Mr. President: Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline, For My Children’s Future and Yours

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I was arrested for the first time in my life on August 23rd, 2011, in front of the White House, protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. Just over one year ago on a beautiful Sunday in November my children and I circled the White House with 12,000 other people, asking the President to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline, a symbol of addiction and a harbinger of a doomed future – if this is the road we decide to take. This Sunday, November 18th, 2012 many of my friends and colleagues will once again be at the White House, protesting this same pipeline and asking the President once and for all to stop this pipeline.

Mr. President it is time to be the person who said: “There will always be people in this country who say we’ve got to choose between clean air and clean water and putting people back to work. THAT IS A FALSE CHOICE. With smart, sustainable policies, we can grow our economy today and protect our environment for ourselves and our children.” These are your words Mr. President, I have them on a poster in my office; I look at and read them everyday. They give me hope. Keystone XL is not a sustainable policy option – it does NOT provide hope for a better today or a livable tomorrow.

I can’t be at the White House this time, in person on Sunday, November 18th, but I will be there in spirit, on social media, and watching, as moms, dads, grandparents and children demand that the President stop listening and bowing to money and demands that are leading us down an unsustainable path.

Below is a post I wrote a year ago, that is still relevant and to the point today. Yesterday, on November 16th, we saw yet again as 18 US Senators continued to try to move us away from a clean renewable energy future and keep us on a road to destruction. We can only wonder and shake our heads in frustration at what and who may be their motivation – what do they say to their children, as it is clear that their children and grandchildren’s futures are absent from their demands.

Mr. President, BE STRONG, BE A LEADER, say NO to the Keystone XL Pipeline! Calling all Climate Mamas and Papas who can make it to DC, join our friends at 350.org and keep this fight against dirty energy and the Keystone XL pipeline going, tomorrow, next week, and next year..it is a long battle, but one that together we can win!

Yours,

Climate Mama

GETTING PERSONAL, POLITICS, MY KIDS AND OUR FUTURE, Published, December 17, 2011

Our Climate Mama has a personal interest in the Keystone XL pipeline. It originates in her home province, tracks across her adopted country, and carries some of the most energy intensive, carbon producing fuel in the world. It also serves to perpetuate our addiction to fossil fuels, at a time where scientists tell us if we don’t move quickly to renewable energy and drastically reduce our current carbon emissions, we are dooming our planet, ourselves and our children. But never mind all that….

How corrupt and beholden are US elected officials, and how can we allow this to continue? Are our eyes “Wide Shut?” Never mind for a moment what you think about climate change, CO2 or pipelines. But what do you think about the fact that our Congress and a weak Senate allow corporate interests to buy what they want and then try to legitimize it by tying it to congressional actions? On November 10th the President of the United States said he was postponing the Keystone XL Pipeline project, to study it further and to examine it’s route through and environmental impact on the USA. Consideration of the project needed time, for a host of reasons. Fast forward 5 weeks, both Congress and Senate, beholden to industry, are forcing “fast tract approval – within 60 days” of the pipeline by tying it to a TOTALLY UNRELATED bill that the President wants passed that will extend a payroll tax for working Americans. Recognizably a very important issue but TOTALLY UNRELATED to building a pipeline!

NOT OKAY! Now more then ever, Americans need to stand strong and tell our elected officials they represent us, the American people, not just big multinational corporations. This type of wheeling and dealing, isn’t acceptable now nor should it ever be allowed. The pressure is on President Obama, we are watching you and counting on you to veto this pipeline once and for all and send a strong message that America isn’t for sale. Stand strong for my children’s future, our fight against climate change and show my children and YOURS that honesty and reality are important in the USA.

Stay tuned for more on this evolving issue and what you can do to TAKE A STAND!

UPDATE: As of 12/19 the House of Representatives has shown again how dysfunctional it is…now “changing it’s collective MIND” and refusing to agree on the Senate compromise..The Keystone XL Pipeline continues to be a pawn in a political game..unfortunately the consequences of our dysfunctional government are all too real…stay tuned…