{"id":34308,"date":"2012-01-24T10:30:16","date_gmt":"2012-01-24T15:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=27903"},"modified":"2012-01-24T10:30:16","modified_gmt":"2012-01-24T15:30:16","slug":"bill-mckibben-man-who-took-down-7-billion-oil-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/bill-mckibben-man-who-took-down-7-billion-oil-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill McKibben: Man Who Took Down $7-Billion Oil Project"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"mckibben<\/a><\/p>\n

Well, of course, Bill didn’t do it single-handedly. However, if there’s one person to credit with getting thousands of people to submit to arrest in opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, and getting over 10,000 to circle the White House in protest, and hundreds of thousands to oppose the project online, it’s Bill McKibben. I hadn’t thought much about it until I ran across a lengthy Boston Globe<\/em>\u00a0piece on McKibben at the end of last week making this particular point.<\/p>\n

The article, “The man who crushed the Keystone XL pipeline,” as I said, is quite long. Go ahead over to the Boston Globe<\/a><\/em> if you’d like to read it in full. If you’re interested in a taster first, here’s the intro:<\/p>\n

On November 6, 2011, Bill McKibben arrived at Washington, D.C.\u2019s, Lafayette Park to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, designed to carry oil 1,700 miles from Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. McKibben, a Vermont writer and environmentalist, had been one of 1,252 people arrested in front of the White House in August and September, protesting the same pipeline. He\u2019d spent two nights in the district\u2019s Central Cell Block, and now was back with thousands more people and a bold new plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t literally occupy the White House,\u201d McKibben had told his fellow protesters, \u201cso the next best thing is to surround it.\u201d And that\u2019s what they would do, encircle the White House in a \u201cgiant hug\u201d to remind President Obama of his campaign promise to \u201cend the tyranny of oil.\u201d McKibben wasn\u2019t sure how many people he would need to \u201chug\u201d the White House, though, and was worried that he wouldn\u2019t have enough.<\/p>\n

It turns out he had plenty. At least 12,000, actually, making it the largest protest ever for an environmental cause outside the White House. The protesters circled the White House several times and in some places stood five deep. Speaking to the crowd, McKibben seemed pleasantly surprised that so many people had actually showed up. \u201cWe have been wondering if anybody was going to come,\u201d he told them, perhaps a bit too honestly. \u201cIt\u2019s been decades since there\u2019s been a crowd like this outside the White House about something to do with the environment. So you have done a great thing today.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bill McKibben<\/a> photo modified from 350.org photo.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Well, of course, Bill didn’t do it single-handedly. However, if there’s one person to credit with getting thousands of people to submit to arrest in opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, and getting over 10,000 to circle the White House in protest, and hundreds of thousands to oppose the project online, it’s Bill McKibben. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4522,19928,19929,22168,28974],"spectra_custom_meta":{"_rpuplugin_enabled":["yes"],"_oembed_c3582a6ee2c1f258cc77c0e6e6af1573":["