Writing from a hotel after visiting the StopLine3.org Welcoming Center in Palisade, Minnesota.
In the wake of destruction, the pandemic opened a door for us to walk into a new day. Our consumption of fossil fuels is at an all time low. The need for extreme extraction is over. Good by KXL. The pipeline that would have sliced through the Ogallala aquifer is history. And DAPL will be next. The courts are getting ready to end the permits that should have never been granted and for the arrogance of a company that has ignored court orders and kept on pumping.
This is the last gap of oil.
And yet Enbridge continues with Line 3 – leaving the older corroded pipeline for us to clean up. Investors are jumping ship facing the reality that renewables are a far safer alternative. And many of us are coming to the realization that less is more as we leave an abusive relationship with over – consumption behind.
We have all noticed the pristine skies and the fresher air. And now it is time for the reckoning of corroded pipelines that pierce the land and waterways. Now is time for everyone to be a water protector as Winona LaDuke reminds us.
So as a water protector what can you do? You can reduce consumption and divest from fossil fuels. You can write letters to Governor Walz, to congress and the new administration. You can support the needs of those on the front lines, as they stand in nonviolent resistance, to end something that should have never gone this far.
And if you are able as we were to bear witness you can make the trip to 5 or 6 camps that dot the 300-mile pathway of destruction and bring your love, support and the supplies they need to carry on.
Let’s make this just transition for everyone.
*”We should all be water protectors.” – Winona LaDuke
let kindness win 