This week, five CCAN staffers, including myself, were arrested in front of the White House in an effort to compel President Obama to deny a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
President Obama will decide later this year on TransCanada’s permit for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, which will send 900,000 barrels a day of the world’s dirtiest oil to US refineries, allowing further development of the Alberta tar sands. Mining oil from tar sands creates three times more carbon emissions than conventional oil extraction and our top climate scientist, NASA’s Dr. James Hansen, has said that the development of the tar sands would be “essentially game over” for the climate.
Environmental activists from throughout the U.S. and Canada are drawing a line in the (tar) sand to tell President Obama that he MUST deny the Keystone XL a presidential permit. Since August 20th, 275 brave activists have been arrested in a rolling sit-in at the White House gates. Over 2,000 people from all 50 states and Canada have registered to take part in the ongoing protest which will continue until September 3rd.
I was arrested on Monday, August 22nd to help stop this pipeline. And I still can’t believe it. I have always avoiding getting in trouble at all costs. I had to serve detention once in the 7th grade and hated myself for it for weeks. This internal conscience has followed me throughout my life, and has naturally led to my pristine, non-existent criminal record. I’m probably one of the last people you’d expect to go to jail for any cause. My parents raised me right. I was a hopeless overachiever in college. I have a master’s degree. I’m a responsible working professional. And my “criminal” record consists of a handful of traffic tickets. So it had to take a LOT for me to risk my pristine record and reputation for the planet.
I work on climate change because I think it’s the biggest challenge that has ever faced humanity. If we lose on climate, I sincerely believe that little else matters. It won’t matter how much money flows through the world economy, which nations are currently at war, or where the next Olympic Games will be held if we don’t have a liveable planet for future generations to enjoy. And if the fight to stop Keystone XL is a tangible way that we can at least remain in the fight for our climate — I’m certainly not prepared to be defeated — then I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep us in this fight.
The fight to stop Keystone XL is both literal and symbolic. Yes, we need to stop this pipeline. Yes, it will be “game over” for the climate if it’s built. But more than that, we need to send a signal to the world that the U.S. is making swift, sure steps towards a clean energy future and away from the dirty energy of the past and is an active party in efforts to save Earth’s climate. At its roots, this IS a matter of life and death for so many species.
President Obama must show Greens what he is really made of by rejecting Keystone XL. Is he going to stand up to Big Oil and push our nation down the path toward a sustainable future? Or are responsible Americans like myself risking arrest in front of the White House in vain? I sincerely hope the former is true.
