Many of this country's most illustrious poets, writers, scientists, and preservationists are calling for volunteers to come to Washington D.C. this summer to risk arrest to stop construction of a massive tar sands pipeline from Alberta to Texas.
This pipeline, the Keystone XL, could destroy any chance we have of preventing runaway global warming.
How much carbon lies in the recoverable tar sands of Alberta? A recent calculation from some of our foremost scientists puts the figure at about 200 parts per million. Even with the new pipeline they won’t be able to burn that much overnight—but each development like this makes it easier to get more oil out. As the climatologist Jim Hansen (one of the signatories to this letter) explained, if we have any chance of getting back to a stable climate “the principal requirement is that coal emissions must be phased out by 2030 and unconventional fossil fuels, such as tar sands, must be left in the ground.”
In other words, he added, “if the tar sands are thrown into the mix it is essentially game over."
The decision is up to the Department of State and the Obama administration, not Congress, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has already gone on the record saying she's inclined to approve the project.
The organizers are asking people "to consider doing something hard—coming to Washington in the hottest and stickiest weeks of the summer and engaging in civil disobedience that will likely get you arrested."
I'm contemplating going, as an embedded reporter (if I can find a publication to sponsor me). For now, here's a picture from National Geographic of tar sands country right now:
Is this what our future is going to look like? Only hotter?
Kit Stolz 
You have made it easy for me to understand. Good and precise info.
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