ON FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE AND OLD ENERGY – DARRYL HANNAH

The Battle Against Big Energy’s Rush to Ruin Our Planet

Darryl Hannah, October 31, 2012 (EcoWatch)

“Extreme killer superstorms, historic drought, vanishing sea ice, an increase in ocean acidity by 30 percent, the hottest decade on record and mega forest fires have increasingly become our new reality…Additional temperature rises could compromise our safety and cause incalculable damage…if we don’t address our emissions, insist upon an appropriate climate policy and curtail the rogue fossil fuel industry.

“…[W]e in the U.S. and Canada [are]…putting their bodies on the line and risking arrest in order to protect our future, to acknowledge climate change disasters and to protect access to basic necessities such as uncontaminated water, soil and food. We are seeing an exponentially growing number of nationwide rallies, protests and acts of civil disobedience just to protect these fundamental life support systems.”

“…Big Oil is now resorting to ‘unconventional’ sources, and…more extreme extraction measures…[that] come with a dangerous cost…These extreme extraction processes are the fossil fuel industry’s last-ditch efforts to stretch their global financial dominance as far into the 21st century as they possibly can…[A] strip-mining process known as tar sands oil extraction…destroys entire ecosystems where they lie…To mine coal more inexpensively, the industry has taken to simply blowing up entire mountains…More than 500 mountains in the U.S.’s oldest mountain range, the Appalachians, have been unceremoniously eviscerated…Then, there is the breakneck boom mentality of the natural gas industry, which has moved to hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking,’ wells—literally fracturing the earth and pumping it full of carcinogenic chemical poisons to release the gas…

“…[R]egionally-created clean renewable energy is the path to true energy independence and energy security. We know America holds enough wind and solar potential to power our economy 100 times over…But now, there are floods and drought…[and] kids are getting sick…[O]ur water is threatened…Our survival is on the line. So we are getting informed. The sleeping giant is waking…This is what I’ve experienced in Texas while resisting the Keystone pipeline, in West Virginia fighting mountaintop removal and…in Colorado, standing up against fracking…[P]eople of all ethnicities, political ideologies and economic strata have realized: it’s up to us to take a stand…Those who want to be safe from the tyranny of poison will always possess the moral authority and will stand on the right side of history. I am proud to be among them.”

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