We Quit You, Keystone XL (It's Not Us, It's You)

Sorry, Mitt Romney: Keystone XL is not the U.S. "miracle energy" keystone. However, until we show fossil fuel companies that we're ready for something new, pipelines like Keystone XL are going to keep coming back like an ex-boyfriend who won't get the hint.

Now is the time to end our unhealthy relationship with dirty energy, and the first step in this breakup is cutting them off.

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Concept & Script: HEATHER LIBBY

[tygermelon]

Very well done! - "Whatever, man. Forget her! The girls up north, . . . way easier!" ~ Umm, I don't think so, Enbridge! This deserves to go viral!

[BenSchiendelman]

Yeah, it's mass transit systems, based on an improved electrical grid. We can *easily* start reducing the oil we use if we all rally around the technology we already have.

[smilecalm]

We can be happy and find sustainable energy for future generations, I hope.

[jimbills]

I can tell you my own personal story. I had a nagging suspicion that things were wrong since I was teenager, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I really studied the matter and saw how dire the situation is.

Since then, my wife and I (we don't have children) moved from our home in the suburbs into a small apartment in the city to save on commutes and to walk a lot more. We aren't in a position to do out own solar right now. We take the Amtrak for family visits instead of flying....

[jimbills]

That's really great! My earlier comments were not meant to say you personally were failing - it was meant to say that society is failing. I think if many more people emulated what you are doing, we'd be in a much better place.

The tragedy of our FF predicament isn't fully apparent to the majority yet. It's just a few signs here and there (spikes in gas prices, ocean platform explosions, questions about why we invaded Iraq).

But we're going to see how deep the hole is over the next few decades.

[notacdtime]

Thanks for the email PostCarbon. I shared this on Facebook.

[postcarboninstitute]

Volikoto - The most effective alternative can be employed immediately and works just as well in any part of the world under any weather conditions: CONSERVATION.

[jimbills]

....We support local farms as much as possible, and try to avoid grocery waste where possible (but this is insanely difficult in this culture).

We're planning on switching, though, to a rural smallholding of two acres and grow 50-75% of our own food in the next 2-3 years. It's taking some planning and the goal is to do it with zero debt (so it will be a step-by-step process). There will also have to be a work plan in place. It's not easy.

[yamthesweetpotato]

I bet guys from wind crowd are super dreamy!

[RechargeableLithium]

E85 is available today and every car on the road can use it 50/50 with gasoline (which already contains 10% ethanol in most parts of the US) - that's an instant way to cut our gasoline use in half immediately. Ethanol isn't about corn - cellulosic ethanol plants are on-line today; and sugar beets, sorghum, cattails, and even mesquite pods have better yields per acre. It's not food vs fuel anyway - distillers grain is a better feed than corn and actual human food is not used to make fuel.

[jimbills]

....(and yes, I'm targeting beef production), as well as a leveling of the energy playing field will help.

The old saw is that renewables will naturally replace fossil fuels by market mechanisms only. This understates the vast reliance of economies on fossil fuels. But also, the Keystone is good example of an unfair playing field. It IS a subsidy for FF, if only because of eminent domain seizures to build it. It's a boon to Alberta, and its main purpose is to lower delivery costs for....

[rixterman]

This is great: it signals a new and much needed tactic to get the message out to the public. Simple but scary facts and numbers won't cut it; an emotional approach like this is needed. I hope the PCI continues to develop and refine this technique. It would be great to see a clever video go viral and become a topic of popular conversation.

[jimbills]

....It was written in 1976 by the U.S. government. I can't tell you how it makes feel that we've known how to tackle this issue for over 4 decades and we've done virtually nothing about it.

[ypres]

there is no alternative to big oil. the era of societal dependence on oil is over. there is nothing coming to replace what allows us to keep driving 30 mi to work, to drive 3 kids back and forth to soccer/ballet/karate, to truck goods across the country, to ship goods from overseas, to continue working in air-conditioned skyscrapers, or to provide the nation w/ monocrop corn & feedlot beef.

cars are not part of the future.

"One thing's for sure- we're all gonna be a lot thinner."- Han Solo

[postcarboninstitute]

Latte? Latte? We drink only bourbon, friend.

[jimbills]

One final thing - people put up excuses to be inflexible in their thinking. The 'hypocrisy' thing is just one more excuse.

If someone sees that things are wrong, but they see themself as contributing to that wrong, it shouldn't prevent them from ACCEPTING that things are wrong.

It should instead serve as a guide for what to do better. And I'll also just say that some people have better means than others (physically, monetarily, and in their family situation). Just do your best.

[DustinOutCamping]

Trust me, we don't want them in Canada either. A proposed pipeline (Northern Gateway) going to the British Columbia coast has most of Canada against it

[jimbills]

The problem isn't the cows - it's the industrial model of food production with the heavy emphasis on meat (especially beef).

Wind, hydro, and geothermal all beat nuclear in terms of cost, and you don't have the waste storage issues. Plus, conventional nuclear is also a non-renewable resource - uranium. There's only so much of it.

But, to be honest, I think our future is inevitably to use less energy than we do now, and it doesn't matter what we currently wish to believe.

[orbust]

Seems like there's a lot of folks posting here who, a hundred years ago, would have been the ones shouting "automobiles will never replace the horse, any fool can see that!". If it was up to them and their ilk, no progress would ever be made.

[postcarboninstitute]

For clarity: We've never received a penny from the energy industry, nor would we accept it (unlike the folks at "Ethical" Oil). As for the small amount of money spent on this video, understand that, as a nonprofit, we often find production companies willing to comp their efforts. Actors and voice talent as well. Thanks to the concern and largess of the creative community, our videos cost us very, very little.