Joe Nocera thinks that everyone protesting the Keystone pipeline is pretty silly. He makes a series of weak arguments, and I'll direct you to others to explain why the pipeline isn't about a U.S. geopolitical advantage, why the environmental cost of tar sands oil extraction isn't small just because Nocera says so, why activism is more important than wonky incrementalism, and why a carbon tax wouldn't make tar sands extraction more viable.
I'm more interested in Nocera's overall point: that we need to reduce demand for fossil fuels, not supply.
Recently I wrote about the tar sands pipeline blockaders who have been coming to our church in Nacogdoches, Texas. Life with these young people is never dull. We’re learning to improvise and be light on our feet with them around.
Young pipeline resisters come to worship
Four Tar Sands Blockade young people showed up at church one Sunday. They were hungry for fellowship and encouragement—and just hungry.
It's official: President Obama has announced that he's turning down the application to build the Keystone XL pipeline.
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