The above pictures are from the midnight vigil last night and the rally to support Tim DeChristopher* this morning. Peter Yarrow and daughter Bethany, Daryl Hannah with Ollie and his brother Andrew- wearing my fabric signs, and Chris and Ash some of the most brilliant minds I know.As a child did you ever wonder how adults could ever tolerate slavery? concentration camps? Why didn't the adults speak up and not allow such atrocities? Now as an almost 40 year old adult myself I wonder about forty years from now..what will our grand kids think about our generation? Will they look back and think we were barbaric and short-sighted to allow so much environmental destruction? Historically we tolerated slavery on behalf of economic gain (who else was going to pick the cotton?) Now our economic gain is at Nature's cost. The air, water, and soil are contaminated. Public health is compromised. Huge regions of the Pacific Ocean are choked with plastic, there's all kinds of pharmaceuticals in our water, mercury in our fish - they advise pregnant and nursing women not to eat fish from Provo River and Utah Lake!- ok, i could go on about scary studies of frogs' endocrine systems being messed up as a warning to the humans who drink and bath in that water, etc. etc. but mostly I want to say looking back... The Civil Rights Movement happened rather quickly 30 years give or take, isn't that hopeful? Isn't that FAST? i'm sure it could have been much faster especially for those who were alive at the time and affected by the hatred but think of it- In one life time lynching mobs were made of so-called respectable citizens- fast forward to my generation where we can't even imagine the horror, right? How could we have been so evil? so wrong? And now Nature needs a movement- The Nature's Rights Movement- where currently corporations can claim constitutional personhood and sue for discrimination against anyone who stands in their way of making profit at any cost even if the cost is public health, nature's health. In the future everyone will think environmental ethics are core to every decision. And anyone who stands in the way of that beautiful future will be considered a barbaric half-wit. The future will judge us.
*I was outside the BLM offices in December 2008 with my little sign questioning to myself whether protesting ever makes a difference while Tim was inside actually doing something! bidding on lands to prevent drilling in sensitive areas of southern Utah that should remain pristine!
AND are you watching local coolness such as:
Our mayor's appointment of Don Jarvis to be his sustainability advisor!!!
and the LDS Church is going LEED!!!
and George Handley, a BYU Humanities professor known for his writings on LDS perspectives on the environment, just published Home Waters, a Year of Recompense on the Provo River!!!
Yahoo and Amen.
P.S. Dear reader, if certain above comparisons and thoughts bother you or need clarifications- talk to me in person, what a looooong conversation. Almost everyone has an interesting viewpoint, right? But fair warning if you want to argue: If you unleash a can of worms counterargument to mine I bet you anything that my can of worms can beat yours! Vermiculture, baby. haha!
