So you want to help.....go to Iowa!

Yes, Iowa, and several other places.

I went to Standing Rock as the culmination of my calling to see the pipeline under construction for myself. What I found was this: miles of unfinished or unstarted pipeline especially in Iowa and western Illinois. While Standing Rock and our indigenous neighbors have created one of the greatest and most historical moments of environmental and indigenous rights resistance, there are places in between Patoka, Illinois and Standing Rock that need our energy. Please know that with so many miles of unfinished pipeline, we COULD conceivably create enough civil disobedience to stall this pipeline and use up more resources from DAPL and local agencies and possibly bring more awareness in more places.

If I was to place a bet today on what could turn the tide it would be Iowa. Here's why: several key issues including the unfair use of eminent domain in obtaining land for this pipeline and the very real threat to agriculture (which I witnessed for hundred of miles in Iowa) and the climate fraud perpetrated by Exxon Mobil which knew about the effects of climate change already in the 1970's yet has forged ahead in spite of their own findings.

I know, I know, non-violent civil disobedience in Iowa does not have the same romantic ring as being at Standing Rock. But if you are truly serious about all of the issues surrounding this pipeline, then just hanging out at Standing Rock is not serving the needs of that tribe or of stopping the pipeline. Standing Rock is not Burning Man. You and your friends may want to make it so, but please understand this is a pivotal moment in freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, tribal sovereignty and to also impact whatever shred of decency, morality and civic duty remains in our elected officials (and it's skimpy and getting more threadbare by the moment.)

PLEASE CONSIDER where and how to put your energies. Thousands of people have flooded into Standing Rock in just the past week. What might we have changed by congregating at the Des Moines River outside Ames, Iowa, or at Sandusky, Iowa, where DAPL plans to drill across the Mississippi? What about the good folks also fighting in Nebraska, Oklahoma and Louisiana?

Dec. 15: Stand in Court With Landowners vs. Dakota Access Eminent Domain

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!  In just a couple of weeks a very important hearing will take place in Des Moines, Iowa. We can be there and support the many landowners fighting the loss of their land through eminent domain. 

I saw this trailer on my way out of Ames, IA. It's impressive. (Photo courtesy of Bold Iowa.)