Thousands form human pipeline at climate change rally

Source: USA TODAY

Thousands form human pipeline at climate change rally
Wendy Koch, USA TODAY 1:30p.m. EST February 17, 2013

WASHINGTON -- The nation's capital has seen huge protests over war, civil rights, gun violence, gay rights, corporate greed. And Sunday, despite freezing temperatures, thousands rallied for action on something else: climate change.

Organizers billed it as the largest climate rally ever. People who came on buses from dozens of states formed a "human pipeline" leading to the White House, and held signs urging President Obama to reject the 1,000-plus mile Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada through several U.S. states. Some climate scientists say the production of tar sands, carried by the pipeline, emits far more greenhouse gases than conventional crude oil. Proponents say it will reduce U.S. dependence on unstable foreign oil sources.

"There's no time for half measures ... We have to start leaving carbon in the ground," Bill McKibben, founder of the environmental activist group, 350.org, said in pre-rally comments. He said Canadian environmentalists have blocked alternate pipeline routes for transporting tar sands within their country so the Keystone route is developer TransCanada's last option.

McKibben, author of The End of Nature and other books, says dozens of environmental and civic groups are converging to create a public movement in favor of fighting climate change. He noted that activists, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and civil rights leader Julian Bond, were arrested in Keystone XL protests last week outside the White House, as were 1,238 people in September 2011.


Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/17/climate-change-rally-human-pipeline/1925719/