How the Keystone XL Pipeline fight turned tens of thousands of ordinary citizens into “radical environmentalists”

How the Keystone XL Pipeline fight turned tens of thousands of ordinary citizens into “radical environmentalists”



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Enlarge(Credit: Jeff Malet/maletphoto.com)

When President Obama announced Friday that he was finally rejecting the Keystone XL Pipeline, Republican presidential hopefuls swiftly tweeted their condemnation, accusing him of “bowing to radical environmentalists” and pledging to reverse his decision if elected. While the end of the oil industry project once called a “done deal” can certainly be attributed to grass-roots activism, that is only half the story. Even more important, the protracted fight against the world’s most famous pipeline actually turned tens of thousands of ordinary people into so-called radical environmentalists, recruiting and training us to commit civil disobedience and helping us to feel our power when working together.

I was one of the organizers of a civil disobedience action against the Keystone XL Pipeline that took place in Philadelphia in March 2014. When I heardFriday’s announcement, I remembered the solidarity I felt in the bowels of the Federal Building, where 29 of us were jailed, handcuffed behind our backs. One woman introduced a South African song that calls for courage, and we sang to each other by name, starting with the women and then singing down the block to the nearby men. By the time we were released that afternoon, I knew everyone’s names. I also knew that the experience had made me bolder, less afraid to stand up for what I believe, despite a fine and stiff wrists.