Why I Am Thankful for Nebraskan Ranchers, Daryl Hannah, Leslie Iwerks, and the Delay of the Keystone XL Pipeline

Nebraskan rancher and anti-pipeline spokesperson Susan Leubbe who is featured in the film Pipe Dreams.Last week I attended the Los Angeles premiere of Pipe Dreams, a documentary by Leslie Iwerks that examines the Keystone Pipeline XL project. The National Wildlife Federation has been campaigning against this environmental travesty for almost two years, and our Senior Vice President for Conservation, Jeremy Symons, appears in the film. Pipe Dreams is one of eight films shortlisted for the Academy Award for best documentary.

As Pipe Dreams demonstrates, the project—despite claims by TransCanada and others—provides very little (if any) economic benefit to the United States, has devastating environmental consequences and poses grave threats to human health, livestock and agriculture. The proposed route crosses some of the most environmentally sensitive areas in the region and through the family lands of hundreds of farmers and ranchers. As Nebraska Republican Senator Mike Johanns has observed: “[There] could not be a worse route in the entire state of Nebraska … Maybe couldn’t be a worse route in the entire country.”

View the trailer for the documentary Pipe Dreams

Viewing the fly-overs in the film of the tar sand mining sites was akin to watching the terrifying scenes of Mordor in Lord of the Rings. Daniel Glick describes the sites in his article “Tar Sands Trouble” in the most recent issue of NWF’sNational Wildlife: “Massive toxic tailings ponds, open-pit mines, chemical-belching smokestacks and processing plants now stretched along hundreds of square miles that were once part of an intact boreal forest wilderness.” These new wastelands threaten numerous wildlife, including moose, caribou, migrating songbirds, and the whooping crane, a bird once on the verge of extinction.

Talking with Daryl Hannah at the Pipe Dreams PremiereTars sands, also known as dirty oil, bears little resemblance to the smooth brown liquid we pour in our cars every three months or 5,000 miles. As a recent NWF report concluded, “The Canadian tar sands industry is, by almost any measure, one of the most wasteful and polluting industries humanity has ever invented.” Producing oil from tar sands creates toxic lakes with cancer-causing chemicals, and emits three times the greenhouse gases of conventional oil. And tar sands oil also has an atrocious safety record—it accounted for over half of all crude oil spilled in the U.S. in 2010. Recent spills in Montana in the Yellowstone River and in Michigan in the Kalamazoo River attest to the destructive nature of the spills—tars sands oil is difficult to clean up as unlike conventional crude, it sinks in water.

So given all these alarming statistics I just cited, why I am thankful?

This pipeline was thought to be a done deal by TransCanada. Yet a grassroots movement by the American people caused President Obama to delay the project and request further environmental review.

The Q&A panel at the Pipe Dreams premiere in Los AngelesAt the screening, I was honored to be a member of a very inspirational panel with director, Leslie Iwerks, the film’s narrator, actress/activist Daryl Hannah, producer Jane Kosek, and mother-daughter Nebraskan ranchers and anti-pipeline spokespeople featured in the film, Susan and Allaura Leubbe. And I give my thanks to all of them for the commitment they displayed in not letting Big Oil bully American citizens into approving a pipeline that threatens people, wildlife and our homelands. Susan and Allaura inspire me with their love of their ranch and their refusal to be intimidated by threats of eminent domain from TransCanada. Daryl Hannah inspires me with her relentless activism for all life on this planet. Leslie Iwerks inspires me with her determination in exposing social and environmental injustices with her excellent filmmaking. And I am inspired by nonprofits like NWF that help citizens with these important fights. So I’ll add them all to my list of what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Although the Obama administration recently delayed the decision of the Keystone Pipeline XL, we still need to take action to ensure the project is permanently halted. Visit NWF’s Tar Sands Action center to find out how you can help. 

Pipe Dreams is showing at the Laemmle Sunset 5 Theater in Los Angeles through November 24 at 7:30 pm daily. For showings of Pipe Dreams in your area, visit the film’s website.

