Standing Rock

If history ultimately records that the nations of the world were able to head off the worst effects of human-caused climate change, it should credit the remarkable persistence and dedication of indigenous peoples in waging that fight from the front lines.

While the impasse over the Dakota Access pipeline is far from over, the more than 200 Native American tribes that banded together to block the pipeline at a key Missouri River crossing have won a major victory with the Obama administration’s decision to deny a critical easement and conduct an environmental impact study to explore alternative routes.

The story of the current dispute is long and complex, yet the issues are stark and the lessons are increasingly clear. The corporations that profit from the continued production and distribution of oil and other fossil fuels are facing an organized and skillful opposition that intends to push back against the increasing encroachment of fossil fuel development and its many impacts on their homes, their rights, and their environment.

While the primary issue in North Dakota remains the protection of the water supply and sacred sites for the Standing Rock Sioux community, it is part of a much broader movement to protect the planet as a whole. Policy makers, at least the ones willing to recognize the reality of climate change, understand that much of the known reserves of carbon-rich fuels, like oil and coal, must remain permanently in the ground if we are to head off catastrophic levels of warming. Yet, too often, those policymakers are hamstrung by the incredible political might that major energy producers wield in the corridors of power. That’s where people power comes in.

While the Internet and social media can spread false news stories that help elect demagogues, they can also inspire millions to action. Over the past several months, tens of thousands of protesters and their supporters poured into the camps set up to block the pipeline. Across the world, money and other resources poured in from millions of people who recognized the power of the prairie protest. This past weekend, when thousands of veterans decided to descend on the camp to support the protestors, they raised more than a million dollars in a matter of hours to support their efforts. Once inspired, people power is almost unstoppable.

The Dakota Access pipeline wasn’t the first such fight, and it won’t be the last. Earlier this year, Ojibwe organizers and environmentalists teamed up to block the Sandpiper pipeline across northern Minnesota. Across Canada, First Nations have manned the barricades against a slew of similar projects aimed at further opening Alberta’s tar sands for exploitation. And there are more fights to come.

While stopped in their tracks right now, Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the Dakota Access pipeline, intends to push it through, without a change in route. And President-elect Donald Trump has promised to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which the Obama administration disallowed last year.

But the Dakota Access fight shows that the world has changed for pipeline developers, oil producers, and the banks that finance them. They have all been targeted as part of what has become a global movement, a movement that will almost certainly continue to grow in size and sophistication.

Victories in this fight make future investments in such projects less likely, as the risk of major financial losses loom whenever a project is cancelled, delayed or leads to political fallout for financial backers. The message is becoming clearer: investments in fossil fuels are increasingly risky. And that’s the message that will bring the kind of change the world needs to advance the energy system of the future.