Yes, I'm talking about YOU. Ever since TIME magazine named YOU the "Person of the Year" in 2006, YOU have been on a tear. By significantly expanding the uses of technology and putting it to good use on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of new media, YOU have achieved a great deal in the past two weeks.
Markos even acknowledged the obvious just this evening: YOU are in charge of Daily Kos. I'm sure it must feel good to know that.
In what seemed like an impossible task, YOU also helped to submit one million+ comments to the United States Department of State in opposition to the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline.
Why is this fight necessary to significantly lessen our dependence on and addiction to fossil fuels? Meteor Blades explained in this recent comment
yes. And we should wean ourselves off of it...
...and that's tough because 1) a lot of people don't want to; 2) a much smaller group of people are making big money from not weaning; 3) too many politicians are marionettes of that smaller group; 4) too many progressives think environmental issues are 5th priority or lower; 5) too many think it's hopeless so why bother.
Meanwhile, we have to fight skirmishes like the one over Keystone XL because we don't have the clout of Exxon, Shell, Chevron, Aramco, Halliburton, Bechtel, Harold Hamm, Phil Anschutz, George Kaiser, Richard Kinder, and the brothers Koch.
Given the forces arrayed against us, we have no choice but to go at them using tactical and strategic asymmetry.
Only in the past 48 hours, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
sharply criticized (EPA letter, PDF file) the State Department and called its draft environmental impact statement on the pipeline incomplete - one that
substantially minimized environmental risks including emission of greenhouse gases. As Bill McKibben pointed out in his diary, the final decision
is in President Barack Obama's hands.
YOU have done your part.
Update: The entire Keystone XL Pipeline Hearing held in Nebraska on April 18, 2013 and conducted by a three-person panel from the US State Department has been archived on netnebraska.org. I believe the hearing was over 11 hours in total.
Here's video of Part I. I wrote this comment as the hearing was drawing to a close late Thursday night
This hearing started in the mid-afternoon and was supposed to end at 8:00 pm Central Time, but many hours later, it is still going on. So far, over 200 people from several states (not just Nebraska) have spoken up. It is a wide cross section of ordinary Americans, several making personal sacrifices to travel and have a chance to petition their government. The panel - consisting of three officials from the US State Department - has done a terrific job allowing everyone to patiently state their case.
If you are a cynic by nature, do watch it. It will restore your faith in the democratic process. And, in humanity. We may not always realize it, but there are plenty of good stewards of this earth amongst us.
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350.org: Last Thursday, braving heavy snow and wind, hundreds of commited citizens lined up to testify at the lone public hearing on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. By most estimates, it was 9 to 1 against the pipeline, and administrators of the hearing had to stay late into the night to hear everyone’s testimony.
Nebraska has always been ground zero for opposition to the pipeline. Keystone, if built, would go through the Olagalla Aquifer and Nebraska’s sensitive Sand Hills, putting each at risk. Ranchers and farmers, some of whom have been on their land for generations, see the pipeline as an existential threat, and they’re not shy about telling anyone, at anytime, that they don’t want this pipeline.
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As you know, some of us here at Daily Kos joined hands with Bill McKibben of 350.org and in coalition with the Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation, League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, Oil Change International, and Bold Nebraska, organized the #NOKXL Blogathan from Friday, April 10th to Monday, April 22nd.
To all those who took the time to read; comment in; recommend the over thirty diaries posted by lawmakers, environmental activists, and DK community members; and submitted comments to the US State Department, our sincere thanks and heartfelt gratitude from the entire organizing team.
If you had missed any of the posted diaries, below is a complete list.
#NOKXL Blogathon: April 12 - April 22, 2013
Diary Schedule - All Times Pacific
More helpful details are in this diary - DK Blogathon Hosts Eco Coalition in #NOKXL Public Comment Campaign by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse. Use hashtag #NOKXL to tweet all diaries posted during this blogathon.
1:00 pm: #NOKXL Blogathon: Your voice on the Keystone XL pipeline matters by DWG.
11:00 am: Keystone XL: a pipeline THROUGH the US, not to it by dturnbull, Campaigns Director of Oil Change International.
1:00 pm: #NOKXL: Dilbit in the Pipeline by Agathena.
