This is something I would like to talk about because it has been heavy on my heart for many reasons. For those of you who don’t know what this is here is a quick description. It is an 1,172 mile long underground pipeline that starts in North Dakota and will end in Illinois. It will carry 450,000 barrels of crude oil every day. Currently there are over 100 Native American tribes and people from all over the world that have joined together to try and stop the construction of the pipeline in North Dakota. If you would like more facts you can check out the Wikipedia here.
Who benefits
Of course with any multi-billion dollar investment there will be large corporations that will benefit from this pipeline. There are several oil companies that will benefit from this project. There are also 17 banks who are funding the project. The total cost of the project is nearly 4 billion dollars. The general petroleum product consumer will not have to pay as much for those types of products, but that is really only temporary in my opinion as there still is a limited supply of natural crude oil within the Earth.
Who is against it
What it really comes down to is that anyone that has a connection to the Earth and humanity’s well being and future should care immensely about stopping this project from getting completed. And the biggest concern is the contamination of the water in that area. The Native Americans in the area are much more aware of the destruction that oil pipelines have on the environment because according to them there are oil spills happening all the time. What I have seen through various social media posts is that there are oil spills frequently but they are rarely reported to the public. Just another short fall in the mainstream media by the way! The same type of people who own the big oil companies and banks are the same ones that own the media.
Water is life
This pipeline is slated to run under the Missouri river which provides water to 18 million people in the mid-west. If there were a spill from this pipeline near this river where are those people going to get their water from? Oil spills affect the environment for years after the incident. The pipeline has already been re-routed from it’s previous route because a town claimed that it would be an environmental hazard to the drinking water there. Celebrities and journalists have gone to Standing Rock to protest and have been arrested for doing so and even threatened with felony charges. Our president who claims to want to protect the environment hasn’t done enough in my opinion to make a difference. Another reason why I think the government is at the mercy of big corporations. Profit is the only things that corporations care about.
My position
Over the last year and a half I have lived out in the woods among nature away from the hustle and bustle of the bigger cities in the SF Bay Area. I felt a calling to be where I am now and I think it was for a few reasons. One is for healing. I believe that nature heals you in a metaphysical way energetically. I can feel it. I feel better when I am home and I can feel my mood change when I head into the city and vice versa. Another is that mother Earth wanted me to learn more about her. She has showed me a beauty I don’t get when I go camping for a weekend. She has showed me that all life is connected in some way. I have a hard time killing bugs or even pests now because of this. Luckily my cat takes care of the rodents. 
When it rains everything perks up, the creeks run that were dry, the rivers fill up. The water that I drink is from the creek nearby and it is a blessing. And I can’t imagine if an oil spill happened near by that affected the water table and eventually my source of water. What would I do? I would probably have to move away from the most beautiful place I know. It would be devastating to me and my neighbors. So this pipeline for me means that if large corporations can get away with this in a place where 18 million people could be affected why would they not do it in the future where I live where ever I might be living at the time. This is not just about one pipeline. It is about all future pipelines and the people really need to speak up about this and support those that are out there fighting for their future.
Our future
We have the technology to live without fossil fuels. Yes I do use fossil fuels but that doesn’t mean I want to continue using them. Unfortunately it is the cheapest way to get around so some of us have no choice. I would like to see more companies doing more for affordable alternate energy ways of living. I believe we all need to come together and support companies that go in that renewable energy source direction. If you support big oil companies I would encourage you to re-think your position on oil. Do you own stock in companies that do more harm than good on this planet? Hemp should be legalized so we don’t have to rely on petroleum based products. The Earth to me is a sacred living being. She needs our help in preserving her life giving resources and her overall health. We really should not be building more pipelines, we should be building more environmentally friendly products for our future and future generations to come. Water is life! The government not paying attention to the water problems we are having lately. We have entire cities in our country that have dirty unsafe water. To me this is unacceptable. And to top that off we have big companies like Nestle coming into communities and taking the fresh drinking water to bottle up and sell. These companies need to leave our water alone, and the government needs to step in to protect it’s people and land. If the government won’t step in to help, it is up to the people to get the point across to the large corporations. Make yourself heard and make a conscientious choice to end the destruction of mother Earth with the products you buy or don’t buy.
In conclusion I support those at Standing Rock and I hope that you will too. The Earth is our home and she does more for us than we realize to keep us happy, healthy, and alive. The Native Americans know this and are fighting for our future. I encourage you to support them in any way you can. There are fund raisers, you can take your money out of the banks that are supporting the project, you can ask your local news station why they are not covering the story more closely, and you can write in to government officials. I recently bought a T-shirt that will be sending most of the money earned to the cause at Standing Rock. When I get it I will post a pic..
Live better, be happy, and love all that is!
Namaste!
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