this gorgeous image via
A herd of buffalo visited the area near those protesting the Dakota Access oil pipeline at Standing Rock this weekend. While buffalo are not uncommon in the area, their presence seemed to symbolize a solidarity of living beings in the protest as well as a representation of what is at stake.
You probably know that this protest began with a group of young Native Americans running from North Dakota 2000 miles to Washington D.C. to deliver a petition to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers asking them to stop the work on the pipeline. Protesters set up camps to make their voices heard...and they've been there since April. Last Thursday, police forcibly removed protesters and arrested 140 people.
The Dakota Access pipeline is slated to tunnel under the Missouri River near the Standing Rock Reservation and would carry 570,000 gallons of fracked oil through the area per day on its way to a refinery in Illinois. A crack in the pipeline here would result in water contamination that would affect not only human water use, but also that of a vast array of wildlife that lives in and around the river. Spills are nowhere close to rare in the area. Three hundred oil pipeline spills occurred in North Dakota alone between 2012 and 2013, though they went unreported until recently.
But don't we want to be oil independent? Don't we want to use our own resources in order to avoid dependence on other nations? Energy independent, yes, but there is already enough oil, gas, and coal ready to be pumped from existing wells and mines to put the planet above the danger zone for climate change. Our focus now needs to be to pivot to alternative, renewable energy sources. We do not need any more wells, frack sites, or pipelines.
I'm standing with Standing Rock.
You probably know that this protest began with a group of young Native Americans running from North Dakota 2000 miles to Washington D.C. to deliver a petition to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers asking them to stop the work on the pipeline. Protesters set up camps to make their voices heard...and they've been there since April. Last Thursday, police forcibly removed protesters and arrested 140 people.
The Dakota Access pipeline is slated to tunnel under the Missouri River near the Standing Rock Reservation and would carry 570,000 gallons of fracked oil through the area per day on its way to a refinery in Illinois. A crack in the pipeline here would result in water contamination that would affect not only human water use, but also that of a vast array of wildlife that lives in and around the river. Spills are nowhere close to rare in the area. Three hundred oil pipeline spills occurred in North Dakota alone between 2012 and 2013, though they went unreported until recently.
But don't we want to be oil independent? Don't we want to use our own resources in order to avoid dependence on other nations? Energy independent, yes, but there is already enough oil, gas, and coal ready to be pumped from existing wells and mines to put the planet above the danger zone for climate change. Our focus now needs to be to pivot to alternative, renewable energy sources. We do not need any more wells, frack sites, or pipelines.
I'm standing with Standing Rock.
If you would like to stand with Standing Rock, here are a few ways to take action:
-Get educated.
-Sign this petition and/or this one asking President Obama to stop the pipeline. And call him too.
-Donate to legal funds or supply funds.
-Easy to Breathe is donating all the proceeds of their gorgeous thunderbird pins to the Legal Defense Fund at Sacred Stone Camp.
-The Far Woods is donating all the proceeds from their amazing river map to Standing Rock.
-Raise awareness by starting a conversation.
-Stand up for clean water in your own community.
Love,
Jane
-Get educated.
-Sign this petition and/or this one asking President Obama to stop the pipeline. And call him too.
-Donate to legal funds or supply funds.
-Easy to Breathe is donating all the proceeds of their gorgeous thunderbird pins to the Legal Defense Fund at Sacred Stone Camp.
-The Far Woods is donating all the proceeds from their amazing river map to Standing Rock.
-Raise awareness by starting a conversation.
-Stand up for clean water in your own community.
Love,
Jane
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