Mark Ruffalo Speaks Out For Tar Sands Action

Activist and actor Mark Ruffalo has joined the fight against the Keystone XL pipeline, a pipeline from the tar sands in Canada to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico.

In the video, Ruffalo says, “I’ve seen the kind of damage that out-of-control energy development can do to water and to communities near my own home, where fracking for natural gas is causing widespread pollution ... All these problems are connected — we need to get off fossil fuels.”

Ruffalo has long been an outspoken advocate against fracking, arguing, "we've seen grave consequences unfold: from drinking water contaminated with toxic chemicals and radioactive waste, to residents reportedly getting sick, livestock dropping dead, homes exploding, and property values tanking."

In a past interview with The Huffington Post, he said, "Either we're going to go with some grace into green energy, or we're gonna go kicking and screaming, but we're going by God. The world is already leaving us behind. We're being left behind. America. Because the gas and oil industry has a strangle hold on us. And our politicians."

Now, Ruffalo is joining Tar Sands Action, a movement dedicated to stopping the Keystone XL pipeline. They are planning a peaceful protest in Washington, D.C. from August 20th to September 3rd.

A group of climate change scientists recently wrote a letter to President Obama, arguing, "It takes a lot of energy to extract and refine this resource into useable fuel, and the mining is environmentally destructive. Adding this on top of conventional fossil fuels will leave our children and grandchildren a climate system with consequences that are out of their control."

HuffPost's Tom Zeller reported that some landowners are fighting the pipeline in order to protect their land. But TransCanada's spokesman, Terry Cunha argued, "Our commitment is to treat landowners with respect, to work with them and come to the best possible solution."

For the advocates of Tar Sands Action though, the best solution would be an end to the pipeline.

WATCH Mark Ruffalo speak out against the Keystone XL pipeline:

Comments

[Jenna Stevenson]

11:56 AM on 08/19/2011

I saw his video on Democracy Now! today when they aired the debate between a person from the American Petroleum Institute and an activist against the pipeline. With the decision about to go down in Washington, both sides were at each other! it's here: http://bit.ly/tarsandsdebate

[PAGasDriller]

12:01 AM on 08/15/2011

Natural Gas drilling polluting the area near his home? Interesting, since there has been a ban on gas drilling in New York for over three years now. This guy is a really good liar. Someone should tell him to get into acting.

[Genders]

09:33 PM on 08/12/2011

This tar sand pipeline is a huge expensive step in the wrong direction.

Better to spend the 13 B$ on waste bio fuels, solar and wind.

[keene]

06:35 PM on 08/12/2011

Mark Ruffalo if you ever ever ever read this I would love to do some acting work with you. Oh yes I would.

[Highwater Filters]

11:53 AM on 08/12/2011

I'll be with you in spirit, Mark. Thank you for taking a stand. No to tar sands oil. Yes to conservation. Yes to sustainable energy. Yes to sanity.

[William J Unverferth Sr]

09:33 AM on 08/12/2011

Next up Oil Companies speak out against bad actors.

[rafaelbolero]

09:10 AM on 08/12/2011

Obama will do the exact opposite, as instructed.

[nootrope]

08:58 AM on 08/12/2011

Mark Ruffalo, modern hero. We need more strong and prominent voices of resistance like Mark against those who would desecrate & pollute our environment and the earth for their profit.

