This post was written by Jenai Longstaff, a student at Stanford University and member of Fossil Free Stanford.
When President Obama came to Stanford University on February 13th, more than 50 students and community members were there to tell him to veto and reject the Keystone XL pipeline.
Fossil Free Stanford has led Stanford’s campaign to divest from the fossil fuel industry. With the University’s assets successfully out of the coal industry, Fossil Free Stanford continues its work to end the University’s investment in oil and natural gas companies, which are causing enormous environmental destruction and human rights abuses–just like the Keystone XL pipeline would.
Along with members of the Stanford Native American community and 350 Silicon Valley, Fossil Free Stanford organized this protest in line with our friends around the nation who are holding Keystone XL protests at all of Obama’s public appearances. It was both powerful and humbling to see the huge number of people who showed up to stand in solidarity with communities on the front lines of the pipeline and let the President know how urgent it is for us to address climate change and work towards environmental justice.
Now that the Keystone legislation has passed Congress and President Obama is expected to veto the bill, it is more important than ever for the President to heed our call and reject the pipeline once and for all. This rejection would be an extremely important step in ending our country’s dependence on the destructive and unsustainable fossil fuel industry. Although Fossil Free Stanford is proud of our University for divesting from coal, we must continue our fight against all fossil fuels. It is time for not just our school, but our country, too, to invest in a just, sustainable future for all.