The Pipeline and the Paradigm: Keystone XL, Tar Sands, and the Battle to Defuse the Carbon Bomb
Almost unmentioned by the mainstream media a few years ago, the Keystone XL pipeline project, which would extend an existing oil pipeline from Canada to Texas refineries, suddenly became controversial when President Obama temporarily halted its construction in 2012. Environmentalists quickly vilified the pipeline as an agent in exacerbating global warming, while industrialists extolled its potential to create jobs and promote energy independence. No stranger to divisive ecological issues, Avery, a longtime social activist and solar-panel entrepreneur, offers a guided tour of all the contentious issues surrounding the pipeline, from climate scientists’ assertion that Canadian tar sands oil extraction will almost double atmospheric carbon dioxide to the risk of damaged ecosystems wherever the pipeline is built. While Avery gives pipeline promoters a fair hearing, it’s clear where his values lie in framing opposition to Keystone XL as the most critical environmental cause of our time. Allowing the project to continue could spell irreversible climate change, while blocking it would signal a global paradigm shift in finally putting our planet’s welfare above industry-driven profit. Extremely useful analysis as debate continues. --Carl Hays