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As President Obama vacations in Martha’s Vineyard, hundreds of protestors continue to march and risk arrest in Washington DC against the Keystone XL pipeline. On day 6 of their two week long protest, over 200 people have been arrested including actors Margot Kidder and Tantoo Cardinal, and leading American environmentalist, author, activist, and founder of 350.org, Bill McKibben. In June, McKibben signed up more than 2,000 people including writer Naomi Klein, actor Danny Glover and climate activist James Hansen to protest the controversial 1,661 mile long pipeline. If built, the Keystone XL pipeline will bring Canadian tar sands – a toxic mixture of oil and sand, to refineries in Texas. Opponents have pointed out the leaks that are certain to occur – the pipeline would cross more than 70 rivers and streams across the middle of the United States, including the Ogallala Aquifer which provides a third of the groundwater used to irrigate U.S. crops. In addition to the possible issues of water contamination, the tar sands oil deposits in Alberta are the second largest deposit of carbon on earth and burning these fuels could set off, in the words of James Hansen, a “carbon bomb.” While proponents of the pipeline continue to cite the need for less foreign based sources of oil, there is very little assurance that the oil produced from the Tar Sands pipeline would actually be consumed in the US. Environmental activists now await the State Department’s environmental impact report on the project. The final decision will be issued by the end of this year.

Now a new documentary entitled “Freedom” explores much needed alternatives to fossil fuels. Josh Tickell the creator behind the Sundance award winning documentary, “Fuel” brings us “Freedom,” a new look at the biofuel industry as an alternative to oil. Biofuels like corn-based ethanol have been the target of environmentalists’ wrath for a few years now, with a handful of spokespeople maintaining that crops used to generate biofuels will increase climate change through deforestation, will increase food prices, and use more fossil fuels to produce it than the energy source being created — these are things along the lines of which the oil and gas industry is guilty of. An attorney named Tim Searchinger wrote an article in Science Magazine based on conclusions predicted by an agricultural model. That article became the basis for the anti-ethanol movement. The Grocery Manufacturers Association hired the PR firm Glover Park to discredit ethanol, through environmental organizations. The campaign was successful and the growing biofuels industry was set back many years. In his new film, Freedom, activist Josh Tickell makes the case that today biofuels are the only viable alternative to replace oil, and that the case against ethanol doesn’t hold water.

Find out more about the film at www.thefreedomfilm.com.

Thank you Gifts:

• FREEDOM – DVD – $100
• THE TURMOIL OF OIL MINI PACK (includes Freedom and Fuel) – $150
• CLEAN ENERGY PACK – (includes Freedom, Fuel, and Gasland) – $250

Visit www.kpfk.org or call 818-985-KPFK (5735) to make a pledge.