Happy Feet Two: How a Gen-Xer Found Joy in Penguins and Elephant Seals Dancing to David Bowie

The Joy of Dancing Penguins (Photo by Beth Pratt)This past Sunday, I attended the premiere of Happy Feet Two in Los Angeles. The National Wildlife Federation teamed up with the movie to encourage people of all ages to take the steps necessary to protect amazing wildlife species such as penguins and wild places such as Antarctica.

I helped staff a booth for our organization at the premiere festivities in front of the Mann’s Chinese Theater, and had a delightful time helping children create finger puppet penguins while watching some of the stars who provided voices for the film—Hank Azaria, Robin Williams, Pink, and Sofia Vegara—parade down the red carpet.

One of the penquin finger puppets made by children at the NWF booth at the Happy Feet Two Premiere (Photo by Beth Pratt)The movie had a wonderful message of working together for the good of all in a changing world, as well as the coolest song and dance finale I have ever seen with penguins and elephant seals doing a rendition of David Bowie’s “Under Pressure.” Not having kids, I think the last cartoon movie I saw was Beauty and the Beast, and the last 3D movie I attended was U23D, but I had splendid time. Brad Pitt and Matt Damon as Will and Bill- the Krill brought some fun adult humor to the film as well, with their witty banter reminiscent of the Oceans films.

Near the end of the movie, when penguins of all nations united with elephant seals and tiny krill to save a group of penguins trapped by melting ice and calving glaciers, I teared up a bit, but not from sadness–it’s not a sad movie in the least and despite my fears of a few scenes turning into Planet Earth unpleasant predator-prey moments, nary a critter meets their demise. Instead, the tears came from sheer joy over impossibly cute penguins and the hopeful message of togetherness. I tried to secretly wipe my tears away without notice so as not to embarrass myself in front of my coworker, but we had a laugh together as she admitted to getting a bit watery-eyed as well.

Robin Williams and Hank Azaria at the Happy Feet Two Premiere in LA (Photo by Beth Pratt)

Last week the environmental movement scored a victory with Obama’s decision to delay the controversial Keystone pipeline and call for further environmental review. As NWF’s President and CEO Larry Schweiger observed, blocking this project was the result of a diverse group of Americans—from environmentalists in California to football players in Nebraska–gathering together for a common cause.  “Over the last several months, a groundswell of opposition sunk this project. Not since the first Earth Day have I seen so much energy directed toward conserving the environment for our children. This is a great moment for the thousands of Americans who have stood up to this project, from town halls to the White House.”

Pink and husband Carey Hart at the Happy Feet Two premiere in LA (Photo by Beth Pratt)

Climate change is transforming our world, but by working together, whether we are tap dancing penguins and singing elephant seals, or left coast environmentalists and Cornhusker football players, we can unite to protect people, wildlife and the special places on this earth.

Happy Feet Two opens this Friday, November 18. Children will love the film, but adults, I dare you not to be charmed and inspired by those animated 3D penguins fighting the impacts of climate change and oil spills as they happily dance and sing to Queen and David Bowie songs.

Winter arrives in Yosemite

Yesterday during a walk in Yosemite Valley, I watched the alto cumulus and cirrus clouds overhead tell the story of the impending storm, while it snowed pine needles freed by the anxious wind. Standing among the comforting embrace of the granite peaks, I thought how magical it was to be in this special place on the threshold of winter.

This morning I woke up in Yosemite Valley and was delighted to find the story of the clouds had been truthful and nature had left the gift of her winter artistry. Mist hovered above the snow, trying to escape banishment by the rising sun, while the surrounding cliffs showed off their winter coats. Yosemite Valley is always magnificent, but the fresh snow and hovering mist brought a special beauty to the place that is hard to rival.

