Without question, my 21st  birthday was one of the most memorable days of my life, but probably for different reasons than most people. Around noon Aug. 29, I found myself sitting outside the White House alongside 143 other people, receiving the third and final warning to disperse. We refused to move, finding it easier to be arrested than sit idly by. This is how I chose to spend my 21st birthday – opposing the Keystone XL pipeline. 

I can honestly say I didn’t have so much as a speeding ticket to my name before this week. What made me decide to engage in non-violent direct action to stop a pipeline? I wish I had a straight answer for you. Knowing it had to be done didn’t cut it for me. I’m not alone in that; I have met plenty of people who, like myself, are aware that if something isn’t done about the environmental issues facing our generation (in this case the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, the Tar Sands, and climate change in general), we will soon face ecological catastrophe. But thought is not enough. Action is the only thing that changes the world. Though I knew this for years, I still did nothing.

I cannot tell you what combination of factors made me realize my own hypocrisy. Whether it was seeing people (fellow students, my parents, activists and religious leaders) living the changes they deemed necessary or simply hearing first hand how people are being affected by the UK-size extraction of some of the dirtiest fossil fuels on earth, I realized that if we have no will to change the world, then we have no right to criticize it.  The Keystone XL pipeline brings with it rampant destruction of the Boreal Forests, poisons used to extract the oil, thousands of gallons of toxic waste, serious health risks to the livelihood of eight million people depend the Ogallala aquifer and further risk of ecological fallout. That is certainly something worth criticizing and changing.

When the police officer who arrested me requested I stand, those around me put their hands on my shoulders and called out “happy birthday.”  While the officer put me in zip ties, hundreds of my fellow protesters sang “happy birthday,” most of whom didn’t know me. I had never felt like I was doing something that was truly right more so than I did in that moment. I knew right then that I would never regret my choice.

So far, 1,253 Americans have been arrested in the ongoing Tar Sands Action in Washington D.C . Though the non-violent direct action has been completed, we have yet to block the pipeline. October 7 is the date of the final State Department hearing concerning the Keystone XL pipeline and another big action is in the works (more details are available at  tarsandsaction.org )

I encourage everyone to join the ground swell that is the current environmental movement as we work to head off the storms of our grandchildren and preserve nature as we know it.