[SitandStay]

06:31 AM on 08/12/2011

For Ray Anderson, the uber-green industrialist, businessman and humanist. He passed away this week at the age of 77.
This is a very small part of his eulogy.
"Like Ray, when we become literate in the sweet treasures of creation, there arises a sense of awe, wonder, and gratitude for one’s very existence and the swirl of living beings around us. Do you remember the videos of the Chilean miners coming out of the elevator shaft one-by-one from the San Jose mine in Copiapo, Chile last October? The miners arose from a half a mile below the earth after being trapped for 69 days, and when they emerged they danced, they sang, they kissed the earth, they kissed their wives, kissed their mistresses—sometimes both—and they were ecstatic. They knew what they had nearly lost: the sun and the moon and the stars, cool air made sweet by plants and trees, the succulent foods that come from the soil, the sound of a child’s voice; they were rapturous and joyful and deeply grateful. Although it was a real event, the San Jose miners are metaphors for being reborn in this life to what we overlook and take for granted. Ray woke up and saw what we will lose unless we change."
By Paul Hawken
Paul is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, and author.
The Ecology of Commerce (HarperCollins 1993) was voted in 1998 as the #1 college text on business and the environment by professors in 67 business schools.

[SitandStay]

06:10 AM on 08/12/2011

Michael Cousteau.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZYt2S2-7l4

[D-Driller]

01:47 AM on 08/12/2011

It's all politics. I support what he is saying - I am completely against the pipeline as well. We don't need Canadian oil - we need OUR oil. So, I'll support him in this, let his voice speak for my interests, and then hopefully undermine him completely when it comes to his other views on stopping fracturing and expanding drilling leases into otherwise preciously undrilled areas, such as the East Coast and the West Coast above Santa Barbara. Sometimes, the enemy of your enemy truly is your friend...

[Steelheadangler]

12:32 PM on 08/12/2011

And exactly how much oil is down there.

[nomadrdw]

12:53 PM on 08/13/2011

yes, you people just keep spiraling down that drain. keep thinking that this will just start to magically solve those problems. first, it will take 10 to 20 years minimum to begin to drill any new wells here. second, you people act like this will make a difference in the oil supplies here, but it won't. it will go on the international market like every other single barrel of oil that comes out of the ground in this country, and is of NO BENEFIT TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHAT SO EVER, because the oil companies don't pay ANY taxes nor do they pay a royalty that was put into the lease for the American people but NEVER enforced because they own our government. so you keep dreaming about ruining the rest of the world for more and more oil.

[KDog76A]

06:42 PM on 08/11/2011

I can respect Ruffalo, and his opinions on the environment, but I think its laughable when someone with a Hollywood carbon footprint can come out and talk like this.

Keep in mind every dollar he's made has 10 times more oil than the average American... every movie production, every theater, every tv set and dvd player that he is involved with ar so un-green its unbelievable

[snowpotato]

10:50 PM on 08/11/2011

That's a stretch.

[rafaelbolero]

09:23 AM on 08/12/2011

No, it's not a stretch. What is a stretch, however, is to say that someone like he, who has taken a certain path to prominence, is then therefore disqualified from speaking out in apparent "opposition" or contradiction to the infrastructure of that path. It is in reality fine for him to criticize, or take segmented opposition to, the means by which he gained fame and wealth. People change, we learn, we grow. Otherwise, it' s like saying Sidhartha Gautama was a hypocrite. Someone like Bruce Springsteen, who is even more famous, but who does not apparently want to jeopardize his career by being more politically explicit than he has been, is more of a corporate panderer than Ruffalo. But, I'm from Kenosha.

[Neal Harris]

04:54 PM on 08/11/2011

"HULK ADVOCATES GREEN ENERGY"

[DanSc]

04:21 PM on 08/11/2011

In the short term, the oil has to come from somewhere. It might as well come from Canada.

[rafaelbolero]

09:27 AM on 08/12/2011

You either have no environmental conscience, or are ignorant of the disaster up there in Canada at these tar sands. Google a video of this facility. It's like Gary, Indiana, run by Orcs.

[DanSc]

10:30 AM on 08/12/2011

I've been there. I'm just wondering if you'd rather see the money go toward mining in a progressive nation such as Canada or to enforcing a ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia.

[GirlUsingBrain]

04:20 PM on 08/11/2011

Mark Ruffalo is an excellent spokesperson for the cause. He is incredibly knowledgeable and well-spoken.

I want this pipeline stopped.