Carl Gibson writes: "Sadly, the bad guys who destroy the environment for profit are very real."
Demonstrators protest against the Keystone XL Pipeline, 11/6/11. (photo: Evan Vucci/AP)
Planet Earth Needs You in Texas
30 September 12
“Earth! Fire! Wind! Water! Heart! Goooo Planet!”
“By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!”
oes anyone else remember the cartoon Captain Planet, from the 1990s? It was a great show about five kids with special rings that had powers over the elements, who fought greedy bad guys with names like Looten Plunder and Verminous Skumm who were always trying to destroy precious natural resources for corporate profit. When the going got too tough, the kids would combine all their powers and summon Captain Planet, who would then proceed to kick corporate ass for Planet Earth.
Sadly, the bad guys who destroy the environment for profit are very real. Since there’s no real-life Captain Planet to stop them, anyone who cares about America’s natural resources and fundamental human rights needs to get down to Winnsboro, Texas, ASAP. Because some very brave planeteers in the Tar Sands Blockade, risking their own safety for the environment and landowner rights, are being tortured by police at the encouragement of TransCanada executives.
TransCanada’s hopes of having the Keystone XL pipeline go from the Alberta Tar Sands, through the American Great Plains region, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico in Southeastern Texas, were dashed in January, when their proposed route was rejected. But they haven’t given up - one of their former lobbyists is a senior advisor for President Obama’s re-election campaign. And Obama has promised to “fast-track” construction of the first leg of the Keystone XL pipeline from Texas through Oklahoma. TransCanada says the pipeline will bring job growth and decrease gas prices, but both claims have been thoroughly debunked.
If Obama is re-elected, that TransCanada ex-lobbyist will likely continue to play a key role in the White House, where he’ll ensure the construction of the pipeline and the extraction of the Tar Sands oil. Should that happen, the global temperature is expected to increase dramatically, meaning numerous catastrophes like species extinction and the forced relocation of millions of people living on coastal cities due to rising water levels. The resulting damage to our tenuous climate would also mean crop and livestock extinction, driving up food prices to astronomical levels beyond what most ordinary folks would be able to afford. All this damage would be done so a few oilmen at the top of the economic ladder, who have already amassed more wealth than could be reasonably spent over the course of several lifetimes, can get even richer.
Landowners who are sick of TransCanada grifting people out of their property like Daniel Day Lewis in "There Will Be Blood" (“There is a pipeline!”), along with environmental activists determined to have a planet for future offspring to enjoy, have banded together to stop this from happening through nonviolent direct action dubbed the Tar Sands Blockade. The plan is to halt the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline at its source, so it’s game-over for the pipeline before it even gets to be built, instead of game-over for the climate once it’s built.
During previous actions, police were generally peaceful with the activists. But TransCanada officials have recently encouraged police to use “aggressive pain compliance tactics” on peaceful protesters who handcuffed themselves to TransCanada’s equipment to stop the company from tearing down forests in Winnsboro, Texas. At the insistence of Transcanada, police used choke holds, the painful manipulation of activists' free arms, pepper spray, and even tazers. One activist was tazed twice. TransCanada officials then praised police on a “job well-done.”
Police have apparently forgotten that as peace officers, it’s their job to keep the peace and protect the people, not to serve the interests of multinational corporations. If unarmed protesters are being subjected to such extreme violence and brutality, then it’s our duty as fellow citizens and fellow stewards of Planet Earth to join their effort to stop the pipeline’s construction. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment, just as the infamous pepper-spraying of two defenseless Occupy Wall Street activists at the hands of NYPD officer Anthony Bologna last year galvanized the movement to get to Zuccotti Park.
The battle happening in Texas right now is one we must win if we’re to have a planet on which to raise the next generation. A company motivated by nothing other than naked greed, like TransCanada, must not be victorious in their goal to harm our planet and brutalize our people all to make more money.
On October 12th and 13th, tarsandsblockade.org is hosting a direct action training camp. If you need a ride, they can even help you get there. Get to Texas, ASAP. Your planet needs you.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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Comments
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This has to be the most expensive way to go about refining that junk.