Aspens Gone Wild! Fall Color in the Eastern Sierra

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower,” observed Albert Camus. Growing up in New England, my autumns were full of multi-colored bouquets of maples and oaks, but the fiery yellow blossoms of the aspens on the Eastern Sierra offer a golden shower of sunshine. Yesterday I drove up route 395 in California and was just mesmerized by the stunning fall foliage. From the hillsides below Mt Whitney in Bishop, to Aspen Springs, Crowley Lake, June Lakes and Lee Vining Canyon, the vibrant flowers of fall filled my entire drive.

I share some photos from my drive below. For more of the photos of the fall color, visit the National Wildlife Federation’s California Facebook page.

Aspens decorating the hillside in Aspen Springs (photo by Beth Pratt)

A parade of aspens on the June Lake Loop near Silver Lake (photo by Beth Pratt)

Fall color blooming around Crowley Lake (photo by Beth Pratt)

Fall color blooming around Crowley Lake (photo by Beth Pratt)

Aspen Springs from 395 (photo by Beth Pratt)

A snowy Tioga Pass, fall color in Lee Vining Canyon and sun dogs over Tuolumne Meadows

Gaylor Lakes and Gaylor Peak (photo by Beth Pratt)Yesterday I ventured up to Tuolumne Meadows and Tioga Pass to do some wandering. My orginial intent was to climb Mammoth Peak, but the almost full snow coverage on its shoulder forced me to reconsider. Instead I had a nice hike to Upper Gaylor Lake and the Great Sierra Mine area on the border of Yosemite. As I traversed snow fields and walked by creeks reinvigorated with the newly melting snow, it was almost reminiscent of a spring landscape. Yet the vegetation attested to it being fall, painting the hillsides in browns, reds and yellows.

Fall color in Lee Vining Canyon (photo by Beth Pratt)

After my hike, I drove down Lee Vining Canyon to gaze at the aspen trees (and of course make my usual stops at the Whoa Nellie Deli and Latte Da Coffee Cafe (oh, the pumpkin spice coffee cake!). The canyon is about midway through its fall color transformation and I am guessing it will peak this week. I'll be interested to learn how this early dumping of snow (over a foot in some places) impacts the fall color.

I followed the delightful specter of sun dogs on my drive back up the pass. Ice crystals refracting the sunlight create sun dogs and halos. The two hexagonal crystal types most likely to create these optical phenomena are shaped like six-sided wafers and columnar pencils. Both have eight surfaces capable of refracting light. As depicted in the photo with this entry, sundogs and halos can accompany each other.

Sun dog over Mt GibbsSundogs appear in a diverse cross-section of history and literature, as a entry in Wikipedia demonstrates. Artistole's work mentions "two mock suns," and Cicero's On the Republicexamines the parhelion. In The War of the Roses, the appearance of sundogs was viewed as an omen of victory for the Yorkists.

In modern times, sundogs appear in Nabakov's novel, Pale Fire, provides the title for a Stephen King novella and Jack London short story, and even warrant a mention in the rock group Rush's song "Chain Lightning" (band member Neil Peart is a weather fanatic).

Being a dog-lover, I wanted to know the origin of the name and oddly enough most of my weather books remained mute on the topic. But I dug up the answer in my Weatherwise magazine archives (yes, I am that much of a weather geek). In the November 2002 issue, author Stephen Wilk answers the question 'whose dogs are the sun dogs?' in the article "Every Dog Has Its Day." He provides a few explanations, one of them being that the Germanic sky god Odin possessed two hounds/wolves, Geri (Ravener) and Freki (Glutton). For more information on sun dogs, you can read an excellent description on The Weather Doctor's site.

More photos from my wanderings:

Dana Meadows, Mt Gibbs and the Kuna Crest from Gaylor Ridge (photo by Beth Pratt)

Aspen trees in Lee Vining Canyon (photo by Beth Pratt)

Mt Dana, Gibbs and Mammoth Peak from Tuolumne Meadows (photo by Beth Pratt)

Unicorn and Cathedral Peaks from Gaylor Lake (photo by Beth Pratt)

Sun dog over Mt Gibbs (photo by Beth Pratt)