Keep Your Eyes Wide

When I think about progress in changing our energy sources and reducing the negative impact we have on the environment, one of the things that bothers me is when we put in place policies now that lock us in to the old technologies that have polluted the planet for years. For example, those vehicles being produced today (the one's that don't even get 20 miles per gallon) will be around for a number of years. Another example is building new coal plants, an action that shackles us to the impacts of those plants for decades.

Truthfully, things like this dishearten me because it seems like they suggest we aren't making the changes we need to make. However, I've been reading about an ongoing, four-year-old campaign called Power Shift, which coordinates rallies, demonstrations, and protests in support of clean energy sources and against sources that pollute heavily. Learning about the campaign has returned a little hope to me.

Recent efforts by Power Shift have centered on helping a coalition of many other groups stop the proposed building of the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline through the middle of the US. Here is a video from the National Wildlife Federation about the pipeline:



I like that the pipeline and other energy issues are generating this king of enthusiasm for the environment. Recent years have not brought great environmental policy to the country, and sometimes, action is necessary. Watch the following video to check out some of the protests that recently took place outside the White House: