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I specifically look at how building new pipelines will just lock us into a system reliant on fossil fuels for decades to come.
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Transcript Provided by YouTube:
00:03
imagine a toilet it performs seemingly
00:07
magical feats whisking your waste away
00:10
from right in front of your eyes but
00:13
over time that toilet inevitably breaks
00:16
down wear and tear clogging and general
00:19
erosion lead to the toilet overflowing
00:21
and your downstairs neighbor puny in
00:24
much the same way the oil pipelines of
00:26
the United States providing
00:28
unfortunately essential service to the
00:31
majority of Americans by transporting
00:33
massive amounts of fuel across the
00:35
country for domestic use and to our
00:38
ports for export but among the many
00:40
problems with this system is that these
00:42
pipelines are prone to leakage and
00:44
bursting and when oil leaks from this
00:48
network of veins stretching across the
00:50
country it’s not a bathroom that’s being
00:52
flooded or a neighbor getting upset
00:54
instead its whole livelihoods destroyed
00:57
as a result of contamination of farms
01:00
and clean water today I’m going to use
01:02
the Keystone XL pipeline to outline why
01:05
there’s such controversy around oil
01:07
pipelines and why it’s necessary to
01:10
reimagine this form of energy
01:12
transportation the Keystone XL pipeline
01:15
expansion has dominated the
01:17
environmental news circuit ever since
01:19
the National Energy Board approved
01:21
TransCanada’s application for the
01:23
pipeline in March of 2010 for the last
01:26
seven years there’s been a constant
01:28
struggle between demonstrators and
01:30
pipeline proponents over the fate of
01:32
Keystone XL one of the main arguments
01:36
fielded by Keystone’s critics is the
01:38
leakage and contamination risks inherent
01:40
in any pipeline and the damage that
01:43
could be caused by pipeline that would
01:45
transport over five hundred and ten
01:47
thousand barrels of oil per day as
01:50
pipelines grow older the wear of liquids
01:52
such as the especially dirty tar sands
01:54
oil flowing through Keystone XL
01:56
inevitably causes corrosion and leakage
02:00
considering that pipelines are often
02:02
left in the ground for years or even
02:04
decades without maintenance due to a
02:06
lack of government oversight leakage as
02:08
a result of aging infrastructure is not
02:11
just a possibility but over
02:13
even on newly constructed pipelines
02:16
leaks still occur for example on
02:19
November 16 2017 the original Keystone
02:22
pipeline which has been operating since
02:24
2010 leaked two hundred and ten thousand
02:27
gallons of oil onto land right outside
02:30
of Sioux territory in South Dakota these
02:33
leaks contaminate farmland render water
02:35
sources useless and require costly
02:38
cleanups preparing old pipeline
02:41
infrastructure is necessary to prevent
02:43
leaks but it should only be seen as a
02:46
short-term solution to a much larger
02:48
problem one of the other main reasons
02:51
for protests surrounding the Keystone XL
02:53
pipeline was the hinder Carson’s
02:56
production in Canada by blocking the
02:58
arteries of tar sands production in
03:01
Alberta the potential markets for fossil
03:03
fuels dwindle and thus the extraction of
03:06
fossil fuels lessens building more and
03:09
newer pipelines means locking the United
03:11
States and the countries it exports to
03:14
into a fossil fuel dependent system for
03:17
decades to come
03:18
so the answer to a leaky or old pipeline
03:21
is not to build a new one which means
03:24
that protests at the front lines of
03:26
these proposed pipelines as we’ve seen
03:28
at Standing Rock to stop the Dakota
03:30
access pipeline and across the country
03:32
in response to the Keystone expansion
03:35
are essential to protecting water land
03:38
indigenous sovereignty and ending our
03:41
structural dependence on fossil fuels
03:44
however in order to cut back on these
03:47
pipeline expansions that harm land and
03:49
people we need to provide solid
03:51
alternatives in a recently published
03:53
study by a group of 21 academic
03:56
researchers they argue that 80%
03:58
decarbonization of the United States by
04:01
2050 is not only possible but also
04:03
economically feasible but this requires
04:06
a quote unquote diverse portfolio of
04:09
technologies that include not only wind
04:11
and solar but other solutions like
04:14
carbon capture in order to build this
04:17
low-carbon future we need to grasp that
04:19
stopping the construction of new
04:21
pipelines is a crucial step towards
04:24
freeing us from our reliance on fossil
04:26
fuels this video was made possible in
04:32
part by the wonderful people who support
04:34
me on patreon if you’re interested in
04:35
helping me grow this channel head on
04:37
over to patreon and pledge a small
04:39
amount of money for every video I
04:41
release in return I’ll send you gifts
04:43
like a handwritten thank you note or in
04:45
our changing climate sticker as always
04:47
if you like what you just saw share it
04:49
around and subscribe thanks so much for
04:51
watching and I’ll see you next Friday
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This post was previously published on YouTube.