Americans Peacefully Protest the Keystone XL Pipeline

Today marks the sixth day of  the “Stop the Pipeline” sit-in in front of the White House. In what is being billed as “the largest collective act of civil disobedience in the history of the climate movement,” brave Americans are peacefully protesting for a cause near and dear to our hearts.

The protestors have joined together in front of President Obama’s home to stop a pipeline from being built. The 1,700-mile Keystone XL Pipeline, would carry diluted bitumen — an acidic crude oil — from Canada’s Alberta tar sands (the dirtiest fuel source known to man) to the Texas refineries. Suffice it to say: It would lock the United States into a future of energy dependency, and it’d be a very, very bad thing.

On Sunday, The New York Times came out against the proposed pipeline in an editorial piece:

“We have two main concerns: the risk of oil spills along the pipeline, which would traverse highly sensitive terrain, and the fact that the extraction of petroleum from the tar sands creates far more greenhouse emissions than conventional production does.”

Because the pipeline would cross an international border, it requires approval from the White House. So, now America’s fate is in President Obama’s hands, as only he can approve the necessary certificate on the premise that the construction of the pipeline is in the public’s interest. If he vetoes it, the pipeline can’t be built.

350.org Founder and Author Bill McKibben

And so the ongoing civil disobedience outside of the White House has become President Obama’s most important environmental decision prior to the 2012 election. Many protestors rocked “Obama 2008” buttons to send a message that they want the candidate who promised to tackle climate change head on and help end our nation’s dependence on fossil fuels.

Over 2,000 people have signed up to protest the XL, and as I write, over 220 people have been arrested to send a loud and clear message to the President.

Wherever you are in this beautiful world of ours, please send positive thoughts to these protestors who are so courageously acting in not only their country’s best interest, but in the planet’s.

This post was originally published at EarthHour.org