[Vision2020] Tar Sands Pipeline Protest Aug. 20- Sept. 3 at White House

Ted Moffett starbliss at gmail.com
Thu Aug 18 17:06:10 PDT 2011


http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/18/climate-scientist-tar-sands-pipeline-protest?CMP=twt_fd
Climate
scientist willing to face arrest at tar sands pipeline protest
Climate scientist Jason Box says oil sands are a moral issue that he feels
compelled to address at Keystone XL pipeline protests

 Elizabeth McGowan for SolveClimate <http://solveclimate.com/>, part
of the Guardian
Environment Network <http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/network>
guardian.co.uk <http://www.guardian.co.uk/>, Thursday 18 August 2011 15.21
BST
His climatology career at Ohio State University is advancing swimmingly.
He's never had a brush with the law. And his wife is eight months pregnant
with their first child.

So staying home for the next several weeks in Columbus, Ohio, rather than
risking arrest in the nation's capital certainly seems the ideal
choice for professor
Jason Box <http://bprc.osu.edu/wiki/Jason_Box_Professional_Bio>.

But the 38-year-old has never reveled in the idea of an intellectual or
physical comfort zone.

His natural inquisitiveness — plus a dose of idealism and commitment — is
why Box is intent on participating in his first-ever act of civil
disobedience. The cause? Trying to convince President Obama that approving
the extension of a controversial oil
sands<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/oil-sands>pipeline — the
proposed $7 billion, 1,702-mile Keystone XL — would be the
equivalent of lighting a fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet.

It's not a single-handed effort on Box's part. But as of mid-week he's
evidently the only climate scientist who has registered to join about 2,000
other like-minded thinkers to line the fences surrounding the White House —
where peaceful arrests are not uncommon for protesters of all stripes.


They'll begin gathering Saturday and rotate through in waves of 75 to 100
daily through Sept. 3. Box is booked for a three-day stint at the tail end.

"I couldn't maintain my self-respect if I didn't go," Box said Tuesday in a
telephone interview about his decision to wade into the murky territory of
activism <http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/activism> where most
scientists fear to tread. "This isn't about me, this is about the future.
Just voting doesn't seem to be enough in this case. I need to be a citizen
also, because this is a democracy after all, isn't it?"

Bill McKibben, the activist, author and Middlebury College professor who
founded the advocacy organization 350.org <http://www.350.org/> is the
instigator
of the summer sit-in<http://solveclimatenews.com/news/20110627/climate-protests-keystone-xl-pipeline-oil-sands-transcanada-bill-mckibben>.
Back in June, he collaborated with 10 Canadian and American
climate-concerned luminaries — including author and farmer Wendell Berry and
actor Danny Glover — to circulate a three-page plea for
support<http://www.naomiklein.org/articles/2011/06/invitation-washington-d-c>
.

Earlier this month, Box and 19 other prominent U.S. scientists fired off a
letter to the White House urging Obama to
reject<http://www.tarsandsaction.org/scientists-keystone-xl-obama/>Alberta-based
TransCanada's plans to construct Keystone XL. Among the
marquee authors are James Hansen of Columbia University's Earth Institute
and Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at
Pennsylvania State University.

Although Hansen hasn't signed up for the event, he's expected to appear at
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. late in August. He has been arrested several times in
the past for protesting mountaintop removal mining. Mann, on the other hand,
tends to shy away from protests. At the end of 2009, his research was
targeted by global warming deniers in a bizarre and trying episode known as
"Climategate." He was cleared of any
wrongdoing<http://www.research.psu.edu/news/2010/michael-mann-decision>
.

"The tar sands are a huge pool of carbon, but one that does not make sense
to exploit," the scientists wrote to Obama. "When other huge oil fields or
coal mines were opened in the past, we knew much less about the damage that
the carbon they contained would do to the Earth's climate system and to its
oceans.

"Now that we do know, it's imperative that we move quickly to alternate
forms of energy <http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/energy>," they
continued. "As scientists, speaking for ourselves and not for any of our
institutions, we can say categorically that [the pipeline is] not only not
in the national interest, it's also not in the planet's best interest."

*The Science Is Complete*

Until now, Box's career path has been that of the quintessential
non-partisan scientist. A Colorado native who speaks in careful, measured
sentences, he doesn't take his decision to travel to Washington, D.C., for
his inaugural climate protest lightly. As part of his preparations he has
sought advice from an Ohio State media expert, who had a wealth of insight
on how scientists-cum-activists are potential lightning rods in the climate
debate.

