There are many, of course, who understand what’s at stake. The people willing to go head to head with this industry — to put their bodies in the way of pipeline construction, chain themselves to bulldozers, stare down rubber bullets and national guard and police deployments, and watch as their comrades are sent to prison. The hundreds of people arrested in 2014 protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. The water protectors at Standing Rock who faced coordination between the National Guard, police and the extractive industry, and saw Indigenous protesters sent to prison in alarming numbers. Indigenous opponents of the Line 3 tar sands pipeline. Young protesters holding sit-ins in congressional offices. Organizers across the country who are mobilizing to wrest utilities away from private companies and put them in the hands of the public so that they can be transitioned to renewable energy. Climate activists who declare that any solution to the climate crisis must beat back capitalism. Groups pressuring the White House and Congress to adopt more expansive climate measures, like a Green New Deal. Across the country, countless people have clearly identified the enemy, and are taking concrete action to stop the fossil fuel industry.
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