McKibben: Is the Keystone XL Pipeline the “Stonewall” of the Climate Movement?
Watering the trees in Alberta
"A few weeks ago, Time magazine called the fight over the Keystone XL pipeline that will bring some of the dirtiest energy on the planet from Alberta, Canada, to the U.S. Gulf Coast the Selma and Stonewall of the climate movement.
Which, if you think about it, may be both good news and bad news. Yes, those of us fighting the pipeline have mobilized record numbers of activists: the largest civil disobedience action in 30 years and 40,000 people on the mall in February for the biggest climate rally in American history. Right now, were aiming to get a million people to send in public comments about the environmental review the State Department is conducting on the feasibility and advisability of building the pipeline. And theres good reason to put pressure on. After all, its the same State Department that, as on a previous round of reviews, hired experts who had once worked as consultants for TransCanada, the pipelines builder.
Still, lets put things in perspective: Stonewall took place in 1969, and as of last week the Supreme Court was still trying to decide if gay people should be allowed to marry each other. If the climate movement takes that long, well be rallying in scuba masks. (Im not kidding. The section of the Washington Mall where we rallied against the pipeline this winter already has a big construction project underway: a flood barrier to keep the rising Potomac River out of downtown DC.)"
http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175684/tomgram%3A_bill_mckibben%2C_how_do_you_solve_a_problem_like_the_democrats