On The Environment And The Pipeline

I post a lot of things online about the environment. Today I’m writing about the Pipeline Protest the Lakota have organized at Standing Rock.

An elder from Standing Rock, Gloria Johnson, used her influence to get the Lakota to adopt me when I lost everything in the recession and once said I was like a son to her. I’ve never actually been to their reservation, but I met a few people from Standing Rock.

Things went easier for me because I got help from the Native Community when I lost everything.

In a chat online with Harold One Feather, he explained they didn’t want the mess that comes with fracking, coal extraction, and strip mining-not to mention the Pipeline.

I asked a lady I know, Zandra Apple, how they could call it a fight and have it be a non-violent protest. She told me they call themselves Water Protectors and they really don’t fight. They do things like shackle themselves to heavy equipment and call it direct action.

I know the environment is important and I also know people need energy. I don’t know how to get my Lakota friends and the oil companies to start working on a real solution to the problem at hand.

People I met in the Native Community are going to jail in a fight I don’t know they can win and I don’t know if I can help them. I don’t even know how they’re going to regroup if they lose.

I’m not a very religious, but I’m going to say a prayer for the Lakota.

There’s a pipeline that goes to a refinery in Winnipeg and gets shipped out by rail. It makes more sense to me to build another track and improve the cargo containers than build more pipelines, or even build a pipeline next to the existing track.

But what do I really know? I’m just a guy from a farm town who got hurt on a fishing boat and am starting over. I can barely help myself.