Amen!
Canadians have rejected this proposal for almost a decade. I have told you here and other places since i have some acquaintances in Canada. They warned me about its coming.
It is expensive...wha t they need is pipes and then transport to the East for refinenment. However, if anyone would remember that on ABC News about a year ago, Workers, Impact Study Researchers and FDA told Us that there is no safe way to transport this oil, and we do not have the ability to do so as our pipes were not adequate. If they blew out at any junction, the spill, contamination would be unbelievable... would make BP and Exxon look like Saints. Lots of Info on Web about this...
Get back to the idea that Tar Sands are barely profitable, and getting it from the ground and to market is HORRIBLY dirty and energy intensive. The environmental downside is awful, but persistant.
Personally I do not use much gas, I do not use air conditioning, and I do use my heat safely but then I have GeoThermal so I have no carbon input to pollution. I do buy food, produce Locally and I produce it organically. But when I do fill up my truck to do volunteer work, I am not filling up with tar sand oil.
By the Way, I do not buy Foreign if I can help it, but I really do not buy from the East...that goes hundred percent on food, seafood.
I do not feed my cats or dog, any food that could be from East. HJ7 what do you do to keep jobs in USA? Do you care if the USA ends up with total contamination. You might buy water because it is kewl...but what when you have to pay ten dollar for that bottle of water? Same with your food. You will see prices raise this winter due to shortages, drought....thin k about that never stopping because there is no clean food or water. Bon Apetit
Oklahoma...besides a Musical I didn't know they were than hateful. Texas...I think tides are gonna shift, perhaps starting with the women and children. May be time to leave the sleazes in the shed.
I believe between Republican denial of Women's Rights, Nasty Remarks about Women, their basic attitude towards the legal Immigrants who toiled to make them rich...Texas seems to have Farmers fighting Monsanto, fighting Tar Sands, Warning us about Fracking.... I do not know but when I think of south wanting to succeed...Flori da, Ala, Ga, Miss, Mo.......now I am hoping Arizona, Wyoming, Wisconsin will all leave...but then what would they do without us...Who will buy what is left to sell? What kind of money would they have..failing budgets already, people unemployed...so what would be the incentive to leave the USA? They are definitely not responsible but they are not intelligent enough to make it work. Rest of the States could make what they do, that would only boost jobs and economy for the rest of us.
Giving me more reasons to cheer for them to leave. If they have no jobs, poor budgets than what are any of them actually doing for America except taking money, They do know they will get no vouchers and lose SS etc?
Oklahoma, although not knowing it in-depth, is probably of a Right bent. (Correct me, though, if I'm wrong.) I think of the Oklahoma City bombing, although I don't know if the perpetrators came from there. Then, I read someting about its legislature trying to impose an anti-woman measure.
Texas unfortunately has that reputation for a Right-wing bent. But it's ecouraging to hear Texans who may not "beleive the hype." Someone once told me that Austin, being a college town, is a part of Texas that hates Texas. Gray areas.
I suppose in looking at the "red states," they would be too dangerous I think on thier own, with their ultranationalis t form of patriotism. But as you allude to, they could fall apart financially and thus not be a threat at all. Still, I think they need their "hand held." If they're the way they are now, I dread seeing them making independent decisions.
In may cities, Tom, people have been riding bikes for decades. I know people out west that do manual and gas.
I hope they all leave the Union in South, sure would make it simpler...with their attitude about South rising again, hard to believe they give a crap about the USA.
Several decades ago, Margaret Thatcher claimed: "There is no alternative". She was referring to capitalism. Today, this negative attitude still persists.
I would like to offer an alternative to capitalism for the American people to consider. Please click on the following link. It will take you to an essay titled: "Home of the Brave?" which was published by the Athenaeum Library of Philosophy:
http://evans-experientialism.freewebspace.com/steinsvold.htm
John Steinsvold
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."~ Albert Einstein
I believe in Spaying and Neutering.
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