Voices
I think it's a very important thing, that we stop the Keystone pipeline and start worrying
about climate change because we're destroying our planet.
People have to be able to breathe.
We have to keep our water clean and things like the Kalamazoo River being polluted
and they can't clean it up.
The big oil spill in the Gulf, you know, last year.
We have to convert to clean energy and keep our planet clean.
We should do it.
We should do it.
We should do it.
We should do it.
We should do it.
We should do it.
We should do it.
We should do it.
We should do it.
We should do it.
We should do it.
We should do it.
We should do it.
We should do it.
We should do it.
We should do it.
This is the third time I participated in demonstrations against the Keystone XL pipeline in the tar sands,
also involved in fracking issues in New Jersey, fracking around the Delaware River.
So I want to make a difference for not only for myself and for people who are living today,
but for the future for my grandchildren and all the young people today.
You can see so many young people here today that it's maybe too late already,
but we have to do something to try to stop the increase in pollution.
And we need to also change our habits around using fossil fuel.
We have solar paddling now in our house and try to conserve as much as we can,
but we're caught up in the system depending on fossil fuels ourselves,
even though we have a car, a Prius, but we still use oil, we still use gas,
and trying to reduce our carbon footprint is not easy, but we do what we can.
This is one action that I just felt I had to be part of today.
Hey Obama, get off the golf course!
I'm concerned about the health issues that relate to fracking,
that relate to fossil fuels, but moreover just the depletion of the environment.
I would like toxicologists and oncologists to get involved in the conversation,
so they can basically show how toxins right now are leading to more cancer,
because that's not part of the cancer conversation right now.
And I hate to say it, but once people realize their children are getting sick from this,
then how can you deny what's happening, how can you destroy biodiversity,
how can fracking also, people are losing their farmland up in New York,
and no one's defending them.
Basically companies like Halliburton are going into New York, dumping chemicals into the water,
they're buying farmland, they're not paying the people back for their farmland,
and they can't afford lawyers.
And the toxins go into New York City, water land.
People are getting sick, and the best part is once these chemicals go into the water,
you can't actually isolate the issues.
Everyone can be involved in climate change, it's a human issue, it's a community issue,
it's for everybody, it's a health issue, it's basic, it's basic.
We're fighting for our basic right.
Like why should we have to fight for the right not to get cancer?
Why should we fight for the right to preserve our biodiversity?
It's pretty simple, you know, and it's been, you know, Leopold, he's been writing about it.
This has been 60 years of research and compiled to 40,000 people here today.
So I mean, this isn't like an accident, this is like...
This is... it depends on what I get.
The idea is to let President Obama know that we don't want Canadian tar stains to be sent
to the United States because they are probably, according to James Hansen of NASA,
that tar sands equal game over for the planet.
Because the amount of carbon dioxide that tar sands will emit will be about twice as much as the planet can handle.
And so the protest is to stop the pipeline so that we don't have that problem,
which is not going to be our problem, but our grandchildren's problem.
And already we have almost 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the air,
which will take about 10,000 years before we can get rid of it.
And the more we put in, the longer it's going to take,
and the more our children and grandchildren are going to pay the price for it.
Barack Obama, who I think all of us voted here, probably everybody at the gathering here,
probably voted for him as well.
But we want to make sure he gets the message that the American people and the Canadian people
and of all walks of life are against this pipeline.
And it may be a short-term solution, but it's a long-term disaster.
My name is Gavin Uprichard, and this is my wife, Dana McGuire.
I'm from northeast Missouri.
I read Dr. James Hampson, who is our leading climate scientist in this country,
who said that if the Keystone Pipeline goes forward, it's game over for our climate.
There's way too much carbon deposits there.
If that all goes into the atmosphere, we're going to go into extreme temperature changes within this century.
And we need to really draw a firm line and say that we're not interested in having that oil come through our country now
before it becomes a moneyed interest and people are speculating and there's a whole bunch of money invested in it.
Then the companies have a financial requirement to carry through and sell that carbon.
And we need it to stay in the ground.
It's destructive to the environment up in Canada,
and it's going to be destructive to our whole planet if they are allowed to do this.
Come on Noah!
Don't rest with polar bears!
Action on money now!
Action on money now!
Action on money now!
Action on money now!