11:00 am: Keystone XL: Wildlife in the Crosshairs by Target Global Warming, Peter LaFontaine is the Energy Policy Advocate for the National Wildlife Federation.
1:00 pm: #NoKXL: The Future Is In Our Hands; Say No To The XL Pipeline Disaster by beach babe in fl.
3:00 pm: #NoKXL: Guess What's NOT in POTUS' Budget! (Rhymes with Shnipeline) by ericlewis0.
Note: All diaries for this day were rescheduled due to the Boston Marathon bombings.
8:00 am: KXL will carry as much carbon as all the cars on the West Coast, plus Michigan, NY, and Florida. by Bill McKibben, Founder of 350.org.
12:00 pm: #NoKXL: InsideClimate News Wins Pulitzer for Coverage of Kalamazoo River Dilbit Spill in 2010 by peregrine kate.
2:00 pm: Reject Keystone XL; Our Focus Should Be on Investing in a Sustainable Energy Future by Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA13), Member of the United States House of Representatives.
2:00 pm: #NoKXL: (un)Ethical Pipeline? by A Siegel.
3:00 pm: #NoKXL â The Pipeline To Oblivion: Memes From The Climate Letter Project by WarrenS.
11:00 am: My government doesn't believe in climate change by Tzeporah Berman, Canadian Environmentalist and Co-Founder of Forest Ethics.
3:00 pm: #NoKXL ?? The Keystone XL Pipeline, Deep Time, and the Nature of Humanity by gregladen.
10:00 am: Keystone East: Doubling down? Or admitting KXL defeat? by Roger Fox.
2:00 pm: Watch it Now! Fantastic Live Hearing Opposing Keystone XL Pipeline from Nebraska by JekyllnHyde.
3:00 pm: #NOKXL: The Ill-Logic of Keystone XL by Kelly Rigg, Executive Director of the Global Call for Climate Action.
2:00 pm: #NOKXL - A Dispatch From The Committee To End The Future by joe shikspack.
3:00 pm: Collision With Reality by James Wells.
11:00 am: Nebraska Hearing: Pipeline Fighters Dominated by Jane Kleeb, Executive Director of Bold Nebraska
12:00 pm: Scientific American:"Keystone XL Oil Pipeline Exacerbates Climate Change"-Consultant's Bias EXPOSED by Lefty Coaster
1:00 pm: #NOKXL Blogathon - Keystone Principles and the Line in the Sand by John Crapper
3:00 pm: The 'Un'Silent' Spring by boatsie
11:00 am: Keystone XL Pipeline: Can John Kerryâs State Department Finally Get it Right? by Ross Hammond, Friends of the Earth
12:00 pm: #NOKXL:From Alberta Tar Sans to Steele City Nebraska by Agathena.
1:00 pm: Shouldn't We Know Whether Tar Sands Causing Cancer With First Nations Before XL Pipeline Decision? by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse.
3:00 pm: #NOKXL Cut off the Tar Sands Switch to an Electric or Plug In Vehicle by Assaf.
11:00 am: KXL, a native perspective.... Protecting Mother Earth!! by Marty Cobenais (Ojibwe), U.S. Pipeline & Heavy Haul Resistance Organizer for Indigenous Environmental Network.
12:00 pm: Donât Believe the Hype: Dirty Pipeline Wonât Rebuild America, Investing in Infrastructure Will by Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO of Green for All.
2:00 pm: Earth Day vs. Tar Sands by Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club.
3:00 pm: #NOKXL Over 1 Million Comments! Earth Is Near the Planetary Habitable Zone Limit by FishOutofWater.
3:00 pm: President: Raise a Million Voices/KXL Campaign: Okay by Bill McKibben, Founder of 350.org.
Please remember to republish these diaries to your Daily Kos Groups. You can also follow all postings by clicking this link for the Climate Change SOS Blogathon Group. Then, click 'Follow' and that will make all postings show up in 'My Stream' of your Daily Kos page. Our Daily Kos community organizers are Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, boatsie, rb137, JekyllnHyde, Onomastic, citisven, peregrine kate, DWG, and John Crapper, with Meteor Blades as the group's adviser.
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