David Horsey: Pray that naysayers are right about climate change

[n2doc]

We should all pray that Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry and the rest of the global warming deniers are right, because, if they are wrong, we are in for a really bad time in days to come.

Why? Because it is almost inconceivable that human beings will take the steps necessary to significantly curtail use of carbon-based energy sources and, thereby, avoid the most catastrophic consequences of rising global temperatures.

Here’s just the latest case in point:

An earnest band of environmentalists is engaged in an ongoing protest in front of the White House. Three hundred of the protesters, including a Hollywood actress and a NASA scientist, have been arrested. Their cause? Stopping a proposed 1,660-mile pipeline that would carry oil extracted from the tar sands of Alberta to refineries on Texas’ Gulf Coast at the rate of 700,000 barrels a day.

The protesters say Obama administration approval of the Keystone XL pipeline would be calamitous. Taking oil from the vast tar fields would decimate Canada’s boreal forests, they contend, while transporting and burning the oil would intensify global warming. Greenhouse gas emissions from the tar sands oil are estimated to be 27 million metric tons a year — 82 percent greater than emissions from the average crude refined in the United States.

more

http://blog.seattlepi.com/davidhorsey/2011/09/01/pray-that-naysayers-are-right-about-climate-change/

[OKIsItJustMe]

1. For Protesters, Keystone Pipeline Is Line In Tar Sand

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/01/140117187/for-protesters-keystone-pipeline-is-line-in-tar-sand

For Protesters, Keystone Pipeline Is Line In Tar Sand

by Richard Harris

September 1, 2011

Dozens of environmental activists showed up in front of the White House Thursday to get arrested in a peaceful protest against a proposed oil pipeline that would cut across the American Midwest.

Organizers said that over the past 10 days, about 800 people have been handcuffed and bused off to a police station in this ongoing action.

At issue is a proposed pipeline that would connect oil resources in Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Texas coast. The 1,700-mile long Keystone XL, as it's called, would help our friendly northern neighbor expand development in one of the largest, but dirtiest, sources of oil on the planet. It's bound up in hardened formations called tar sands, and it's not easy to extract.

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Elevating the Keystone XL pipeline to a symbol carries some risks. Many Americans believe we should be promoting oil development to help keep the price of oil in check. The pipeline oil is too small a fraction of global oil supply to make a significant difference one way or the other, but the symbolism — to drill or not to drill — cuts both ways.

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(Audio and full transcript available at the link.)