Though we’re sure the protestors aren’t going away, it’s unlikely they will have any effect on whether the pipeline goes through or not.
At this stage, there really isn’t any blocking it. In the end, the best we can hope for is negotiating a better deal for B.C., starting with better financial returns along with safety and clean-up guarantees.
But given the demand for oil products and the expected financial return, along with the feds’ backing, it’s a done deal. Honestly, no amount of protests are going to block it.
People protesting, both in person and offering their opinions online, could spend their time better blocking the next pipeline proposal. There may not be one looming at the moment, but guaranteed, someone will be proposing one in the next couple of decades as demand continues to grow.
So how do you work to block a proposal that doesn’t even exist yet? A good place to start might be by reducing the demand. Oil-burning vehicles are still the most popular form of transportation. Working to reduce that demand — smaller, more efficient vehicles, reasonably priced electric cars; better transit, including city links — would be a step in the right direction, as would the development of alternate energy sources.
That kind of change takes time. And while there are many advocates working towards such things, their lobby is vanishingly small. But imagine what might be accomplished if all the people protesting the pipeline and commenting on it were to throw their weight behind ideas that move our world forward?
If this sounds like jam-tomorrow, sure. We’ve been hearing about these exciting possibilities since the 1960s, though there has never been a big effort to make them mainstream.
But if you are really worried about oil pipelines and want to block another one, then the time to start is now, by steering our world away from its dependence on oil.