Culture and Coexistence into the Great Unknown
Dear Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon, I received your letter in response to my earlier note imploring you to do all you can to prevent the completion of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Your words express your intent to do exactly the opposite of what I had asked. And to be frank, your words piss me off.
The State Department has issued a flawed environmental review of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that ignores its far-reaching impacts on climate and our environment. Tar Sands Action Southern California has prepared a commentary on behalf of 40 groups to be submitted to the State Department demanding a comprehensive reassessment of the significant and irreversible impacts on the environment not taken into account in the draft report released on March 1st. Make your comment by April 22nd!
The revenue generated from a Carbon Tax, which should really be called a fee, would be returned to the citizenry, either through reductions in taxes or monthly dividends. That money would offset any increase in the cost of gas at the pump and would off-set already exorbitant financial stress caused by carbon release (i.e. medical bills and (un)natural disaster relief).
Joe Nocera in the New York Times believes Dr. James Hansen, because he is head of NASA’s Goddard Institute, should just shut up instead of participating in the anti-Keystone XL movement. Peter Jefferson Nichols argues this should be the role of any government scientist who recognizes the danger of passing climate tipping points, producing irreversible climate impacts.
“Blocking a pipeline, isn’t the same as blocking the flow of oil.” Hell yeah it ain’t! Diversity of targets! Diversity of tactics! If I am going to stop the single most profitable and destructive commodity on the planet from permanently spoiling our finite commons, the market place, I’ve got to do more than merely hold rallies and get arrested. I’ve got to organize. And that’s exactly what I’m doing, along with my siblings in solidarity.
The Keystone XL is a great line in the sand. It requires an executive approval from President Obama because it crosses an international boundary, a rare “Yeah” or “Nay” for a head of state. Should the President reject the project based on its adverse climatic effects, he would become the first world leader to recognize the mutually beneficial relationship between ecology and economy.
President Obama, we need an energy policy focused on efficiency and conservation, integrated with a clean, renewable energy plan – one that breaks our addiction to dirty and dangerous fuels such as Coal, Fracked Natural Gas, Nuclear and Tar Sands Oil.