Dear Washingtonian,
I’ve been fighting climate change full-time for more than ten years, and I’ve gotten used to people asking me how I keep up hope in the face of discouraging odds. I’ll tell you my secret: I revel in the victories. And this has been a victorious week, indeed. In a show of our undeniable strength, the climate movement stopped the Keystone XL oil pipeline dead in its tracks. Most energy insiders agreed that oil giant TransCanada would certainly receive the presidential permit needed to begin construction before the end of the year.
That is, until TransCanada hit a glitch. An unforeseeable, insurmountable, we-will-never-stop, we-will-be-heard type of glitch: the climate movement.
After 1,253 arrests in front of the White House and 12,000 activists surrounding the White House on November 6th, we were heard. Last week, President Obama sent the tar sands pipeline proposal back to the State Department for an independent review, citing concerns about the pipeline’s environmental impacts, including climate change. If you haven't already, please send President Obama an email today, thanking him for this momentous decision and asking him to reject the Keystone XL pipeline once and for all!
And as we near the end of the year and embrace autumn, CCAN is gearing up for our favorite winter pastime: plunging into the Potomac River in January! That’s right – it’s Polar Bear Plunge time! This year we’re rolling out a brand new, easy-to-use fundraising format and will be joined by a very special guest: leading U.S. climate scientist Dr. James Hansen. This will be our biggest Plunge yet, and we hope you’ll join us. Sign up here.
Thank you for all that you do for CCAN and for our planet. If there’s anything I can leave you with this month, it’s this: revel in your victories, both large and small. You deserve to celebrate!
Onward,
Mike Tidwell