Meanwhile, protests are also continuing against oil and gas pipelines in the Eastern United States. On Monday, two activists were arrested in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, after they locked themselves to cars to protest the construction of the Spectra Energy gas pipeline. In New York City, eight people were arrested blockading the doors of National Grid to protest the electric company’s support for the Spectra Energy’s AIM pipeline, which is slated to run only hundreds of feet from the aging Indian Point nuclear power plant. This is Alexandra Zevin speaking to Democracy Now! as she is getting arrested.

Alexandra Zevin: “We’re worried about the dangers of the pipelines, especially near the nuclear power plant, which is ridiculous. Why should New York state residents take all the risk, and that corporation go off with all the money? It’s ridiculous. We need solar energy. We need wind power.”

The growing protests against oil and gas pipelines come as NASA’s top climate scientist, Gavin Schmidt, is warning the Earth is warming at an “exceptional” rate that is “unprecedented in 1,000 years.”