tar sands action

When I heard the news that the Keystone XL pipeline had finally been rejected my first thought was “It’s about damn time!” I rushed to a computer to peruse articles in the Washington Post, the New York Times, the BBC, Politico, everywhere I turned was buzzing with updates from our unlikely narrative. An update of our resounding victory and the power that every single one of you has within. But this is simply one small part of this remarkable tale. In order to fully understand what we have just accomplished we must go back to where it began...

Yesterday, the environmental movement won a huge victory. The controversial Keystone XL Pipeline — which would carry heavy corrosive crude oil from the Tar Sands of Alberta, Canada to Texas and would cross over communities throughout the Midwest and over the Ogallala Aquifer, which supplies water to 30 percent of U.S. agriculture — received a delay from the Obama Administration that is likely to permanently keep the dirty oil in the ground. The delay, analysts say, is one that the pipeline’s investors cannot financially handle. Moreover, when a full environmental review is carried out — one where the corporation building the pipeline doesn’t write the environmental review and where Hillary Clinton’s deputy campaign director isn’t that corporation’s head lobbyist — there’s no way the Keystone XL will be approved.

While the delay isn’t an all out rejection, and represents yet another White House cop out on critical environmental regulation, the victory is still a huge one. Just three months ago, no one but a coterie of Tar Sands lobbyists and a few committed activists were aware of the pipeline. Yesterday, it was on the front page of The New York Times. What has become one of the strongest movements in the country has forced Obama to take ownership of the decision and forced him to indefinitely block its construction. What’s even more impressive is that the photo in the New York Times was of young people marching in front of the White House — an image that tells the story of the explosion of youth activism from the largest generation in our country’s history.

To Our Professors, Mentors and Advisors,

Today, we are writing to you as students from across the full range of Cornell’s course of study. We belong various departments--Development Sociology, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Science of Natural & Environmental Systems, Natural Resources, Environmental Engineering,  History, English, Government, Gender Studies, Comparative Literature, Biology, Industrial and Labor Relations, City & Regional Planning, International Agriculture & Rural Development--but we have one thing in common. You taught us about the drastic effects of climate change, and the undeniable impact it will have on our ecosystems, our economies and our social fabric. Though your teaching we’ve become young climate activists we're proud to be.