Guest host Stephanie Potter interviews Barbara Ford and Marilee Dea who are going as part of a contingent of "Gray Haired Ladies" to Washington DC to protest the Keystone XL Pipeline, a proposed 1,700 mile pipeline that would carry tar sands oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. Proponents of the pipeline cite increased tax revenues, jobs and "energy security." In passing from Alberta to Texas, it would carry one of the world's dirtiest fuels through six states and the "largest aquifer in the world." What are the risks to ecosystems, water sources and public health? And what about the climate crisis? Climatologist James Hansen has stated: “An overwhelming objection is that exploitation of tar sands would make it implausible to stabilize climate and avoid disastrous global climate impacts.” The women hope to join thousands of people from across the continent, including James Hansen, environmentalist Bill McKibben, actor Danny Glover, in a wave of sustained sit-ins. The protest runs from August 20 to Sept 3, and the Gray Haired Ladies will be participating on August 29. For some of them it will be their first-ever protest: "We are women over 50 from the Columbia Ecovillage, some have never demonstrated before. Peg, a hair stylist from Spokane Wa, Ann, a school secretary, Pam, a retired lawyer and nurse, Barbara, a counselor and facilitator, Marilee, a nurse practitoner and urban farmer." --Marilee (For more info you might want to check out this interview with Andrew Nikiforuk, author of "Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent.")
- KBOO