The Pipeline and the Paradigm: Keystone XL, Tar Sands, and the Battle to Defuse the Carbon Bomb

Environmental activist Avery travels the route of TransCanada’s controversial Keystone XL pipeline, engaging in frank and respectful dialogue with proponents and opponents in Alberta, Canada, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. Admittedly partisan Avery, who was once arrested while protesting the Pipeline, illustrates the personal side of global ecological issues. Beginning with an exploration of dichotomous thinking about economy vs. ecology, he argues for a new paradigm of interdependent solutions. Using interviews and anecdotes, he introduces readers to a vast array of opinions surrounding the pipeline: a Republican rancher in Nebraska fighting TransCanada’s arrogant claims of eminent domain; a North Dakota farmer with damaged land from an undetected leak; an elderly woman in Texas pressured into signing over access to her property. Avery respectfully presents opposing viewpoints as well, including a lengthy interview with a TransCanada v-p and a moving encounter with a farmer whose support for the pipeline stems from believing in man’s God-given right to transform the Earth. While the paradigm shift Avery describes isn’t groundbreaking, his finely researched book blazes with hope. (Apr.)