Climate change activists drew a line in the sand Saturday fronting the Kailua Beach house where President Barack Obama and his family vacation.
About 30 activists from 350.org, (de)Occupy Honolulu and Idle No More Hawaii protested a proposal to build an oil pipeline from Canada to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries and hoped to send a message to the president to deny a permit for the controversial project.
They also wanted to illustrate that climate change due to carbon emissions from fossil fuel use results in rising sea levels, which are caused by melting glaciers and ice sheets among other problems.
The red ribbon line, which ran up to 16 feet beyond the current high-water mark, showed how rising sea levels would affect Hawaii residents and visitors, the protesters maintained. It went well into vegetation mauka of the sand.
"We are here to remind President Obama that climate change will eventually affect everyone personally," said Brodie Lockard, a 53-year-old Kailua resident, organizer of the event and a member of 350.org, the grass-roots group behind the campaign. "We laid a red line in the sand … to show where the high tide mark will be by the end of the century if climate change isn’t addressed drastically."
"His grandchildren won’t have the beach they enjoy," Lockard said of the president.
David Mulinix, 63, of (de)Occupy Honolulu played the guitar and sang "The Man I Voted For," expressing the sentiment: "What happened to the man I voted for who promised to do something about global warming?"
The events were among about 215 similar events nationwide Saturday.
The groups used data from the University of Hawaii’s Coastal Geology Group and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to determine the position of the red ribbon line, which marks the point the high tide is projected to reach by 2100 if carbon emissions increase at the current rate.
The proposed 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline would transport oil products from the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta, Canada, to Houston via Steele City, Neb.
The greenhouse gas emissions from Canadian oil sands crude would be about 82 percent greater than average crude refined in the U.S. on a well-to-tank basis, according to a July 16, 2010, letter from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to State Department officials.
That amounts to 27 million metric tons of carbon dioxide greater than emissions from U.S. average crude, roughly the equivalent to the annual carbon dioxide emissions of seven coal-fired power plants, the EPA said.
The extraction and refining of Canadian oil sands crude is greenhouse gas-intensive compared with other types of crude, said the letter, which was provided by the protest groups.
"It affects everyone on the globe, and most of the oil will be exported, so it’s of very little benefit to the U.S.," Lockard said.
Three Hawaii Pacific University students with its global leadership and sustainable development master’s program said the changes will be dramatic.
Rob Kinslow, 48, a 350.org member, said the 3-foot estimate of rising sea levels is a global estimate, but locally it could be much greater.
Adrienne Kleid, 23, said the importance of stopping the pipeline is it will "keep fossil fuels lower, which will undercut efforts to secure green or clean energies."
The number 350 represents the amount of carbon dioxide that atmosphere can hold without damage to the planet, scientists estimate.
On May 9, the Mauna Loa Observatory recorded 400 parts per million for the first time. The level was at 313 when measurements began in 1958.
