This past weekend saw some 40,000 people gather in beautiful Washington D.C. to urge President Barack Obama not to sign off on the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, a required measure for its construction to take place as it crosses international borders.

Yesterday I attended a protest at President Obama’s St. Louis campaign fundraiser, urging him to reject the proposed Keystone XL pipeline for Canadian tar sands oil. In August, 1,253 brave people were arrested in acts of civil disobedience outside the White House in order to send the same message: reject the Keystone XL. I was not able to make it to D.C.