Fourteen years ago, on this day, November 6th, 2011,
More than 10,000 people descended on the White House to demonstrate opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline project, designed to transport oil from the Alberta tar sands fields in Canada to refineries in Texas.
http://www.mensjournal.com/travel/events/a-brief-history-of-climate-change-protests-in-the-u-s-20140919#ixzz3J9Tuzh2g
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 392ppm. As of 2025, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was the Canadian tarsands were/are filthy energy, and getting it to customers via the Keystone was of course a crime against humanity and the biosphere.
The specific context was Copenhagen had failed, and Obama was not exactly standing in the way of shale and other fossil intensive projects.
What I think we can learn from this is that resistance works – or can work.
What happened next –
“The pipeline became well known when the proposed KXL extension attracted opposition from environmentalists with concerns about climate change and fossil fuels. In 2015, KXL was temporarily delayed by President Barack Obama. On January 24, 2017, President Donald Trump took action intended to permit the pipeline’s completion. On January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order[19] to revoke the permit[20] that was granted to TC Energy Corporation for the Keystone XL Pipeline (Phase 4). On June 9, 2021, TC Energy abandoned plans for the Keystone XL Pipeline”.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
Also on this day:
November 6, 1988 – Australian cartoonist nails response to #climate change
November 6, 1989 – Noordwijk conference – “alright, we will keep talking”
November 6, 1990 – Second World Climate Conference underway
November 6, 2001 – Howard plays the jobs-card vs Kyoto in Hunter Valley – All Our Yesterdays
November 6, 2009 – Kevin Rudd playing politics with the climate