Editor's Note: Mary Pipher delivered the body of this piece at the rally to protect our homeland in front of our State Capitol on Jan. 5.  She then edited it into an Op-Ed piece for the Omaha World-Herald on Jan. 8.  We're thrilled to have advocates like Dr. Pipher fighting to protect our homeland from the Keystone XL pipeline.

On Jan. 5 Nebraskans protested the development of the TransCanada XL Pipeline.  We met beside the statue of our bold and visionary president, Abraham Lincoln, and under the dome of our capitol, paid for by dirt farmers, schoolteachers, ranchers, and merchants, built because they loved our state and wanted their grandchildren and great grandchildren to have a golden future.