By Update 02/16/12 01:32PM PT:
350.org just sent out the following update:
Here’s where we stand: at the beginning of last week our opponents were confident and a Senate vote on Keystone XL seemed inevitable. Now, 800,000 messages later, Sen. Chuck Schumer – one of the most powerful Democrats in the Senate – has pledged to work to against the pipeline, President Obama has promised to veto any transportation bill that includes Keystone XL, and a vote on the project is likely to be delayed another week and a half.
As you can see, Keystone XL isn’t dead yet. We need to remain vigilant. Go here for info on how to call your Senators and make sure they know you’re still watching.
Here’s another awesome photo, of all the petitions being carried to the Senate:
Original post:
When news leaked that the Senate was about to revive the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline — despite President Obama standing up to Big Oil and rejecting the pipeline last month — the climate movement leapt into action.
RAN joined with a massive coalition of environmental and progressive activists to send over 800,000 petition signatures — gathered in just 24 hours — to the Senate. Our demand was simple: Represent us, the people, not Big Oil. Reject any attempt to revive the pipeline.
It was truly inspiring to see the response. This isn’t even all of the boxes that were delivered to the Senate yesterday:
The climate movement is united in ways that it hasn’t ever been before, and this 24-hour petition to stop the Keystone XL pipeline from being revived in the Senate really showed our collective power.
Here’s how Bill McKibben described the coalition on DailyKos:
[T]he entire environmental community is locking arms today. I mean, the whole thing–from the corporate friendly Environmental Defense Fund to the corporate unfriendly Rainforest Action Network. I mean, the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters and the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Wildlife Federation and Green For All and everyone else who’s ever tried to save a whale, clean a lake, build a park, find a solar job. But not just them–the rest of the progressive world is joining in too, from the Labor Network for Sustainability to MoveOn, from Credo to Democracy for America, from Public Citizen to the Change.Org. There are faith groups and businesses–a whole list can be found here.
The 24-hour effort was aided by the legendary Colbert Bump, as McKibben went on The Colbert Report to discuss Keystone XL and efforts to stop it from becoming reality and thereby dooming us all to runaway global warming. Watch:
http://www.hulu.com/aol/http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.aol.com/embed/hJZT7UvGjWQedovKZH55FA