The rally, co-organized by 350.org and the Sierra Club, was aimed at sending a message to US President Barack Obama’s government that action needed to be taken to move away from the use of fossil fuels. A key demand was to stop the building of the Keystone XL pipeline that aims to bring tar sands oil from Canada across the United States to refineries on the Gulf Coast, most of the final products destined for export. Many environmentalists have pointed out the destruction caused by tars sands mining and that the continuation and expansion of this, and the burning of the resulting fuel, marks “game over” for climate change.
350.org’s view
As Henn writes, “It’s a movement that spans generations. I saw grandparents and toddlers marching together and chanted with thousands of college students, many of whom have taken up the fight for fossil fuel divestment on their campuses. This generation of young activists are a practical radicals, just as comfortable making a formal presentation to their board of trustees as they are occupying the streets of DC.”
He pointed out that the movement is getting more radical. “From the Tar Sands blockaders in Texas to the tens of thousands marching through DC today, the environmental movement has clearly realized that to win true action on climate change, we can’t just be working inside the halls of government, we need to be pushing from outside in. It was a big deal this week when the Sierra Club lifted its 120 year ban on civil disobedience and club executive director Mike Brune got arrested at the White House sit-in. Get ready for more brave demonstrations and actions in the future.”
Tar sands devastation
Henn says the fight against Keystone XL started with indigenous leaders who saw first-hand the devastation of the tar sands in Canada. It spread to farmers and ranchers along the pipeline route, Nebraskans and Texans who are still fighting for their homes. “At 350.org, we picked up the fight in August 2011, helping start Tar Sands Action, a campaign that coordinated the largest civil disobedience in 20 years at the White House (1,253 people were arrested over those two hot-weeks, turning Keystone XL into the highest profile environmental fight in the country). In November 2011, they surrounded the White House with 15,000 people.
This latest demonstration saw – depending on who was counting – anywhere from 35,000 to 50,000 people calling for change.
The demonstrators called on US President Obama to do the right thing, and honor his words, when it comes to taking action on climate change. It was impressive both in terms of numbers and in terms of diversity, with a whole range of groups and individuals represented.
The question now is whether the government was listening.
As environmentalist Bill McKibben said at the event: “All I ever wanted was to see a movement to stop climate change. And here it is. You all look beautiful.”
Beautiful, maybe. But will it be enough to change a government system so deeply tied to fossil fuel companies?
