We thought you should know that as of today over 150 people, including 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben, have been arrested at the White House.

We are not a political blog or show, but we do support, and give you a chance to support, the effort to stop the building of the Keystone Sands pipeline, which we feel is a terrible idea, fraught with incredible environmental risk.  We prefer to push for reductions in energy use, and a concurrent expansion of renewable energy of all kinds.

Also, we encourage dialogue on both sides, and try not to promote a narrow view.  We understand there is possible economic gain, a new source of energy coming down from Canada, possibly replacing some of our imported oil.  Let us know if you support the pipeline.  We will give you a platform to articulate your position.

We will carefully follow the story.

Here's the petition as sent to us:

"There are three ways that you can stand in solidarity from wherever you are:

1. Sign the petition to President Obama to reject the Keystone XL Pipeline -- we’ve already rocketed past our initial goal of 35,000 signatures and are hoping to add as many names as possible before we deliver it to White House officials on September 3rd.

2. Send in a solidarity message or photo to the people taking action at the White House.

3. Take part in Moving Planet -- a worldwide climate rally on September 24 -- and move beyond all fossil fuels in the loudest, most beautiful way possible. 

You probably know that building the Keystone XL pipeline is a terrible idea. The oil it will carry from Canada’s tar sands will travel all the way from northern Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico. Think: oil spilling all over America's heartland. Think: way more CO2 all over the atmosphere, since the tar sands are among the most carbon-intensive of all the fossil fuels. With so many strikes against the Keystone pipeline, it’s understandable that folks are so fired up and willing to put their bodies on the line to stop it. 350.org isn’t organizing the action in DC, but there’s a separate website to find out more about the two weeks of daily sit-ins at the White House (today was just day #3).

When nominated for President in 2008, Barack Obama promised that his administration would ensure “the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” It’s not a protest I feel like I’ve been watching unfold here in DC -- but a big and beautiful reminder of that vision. "