Arvada, Colorado, as well as many places today, congregated to say:
Please don't scrape away the Boreal forest of Canada. Don't support it with a pipeline. Not for any amount of energy would this be acceptable and we are doing it for pittance.
A 2.9:1 return on energy (EROI), spending natural gas to boil the tar from the sands, and huge amounts of gas to run the machines to kill all the trees and destroy the homes to millions of animals. To quash an abundant and ancient ecosystem more sane than any humans have created.
But there is a ray of hope in the insanity: Our group was small, but we encountered very little criticism. We had a lot of honks and hand waves and several loud "I'm with you!" "You guys are Awesome!" "Thanks!". There were a few people gesticulating madly and claiming that it didn't hurt the environment. But, for their credit, I don't think they know about tar sands. There are a surprising number of people who don't seem to know anything about tar sands. They were probably only talking about the pipeline itself, which is relatively benign, and under debate here in the states. The Keystone XL pipeline surely will hurt the environment, but not on a scale people are unused to seeing. Tar sands....
Tar Sands is another matter. And it makes me cry to see it every single time. There is no rational debate about tar sands. It is fanatically awful. It is not defendable, besides by lunacy. Just as Orange Ruffy was fished until it all but died out, destroying acres of irreparable seabed in the process, tar sands in unconscionable. It is destructive, eventually self-destructive. Short sighted, arrogant, and cruel.
Tar Sands is another matter. And it makes me cry to see it every single time. There is no rational debate about tar sands. It is fanatically awful. It is not defendable, besides by lunacy. Just as Orange Ruffy was fished until it all but died out, destroying acres of irreparable seabed in the process, tar sands in unconscionable. It is destructive, eventually self-destructive. Short sighted, arrogant, and cruel.
What's the problem with the pipeline? It is directly supportive of tar sands. Which must stop. And every sane and educated person from Edmonton to Beijing to Alberta knows it. Tar sands must stop. It produces three times the carbon foot print of conventional oil - 116 kg per barrel. It's already carved a scar on the earth over 715 square kilometers (276 square miles) - as large as the city of Calgary. It would be best if the US, and everyone, refused to buy any of it on moral grounds. And on logical grounds. On the grounds that we are not demons and monsters. Canadian activists are working hard to end tar sands in their home country, I wish them all the luck in the world. There is even a chance, should we be dumb enough to build the pipeline, that the insanity will stop and there wont be any oil to transport anyway. I hope so.
There were more events in Denver, and other cities around the country. It was a National Day of Action, and I thank the Sierra Club for getting us motivated!
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