the time? Babies crawling near electrical outlets...

      If AC was bringing power up to the meter then converted to DC for inside the home a lot of human misery would soon go back to 1860 levels. What? No records for 1860? EXACTLY!

    • 11 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • +2
      Gravity_Man  
    • Throowrocks:

      When's the last time you had your incoming voltage checked? I know for a fact several main power companies one being APCO is shoving extra voltage (250+ volts) into homes MULTIPLYING THE LOSSES DUE TO TRICKLE CURRENT I MENTIONED ALREADY.

      The shortage is a lie. Solar not being powerful enough is a self-serving lie. Hmm. Power company people like their paychecks every week is a truth.

      Electricity is as simple as a hand-cranked magneto. You are the victim of a lifelong pistol whipping.

    • 11 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • squarethecircle
  • squarethecircle
  • tverdell
    • -2
      tverdell  
    • Throowrocks:

      Your point is correct.
      We NEED oil, without it, we would have chaos.

      At the same time, oil is killing us.

      The sooner we migrate, per the items you mentioned, the more time we will have for a smooth transition.

      The longer we wait, the more likely we will have a crash.

      Either via peak oil or some environmental conditions.

      Please refer to a famous essay The Long Emergency by Kunstler.

    • 11 months ago
  • tverdell
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • tverdell:

      That sounds great! I turned my water heater setting up HIGH (150 degrees) and keep it turned off til right before I need hot water. I got my electric bill down to $37 two months ago then $58 for last month.

      The more I succeed and the more I tell people how I succeeded the more times the Power Company execs schedule meetings with the Virginia Rate Commission crying for more rate increases. THEY DO LIKE THE MONEY, THEY DO.

    • 11 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
  • Throowrocks
  • squarethecircle
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • Throowrocks:

      I think you should go live right where this pipeline would be laid. And when, not if but when it ruptures and spills its toxic cancer causing bitumen ooze into the waterways, you should have to drink it.

    • 11 months ago
  • tverdell
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • tverdell:

      Ideally a person would purchase a Timer for about $65.00 and set it to run 5-6 minutes every 12 hours and forget about it. Set to a higher thermostat setting you'd be OK, altho personally I would want to place an override on the Timer so whenever there was NOISE of water exiting the tank it would kick on.

      The Timer + the sound pickup switch turns a hot water heater into an inline heater. hahahaha The power companies don't like me telling that little gem, cuts down on their Take Home Pay.

    • 11 months ago
  • EvilDoer
  • COMMONSENSEFORCOMMONGOOD_COM
  • nikonwilly
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  

    • "Twenty years of patiently explaining the climate crisis to our leaders hasn’t worked. Maybe moral witness will help. You have to start somewhere, and we choose here and now."

      If the State Dept. issues this permit with Obama's nod of approval, it will totally sink his credibility regarding his stance on renewable energy, climate change and the environment.

    • 11 months ago
  • tverdell
    • 0
      tverdell  
    • JanforGore:

      Well, I think Obama completely ignored Gore's essay.

      I would not expect any help from the Obama administration on the environment.

      That being said, we should still protest and work from the ground up (grassroot).

    • 11 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • tverdell
more from Tech:
from the community

top videos