Most of my work these days is divided primarily three ways: publishing my new poetry blog, “A Year of Being Here”; researching a historical novel that I plan to write; and actively opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, tar sands mining, and our continued extraction and use of fossil fuels, which is devastating the planet and contributing so mightily to climate change.
Regarding the latter, I’m very concerned about the disinformation being spread about the KXL pipeline by our elected officials. At this link you can read a letter to the editor that I penned last week in protest of this. We need to hold our public servants to the service of the truth. My letter concludes:
“At least on the subject of the Keystone XL, we South Dakotans cannot trust our lone state representative to speak the truth. Therefore, we the people must speak it. We can’t trust her to fight for the landowners whose property rights are being violated and whose water and land are being threatened by TransCanada, so we the people must fight for them. We can’t trust her to stand up for her native constituents whose treaty rights are being abrogated, whose water supplies are being put at risk, and whose ancient sacred sites will be destroyed by pipeline construction, so we the people must stand up for them. We can’t trust her to rise to the struggle against climate change, so we the people must rise.”
I will be at a massive rally in Washington, DC, on 2/17 to pressure our leaders to reject KXL. Please consider meeting me there! This pipeline is symbolic of the biggest civil rights issue of our day. Climate change is affecting every inhabitant of the planet, already creating climate refugees and threatening many species with extinction. We can’t afford to be silent.
