Letters to President Obama
August 22, 2011
Dear Mr. President,
The idea that a Tar Sands Pipeline will create 20,000 more jobs is a siren’s call that will be very hard to say “no” to, especially given our current economy and unemployment rate. But this issue is not about jobs. It is about our dependency on fossil fuels. It is about Big Money and Big Oil looking for a way to capitalize on our children’s legacy in order to make a buck. The tar sands project will be a bullet to the heart of our planet’s health, and will usher in a future that I don’t want my daughter to enter.
I voted for you because I was so hopeful and inspired when I heard you talk about a green economy. When your ads played on TV, I was overjoyed to see the picture you painted…it harkened back to the New Deal, and this time the industry was alternative energy, ecological restoration and the halting of climate change. Your presidency has been a tough one, and you have been opposed constantly by Congress. The decision to stop the Tar Sands is yours. I urge you to hold true to the vision that brought you to the White House. The future is depending on you.
August 24, 2011
Dear President Obama,
I hear you’re on vacation now. I hope it is restful, and that you are gathering your strength for the year ahead.
I’ve been sending you a lot of emails lately (usually attached as a comment on a petition), but this will be the first one to the “comments@whitehouse” address. Email feels so flimsy, but I do hope my words find their way to you.
As always, I am writing to encourage you to not approve the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline. I’m sure you have heard it before, but it’s worth repeating…the amount of carbon that will be released from this tar sands extraction project will push our planet over the brink. NASA scientist James Hansen says it will be essentially “game over for the Climate Change fight”. Not only is tar sands extraction toxic, but the Athabasca forest is one of the world’s largest carbon sinks…destroy it and all that carbon goes into the atmosphere. Then there is the probability for major oil spills…not just into the ocean where it “disappears” but directly onto American soil.
You garnered my vote in 2008 because you were one of the first major politicians, in a very long time, to really put the necessary transition to a green economy and environmentally sustainable future out there as a top priority. Then you took office, and we have all watched as you have gotten bogged down in our current political climate. Supporters of the pipeline will talk about how many jobs it will create…but I believe that you can get us to think bigger. America could use a unifying vision, like the one that united us during WWII, and coming together to create a healthy future, free of dependence on foreign oil, and as leaders for the future of our planet, is a great one. The implementation of alternative energy production could also create thousands of jobs. I’m not saying it will be easy, but come to think of it…I have often heard you quoted saying just that, “it won’t be easy”. Your ability to be a visionary can be a guiding light.
Mr. President, I am terrified for my daughter’s future. Not only do I love this beautiful green earth, and want to preserve it for future generations, but I have one little person’s future in my hands. I am so scared that I have brought her into a world that will be unlivable by the time she is my age. Times are going to be rough ahead, but if we act now, it will be a big step towards a better world. Please stop the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline. Thank you.
(An open letter written by a Tar Sands Activist who was arrested. Powerful and eloquent.)
Dear Mr. President,
In 2008, I donated hundreds of dollars to your election fund, campaigned door-to-door for you in New Hampshire, and made calls to swing states on election day. Now, three years later, on August 22, 2011, with a previous police record totaling one parking ticket, I deliberately got arrested in front of the White House. Along with hundreds of other citizens from all 50 states, I was participating in the Tar Sands Action, a nonviolent direct action to urge you not to permit the construction of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
As you know, climate change is a dire threat to our future. Without urgent action away from fossil fuels and towards clean, renewable energy, our children and grandchildren will face a world with deadly droughts, heat waves, food shortages, mass extinctions, rising seas, and the chaos and war that such awful conditions could engender. Construction of the Keystone XL pipeline will only accelerate us on this suicidal path. Renowned NASA climatologist James Hansen says that to get back to a stable climate “the principal requirement is that coal emissions must be phased out by 2030 and unconventional fossil fuels, such as tar sands, must be left in the ground.” He adds, “if the tar sands are thrown into the mix it is essentially game over.” (1) Proponents of the pipeline say that it will create jobs, but far more jobs could be created building wind farms, solar arrays, and other green technologies, and these jobs would not cost us our future.
When I got arrested, I carried with me a picture of my beloved niece and nephew, ages 3 and 4. On the back of the photo I wrote a quote from the courageous climate activist Timothy DeChristopher, who said of his civil disobedience, “This is what love looks like.” Love is acting bravely and fiercely to protect our children. Love is insisting on a livable planet for future generations, not selling them out so that oil companies can make more money. During your campaign, you said that your presidency would mark “the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal”. (2) Please, Mr. President, keep your promise. Do the right thing for our children and stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. We need you to lead us into a sustainable future.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Brown
Somerville, MA
cc: Senator Scott Brown, Senator John Kerry, Representative Michael Capuano, The Boston Globe
attached: A photo of my arrest, taken by Shadia Fayne Wood (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tarsandsaction/6070307511/in/set-72157627368557285 )
August 25, 2011
Dear President Obama,
Hi! It’s Mary again, asking you to please say NO to the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline. Here is a quote from Carl Pope, chairman of the Sierra Club in regards to the myth that Alberta’s Tar Sands will help get us off foreign oil:
“The reality is that if you want to deliver more gasoline and diesel to drivers in the Midwest and Great Plains, you don’t build a pipeline to Texas — you use the existing pipelines that run to refineries in Illinois and Oklahoma. Why build to Texas? So you can refine on the Gulf Coast and export the resulting gasoline and diesel to Europe and South America. And why export? Because the Midwest and Great Plains already have as much tar sands crude as they need. In fact, oil in the American heartland has been selling for about $15.00/barrel less than the global price because of what oil companies privately describe as a “glut” of crude in the region.”
This could be your strongest environmental hour Mr. President. Please stop this pipeline. Thank you.
~Mary
August 29, 2011
Dear President Obama,
Hi Mr. President. It’s Mary again, writing to you about the Tar Sands.
The State Department gave the initial green light for the Tar Sands XL pipeline two days ago. It is seemingly clear that your administration is looking for a way to say “yes” to this project. Otherwise, I would assume that you would have said “No” already. I encourage you to read carefully the letter written by all the major environmental groups in the US that was sent to you last week. Fossil fuels, and our dependence on them, or how to make the pipeline safe from oil spills, is just the tip of the melting iceburg. Saying yes to tar sand extraction in Alberta is equivalent to saying “yes” to disastrous climate change. It would be saying yes to the death of the future for our children.
I want to vote for you in 2012. Please stop this project.
Thank you,
Mary
May 10, 2012
Dear President Obama,
I hate to say it, but I am no longer feeling confident in your presidency. Like so many others in America, I voted for you because I felt assured by your campaign promises to push our country towards a green and sustainable future. Your support of arctic and offshore drilling and dirty Tar Sands is in direct conflict with those promises. Future generations are looking to you to make the right, and tough, choices. Please protect the arctic from oil drilling.