As a freshman at the University of Colorado-Boulder in 1990-91 Box was
vacillating between geology and astronomy. But reading the first
assessment<http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/1992%20IPCC%20Supplement/IPCC_1990_and_1992_Assessments/English/ipcc_90_92_assessments_far_overview.pdf>by
the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change <http://www.ipcc.ch/> (IPCC) of the United Nations
convinced him to laser in on geography and climatology. That report
documented the toll carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases were having on
Earth.

As an undergraduate, he became one of the youngest protégés of Konrad
Steffen <http://cires.colorado.edu/steffen/>, a world-renowned climate
scientist performing cutting-edge research on the glaciers of Greenland.
Twelve years and five academic degrees later — all earned in Boulder — Box
headed to Ohio State. He's a tenured associate geography professor and
research scientist at the university's Byrd Polar Research
Center<http://bprc.osu.edu/wiki/Jason_Box_Professional_Bio>
.

Strenuous pilgrimages to the Greenland ice sheet — his accumulated study
time on inland ice now exceeds a year — have made him an authority on the
relationship between Greenland's glaciers and the Arctic's warming climate.
Strategically placed cameras have allowed him to precisely measure how much
ice is permanently disappearing.

Box's innovations have earned him accolades and recognition from the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the American Meteorological
Society, the American Geophysical Union and other organizations that value
drive, curiosity and critical thinking. He was also invited to be a
contributing author to the IPCC's most recent 2007 report on the causes and
consequences of climate
change<http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climate-change>.
That same year the panel won the Nobel Peace Prize, which it shared with
former Vice President Al Gore.

Climate scientists have already done their homework, Box emphasized, adding
that the results are irrefutable. Report after exhaustive report repeat the
warning that humans are contributing to their own demise by continuing to
warm the planet by emitting heat-trapping gases, he said.

*Treading Academic Water Long Enough*

Box sees no reason why he can't maintain his professional scientific
credibility while making a foray into activism.

He said some of his fellow scientists already have complimented him for
signing the letter and for deciding to travel to the Washington protest. His
impression is that he won't be shunned by a community that's becoming more
vocal about its convictions.

"OK, so what's next is what I keep asking myself," Box said about his
evolution as a scientist. "I've achieved what I set out to do with
climatology. Am I just going to just keep studying the melting ice in
Greenland? Then I'd just be treading water instead of swimming."

By participating in the protest, he might liberate other climate scientists
to take a stand, he said. If Hansen, who has fashioned a distinguished
career with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, can lead such
a charge among the older guard, Box figures he might be an inspiration for
mid-career scientists with potentially more to lose.

Still, Box struggles with that longtime inner voice that tells scientists
not to take sides, utter opinions or wave around signs with pithy messages
as activists do at rallies.

Yes, he admits to being a bit apprehensive about being confronted by climate
deniers who might accuse him of being part of a vast Al Gore conspiracy. But
he's not worried enough to cancel his September flight.

"If our elected leaders aren't acting, then we're going to have to get more
involved with our democracy," he said. "This is about motivating
decision-makers to do their job. I'd like to think that scientists engaging
skillfully with words and reason could start to change this problem ... This
is a moral movement and a moral issue. It's unethical for us to stand by
while the greed of others results in the destruction of our biosphere.

"I feel I'm on the high ground defending this position and that I have
reason on my side," he continued. "The question is, will anybody listen?"

A year or so ago, very few observers would have predicted that the Keystone
XL pipeline — which has the potential to double, or perhaps triple the
amount of diluted bitumen flowing to this country from its northern neighbor
— would dominate climate activists' agenda and galvanize the movement.

But Box said that mining the oil sands would boost North America's carbon
footprint so dramatically that it is the perfect centerpiece for the complex
struggle over global warming.

"If Obama authorizes this pipeline, it will prove that the power of oil is
greater than the power of reason," Box said. "He cares about this issue and
he tells us he wants the country to run on clean energy. Does he cave in? We
shall see."

*Giving Up Not an Option*

Although Obama will be vacationing on Martha's Vineyard for part of the time
activists from across the nation will be holding court near the White House,
Box predicts the protest's peaceful strategy will be effective.

"I'm convinced that a non-violent approach will work," Box said. "If it gets
Obama's attention it will have accomplished more than the next snazzy
article appearing on the cover of a major scientific journal."

Lessons from his earliest geography classes reinforced how vital it is to
always connect the dots to the human element.

"Sure, it's fascinating to study Arctic ice," he said. "But when what
happens in the Arctic is felt throughout the world and the science is
relevant to human livelihoods we owe it to ourselves to act."

While Box is savvy enough to know that much of the climate debate has been
hijacked by extremists more intrigued with hyperbole than facts, he is
optimistic enough to hope that a peaceful demonstration can prompt rational
thinking.

"I want to believe that reason will prevail here," he said, adding that both
science and survival are about devising solutions. "I've learned you never
give up. That's how I've been successful so far."
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