Since when do Conservative's oppose conservation? Because in my opinion... what once made America great... was and still is, “long term sustainability.” Furthermore, I believe that no other issue encapsulates this need for environmental protectionism more than the issue of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Whereby, last January… The House Of Representatives voted 270 to 152 in favor of building the famed, “Keystone drilling Pipeline,” said to contain a vast amount of the Earth’s remaining fossil fuels and this vote was troubling to me for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, this vote discouraged me because only 1 House Republican voted against the bill… signaling partisan gridlock. (*That Republican was a Representative from Michigan named Justin Amash.)

However, this vote was disappointing for a variety of other reasons, as well.

First, it’s disappointing because this vote once again indicates that the Democratic constituency is flip flopping on The Keystone Piepline worse than a gold fish rolling on sand paper.

But secondly, this vote was disappointing to me because by voting to approve Keystone we're now signaling as a nation that there is a full scale shift in economic policy that now favors short term gains over long term sustainability. And that trend specifically, for me, signals the prioritization of short sighted profit oriented reform policies, which I believe will and have overshadowed the need for other reforms such as, “population caps,” and limiting green house gas emissions.

Also, many of these issues surrounding Keystone XL Pipeline are bitterly partisan… in turn, also signaling corruption within Washington DC, today.

Yet, this year Congressional Republicans have sided almost entirely down party lines, particularly surrounding the issue of Keystone and all of this has occurred in an effort to build the Keystone XL Pipeline, “as soon as possible,” under the guise of job creation. However, if Keystone is built… how many of those, “jobs,” will still be around 10 years from now? And my guess is not very many.

Nevertheless, many environmentalists also fear that building Keystone might inevitably become congruent with the allegorical, “canary in the coal mine.” That is to say, building the Keystone XL Pipeline could lead to irreversible, environmental damage. But let’s take that 2 steps further, because science also points to the possibility that building this pipeline and drilling the Canadian oil targeted by Keystone… could also lead to advanced stages of global warming and in essence trigger a variety of long term, negative side effects such as; irrigation issues, flooding and food shortages, down the line. And this is very troubling because while the construction costs of building the Keystone Pipeline will create some jobs… that environmental damage caused by Keystone could end up costing American’s much more money, down the line.

Nevertheless, over the past century Earth’s biodiversity has become egregiously threatened and as more species fall into extinction issues such as the Keystone XL Pipeline will continue to grow in importance. Whereby, today 97% of scientists agree that climate change is a real problem and is essentially man made. Furthermore, this fact is confirmed by both the federal government and NASA. Nevertheless, the main issues stemming from these debates continues to revolve around a minority of CORRUPT POLITICIANS, whom seemingly continue to lobby for the Keystone XL Pipeline despite the long term environmental ramifications of it’s creation. Worse yet, many who support this pipeline today remain fully aware of it's economic and environmental disadvantages but it's construction continues to move forward and most citizens of the USA simply don’t care enough to stop it.

Now, let's look at the smog over LA. How obvious does it have to be... for people to notice that pumping Keystone is probably a bad idea for Earth’s future?

On top of that fact... and as statistical analysis becomes a larger part of the American economy and simultaneously... American's continue, “naturally talking about the weather,” doesn’t it feel as though the planet might be trying to tell us something? I mean, how often do we discuss the weather? Should we? How natural of a conversation is it to say... "the sky's look different today?" Or to remark casually how the heat has risen vs prior seasons? And yet, we're ignoring it? This is the only topic that most passerby's in America even discuss on a day to day basis and we're ignoring it?

LA covered in Smog and air pollution, blanketing the skyline. Source- www.neontommy.com

And for these reasons… I believe that the sole Conservative party in America today, ought to lead on environmental reforms. But furthermore, in my opinion this change in political ideology should’ve occurred years ago. So, like these debates thus far, I’ll end today’s article where I’ve begun… by asking the question, “how can Conservative's neglect conservation?

By: William Larsen

Civilians News – “News For All Views”