Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Stopping the Biggest Carbon Bomb on the Planet - Bill McKibben
I havent written about the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline for a while, except to try and rally support for the brave people blockading construction along its southern portion. After more than two weeks in the trees of Texas, their dramatic action is drawing more and more attention, as they reveal the recklessness and heartlessness of a company like TransCanadathe kind that will call the cops to get a great-grandmother and arrest her for trespassing on her own land when she protests the pipeline crossing it.
The larger part of the Keystone pipeline projectthe northern leg to Canadahas been on the political back-burner since last years massive protests. Since that northern leg would have been a fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet, we counted that as a temporary victory.
The State Department is supposedly figuring out how to calculate the climate risk from the tar sands, something they failed to do last time roundbut so far theres no sign they have a real plan. Neither candidate for President has expressed any opposition to building the pipeline, so it may be just a matter of weeks before we need your help again, and in a big way.
And in the meantime, we have a piece of truly good news. Our friends in Canada have done a remarkable job of organizing opposition to the so-called Northern Gateway pipeline that would carry tar sands gunk to the Pacific. As this article in Canadas leading paper put it last week, that plan is effectively dead, dashed against the rock-solid opposition of Indigenous groups, and Canadian climate activists both. With it goes the favorite talking point of Keystone backers, that theyll just send it to China anyway.
...
complete piece: http://ecowatch.org/2012/carbon-bomb/
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 1181 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (4)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Stopping the Biggest Carbon Bomb on the Planet - Bill McKibben (Original Post)
limpyhobbler
Oct 2012
OP
villager
(26,001 posts)1. "Neither candidate for President has expressed any opposition to building the pipeline...."
sigh.....
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)2. We'll take any good news we can get right now.
I only hope we can continue fighting. We're doing okay, but we need to keep pushing. If we try hard enough, we'll have a good chance of beating them. And many, many Kudos to the Indigenous people and others who bravely made a stand for the environment. Bravo!