Photo courtesy of RetireLine5.org

Line 5 runs directly through the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan.

This summer, six students enrolled in Professor Jeffrey Insko’s Literature and Social Engagement course wrote a series of essays examining the social, cultural and theoretical aspects of Line 5. These essays, which are published on the Line 6B Citizens’ Blog, seek to address how we know Line 5, rather than considering the ways we have lived with the pipeline and the actions we must take to live without it.

Prior to the release of the “How to Know About Line 5” essay series, Insko spoke as a featured panelist at the 2023 Michigan Climate Summit “Shut Down Line 5” breakout session, which was hosted at Oakland University on June 2. At the session, Insko emphasized the importance of involving an array of diverse advocates in climate change advocacy efforts.

“What we need [for climate change advocacy] are new ways of living, new ways of being in relation with the more-than-human world and with one another,” Insko said. “We need people who can help us imagine those things.”

Insko’s Line 5 essay series allowed his students to reimagine the history and current state of Line 5 through storytelling.

The first set of essays in the series features the work of Shannon Waite and Lourd Razooq. Waite’s essay “Life As We Live It Now Is the Problem” explored the environmental harms caused by Line 5, urging the reader that, even though Line 5 is currently the status quo, there is hope for positive change in the future.

In “Aesthetics and the Dark Gratifications of Petroculture,” Razooq argues the personal benefits derived from the petroculture industry may blind the public to the harmful consequences of fossil fuel consumption. 

The second set of essays is comprised of “What is the 1977 Transit Pipelines Treaty?” by Sydney Wendling and “The Great Lakes and the Rights of Water” by Paige Therrian.

“In my essay, I give a primer on the [1977 Transit Piplines] treaty’s history and notable articles within it, discuss why it is relevant to the Line 5 legal battles and mention the stakes of the treaty’s invocation, including undermining Indigenous sovereignty and prioritizing oil dependence over much-needed decarbonization,” Wendling said.

Therrian’s essay draws upon Indigenous worldviews, raising the argument that recognizing water as a rights-bearing entity would dismantle the human hierarchy that permeates non-native systems. Therrian asserts the reciprocal nature between humans and natural resources magnifies the harmful affects Line 5 poses to the environment.

The last two essays feature “Building Solidarity Along the Entirety of Line 5” by Ava Gardiner and “Chemical Valley and the Origins of Indigenous Resistance to Line 5” by Alma Dukovic. 

Both pieces examine local communities that have been negatively impacted by Line 5, and their subsequent efforts to resist the project. Gardiner’s essay focuses on the pollution indirectly caused by Line 5 that has negatively impacted the city of Detroit. Dukovic details the threat Line 5 poses to Aamjiwnaang First Nation. 

“I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with and learn from such talented classmates and a remarkable professor,” Dukovic said. “ I loved that we had the opportunity to actively engage in work that contributes to the movement to shut down Line 5, which ultimately gives us some ideas about the ways we can collectively respond to the climate crisis.”

To read the “How to Know About Line 5” essay series and to learn more about environmental advocacy efforts regarding Line 5, visit the Line 6B Citizens’ Blog. To learn more about the thoughts and perspectives of the essay authors, visit the Line 5 student author Q&A folder.