Obama’s Decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline

Bill McKibben’s and my position on the Obama administration’s approach to energy policy and climate change are identical. In a sentence: Obama can’t have it both ways; he can’t simultaneously be proud of the fact that we now extract and burn domestically (or, increasingly, export) more fossil fuels than at any time in our history, while claiming that he cares about the environment.  And now, with his decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline looming, he will provide lasting clarity on his character.  Do the oil companies own him, as, most regrettably, the white slave masters owned his ancestors?  Or does he have the strength to do the right thing and keep the promises he so clearly made to the American people who elected him, and more importantly, to the well-being of all future generations?

Obama has done many good things vis-à-vis the environment, but, at the same time, has fallen so far short of the expectations those of us had when we voted for him—thus, there’s really no way to tell in advance.  But I’m quite certain of this: as McKibben points out in this incredible interview, with his amazing command of fields as disparate as the physics of climate science and the legal aspects of civil disobedience, Obama’s decision here is most definitely a product of public pressure from people like you and me, and, at the end, it will resonate into the coming decades as the defining point of his presidency.

There’s a public comment period on the pipeline going on right now, during which you have the right (and the duty, I would argue) to tell President Obama how you feel on this subject.  If you’d like to find out how to participate at this critical juncture in the history of humankind, I hope you’ll click on the link above.