A month ago Mikey wrote this honest and heartfelt post on the Yellowstone River oil spill of this past July. It made me think: what would it take to stop more oil spills like this from happening in the future? What would that type of action required to stop the catastrophic damage to our environment look like?

It looks like this: hundreds of people of almost every demographic gathered in front of the White House risking arrest (over 1,000 have already been arrested to date) to carry a petition of over 600,000 names to President Obama. In one of the largest acts of environmental civil disobedience to take place, protesters have gathered for the past two-weeks to push President Obama to oppose the Tar Sands Oil Keystone XL Pipeline.

This proposed pipeline would transport tar sands oil from Canada 1,700 miles across the United States to be refined in Texas, risking many more large oil spills and severely threatening habitats, farms, livelihoods, and drinking water.  Emitting three times the amount of Carbon into the air than traditional oil, tar sands oil is one of the most dirty and carbon-intensive fuels out there. In a time when more and more people are realizing the need for cleaner energy alternatives and more responsible actions for the environment, the reality of this pipeline would be devestating to the progress being made on this front.

To learn more about the Keystone XL Pipeline and stay up-to-date on the action taking place, check out the Tar Sands Action website. The amazing work that they are doing to organize this movement and hold our government accountable is unmatched. We send major props & much love to the inspirational activists who have risked arrest to stand firm for our communities, our environment, and our planet as we stand in solidarity with them.

Photo by Josh Lopez.

I recently starting getting one GOOD artcile a day and as much as I enjoy the content they report on and style of the writers, the news of yet another oil spill, this time in Montana on the pristine Yellowstone River (the longest freeflowing in the lower 48), is super disheartening and makes me wonder.

Did you know there's about 20,000 oil spills a year in the United States and that roughly 300 never make it to the public eye because they are so severe that the Environmental Protection Agency doesn't allow press to cover them and private contractors are hired to clean them up... I sure didn't.   

This spill dumped over 42,000 gallons of crude oil into the river as it was being pumped from Canada to the US. 

They even found a bald eagle- our brave mascot- drenched in sludge. 

It makes me wonder why we live in a time when power and greed are preferred over health and the well-being of a planet and its people. It makes me wonder what life is going to be like for my children on planet Earth. It makes me wonder what anthropologists will think when they discover that we were one of the most wasteful and destructive of all civilizations thus far. It makes me wonder if this fight for a more conscious lifestyle and greater social awareness will ever end.

It makes me wonder how much more I can tolerate before I lose steam or control. 

Article originally found at GOOD here.