Keystone Opponents Plan Civil Disobedience, Waste Paper Towels

Keystone Opponents Plan Civil Disobedience, Waste Paper Towels

by John Sexton 21 Oct 2013, 4:25 PM PDT

http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2013/10/21/Keystone-Opponents-Plan-Civil-Disobedience-Waste-Paper-Towels

The NY Times political and government blog reports that activists who gathered at a conference over the weekend vowed widespread civil disobedience if the Obama administration takes the next step toward approval of the Keystone XL pipeline:

If the State Department’s National Interest Determination finds in favor of the pipeline — virtually the last hurdle before approval — demonstrators will risk arrest at more than 100 protests in 37 states, said Todd Zimmer, a campaigner with Rainforest Action Network who helped develop new training and recruitment guidelines for such direct action against Keystone XL. As of Monday, nearly 76,000 people have pledged to engage in “dignified, peaceful civil disobedience that could result in my arrest in order to send the message to President Obama and his administration that they must reject the Keystone XL pipeline.”

But the author of the NY Times post also notes some obvious hypocrisy taking place at the Power Shift gathering of young activists over the weekend:

the gathering of committed activists illustrated the struggles of getting Americans to change basic habits in service of the environment. Paper coffee cups were tossed into canisters designated for bottles and cans, and in a women’s bathroom next to the main auditorium, paper towels spilled out of the trash can and onto the floor, even though the dispenser was right next to a high-speed air dryer.

Hand dryers are only for the unenlightened apparently. These folks are probably also not following Sheryl Crow's advice on the use of toilet paper.

I'm sure the author of this piece is going to take a hit for noting the inconsistency between what people profess and what they do, but isn't that pretty important. If the people who felt they could devote an entire weekend to enviro-activism can't be bothered with spending the extra 30 seconds to use a hand dryer why should the rest of us take them seriously when they offer advice on how to live?

Keystone XL pipeline

TransCanada Corporation is the proposed builder for the Keystone XL pipeline.

Note: Susan E. Rice is a stockholder in the TransCanada Corporation, the White House national security adviser for the Barack Obama administration, and was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Steven L. Rattner was a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and was an economic correspondent for the New York Times.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the International Rescue Committee.

George Soros is the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a director at the Drug Policy Alliance, and was a member of the Democracy Alliance.

Henry A. Kissinger is an overseer at the International Rescue Committee, a member of the Bohemian Club, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).

Bob Weir is a member of the Bohemian Club, and an honorary director at the Rainforest Action Network.

James D. Golin was the chairman for the Rainforest Action Network, and a director at the Drug Policy Alliance.

Jodie Evans is a director at the Drug Policy Alliance, the co-founder for Codepink, and a director at the Rainforest Action Network.

Code Pink

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_Pink

Information on Code Pink

James D. Gollin is a director at the Rainforest Action Network, and a director at the Democracy Alliance.