“Today, we tell Congress that we ‘sacrificed’ ourselves for the national good,” Oliver Houck wrote in the Tulane Environmental Law Journal. “Never has there been such a willing, complicit sacrifice. We made a bundle of money, wasted most of it, and blackballed anyone who questioned what it was doing to the Louisiana coast. About 70 years ago, Louisiana made a deal with the oil and gas industry. The industry would get what it wanted; the state would get a piece of the take.”
Ah yes, you all know the drill–find a writer whose voice, intelligence, and style you enjoy in one book then go out and see if they’re consistent enough writers to work their word magic on your imagination AGAIN. Having enjoyed the horror story that is Fruitless Fall, o yes it is a modern version of a very very scary story, I was game for more of Rowan Jacobsen’s work. I decided to venture to the great ghostly delta of the mighty Mississippi via Shadows On the Gulf, A Journey Through Our Last GreatWetland. If you’re fans of Jacobsen’s A Geography of Oysters don’t fret–the agony and ecstasy of gulf oysters is part of Shadows. It couldn’t be otherwise. Now if you’re looking for an intense screenplay like blow-by-blow of events in slow motion about the Deepwater Horizon go search elsewhere. Jacobsen provides a sequence of such events but, unlike several other slick tomes, this is not the foundation of this book. If you’re looking for where to lay blame for oily events in the Gulf look no further than your mirror. Yes, you read correctly–the nearest mirror. Jacobsen does not flinch at laying blame for the ongoing insanity of the oil industry smack dab on those who fuel the DEMAND for oil every single day. This is a basic principle of supply and demand economics–really. We create the demand for more oil by our lifestyles, especially in the United States, and the oil industry profits, literally, by providing the supply. Face it, in general we are a bunch of hardcore oil addicts with no 12 step program on the boards.
Now don’t get me wrong, Jacobsen raises this very important ethical issue but that’s not all he does as he provides some fundamental history about the Gulf area. We get a history of a prominent oyster supplier, the workings of the huge Mississippi River as the garbage dump of the midwest of America, the levees, the oil industry, the wetlands and the people. Now the element of ‘people’ is the real wild card in play here. Perhaps the major issue here, as in Fruitless Fall, is that people indoctrinated with western European (yes, that is the origin of our mode of thinking in the states) mentality just can’t leave well enough ALONE. People have this nutty idea that humans are capable of improving on the complex perfection of Nature. We do this with every dam we build, every river we divert, every wetland we destroy. Ah the poor Army Corps of Engineers–sorry folks, at least beavers know what the hell they’re really doing when they build dams–and more importantly ‘why’. Guess what we get in return? The destruction of the very system upon which we are dependent for survival of our species. If we just let Nature be itself and operate correctly and lived in accord with how the system works –well, we might not be facing the operating system crisis heading our way like a tsunami of incredible magnitude.
If you don’t have any idea about the BIG picture regarding the Gulf of Mexico–and how the rest of America ties in– then Jacobsen’s book provides a very decent foundation for getting an idea of the interconnectedness of many things–including all the crap chemicals used to scrub toilets every day. The destruction of your environment is not out of sight and out of your mind. It’s just out of mind because we don’t pay any attention to the things in plain sight–such as every petroleum product–and the products that ‘clean’ all that oily stuff down the drain.
The other thing in plain sight is “us” in all our incarnations. You’ll meet a few folks via Jacobsen’s explorations of the gulf area–locals, scientists, fisherman, etc. And it’s a very mixed big of individuals for sure. I don’t know how the likes of Virgil Dardar and Gene Cossey would mix on the same boat. But I do know what a vast swamp of thinking exists that allows for the existence of such men and women – and the mentality of oil executives and politicians all on the lookout for the almighty DOLLAR.
Near the end of the book, “The Most Important River You’ve Never Heard Of,” Jacobsen takes us to a wonderful still functioning wetland area-the Atchafalaya swamp-and leaves us with not the ”if” but the “when” it will be destroyed by us in our infinite ignorance, boundless greed and shortsighted view that humans dominate Nature. We will not have the last laugh in this global drama in which we deny our own role in the web of life on Earth. So read and think about what sort of lifestyle can you imagine that might benefit all living things. Come on, stretch your cranial membranes–if you dare. Imagine Life without Oil.
”. . . protecting the chief economic drivers in the area.”
Senator John McCain clearly has “deep concerns for Arizona’s water resources” –as his office’s form letter reply indicates. I get the sense that McCain — and the folks who contend with his official email service–don’t want to discuss SB 2109 at all. Hmm, maybe we should all shut up and let him and Senator Jon Kyl (no reply yet) do as they damn well please. Nawwww, where would be the fun in that? Eh? (sarcasm).
Below is a direct copy and paste of the contents of a form letter reply I received today from Senator John McCain in reply to my emailed request to Stop SB 2109. Note there is NO mention nor reference to SB 2109, no reference to the Little Colorado River, no reference to Navajo and Hopi water rights issues. This is a form letter that politely ignores an important issue by focusing on water supply in general.
I’m very curious if anyone else has received this same letter or different versions of it in response to their emails regarding SB 2109.
And about those economic drivers–please do tell us more, Senator McCain. We wouldn’t want to mis-connect those dots. Do those include coal mines? Golf course developers? Snowbirds from the chilly northern parts of the states? Or ??? Inquiring minds do so want to know the details.
Any suggestions on how to reply to this reply? I’m open to all ideas.
April 19, 2012
Thank you for contacting me regarding your concern for the future of Arizona’s water resources. I appreciate knowing your views on this serious matter.
For several consecutive years, the State of Arizona and much of the western United States has experienced abnormally dry weather. Several years of below-average precipitation and snowfall has decreased the water levels in our lakes, rivers and streams. Lingering drought conditions have made Arizona’s ability to maximize water capacity difficult. Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the nation’s two largest man-made reservoirs, are at 57% and 65% capacity.
As you know, Arizona’s water is a precious resource in Arizona’s arid desert climate, the lack of which could widely affecteconomic prosperity and environment. I believe Arizona can overcome the challenges of long-term drought with proper statewide planning, water conservation, and science-based collaboration. I support the efforts of state leaders to develop and implement a state-wide drought management plan that promotes water conservation in both rural and urban communities.
Arizona’s state groundwater code, the Groundwater Management Act of 1980, has been heralded as innovative and proactive law to address serious overdrafting of underground aquifers. However, according to the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), groundwater continues to be mined within at least three designated Active Management Areas while water demands continue to increase. The state water code is a framework that will need to be expanded by state legislators to provide the tools necessary to the state and local agencies to effectively manage available water supplies over the long term.
In many watersheds and rural areas in Arizona, water conservation measures will not be sufficient to bring demand in balance with available supply. I have learned firsthand of the extent of groundwater overdrafts in the Sierra Vista subwatershed where the Upper San Pedro Partnership is spearheading the effort on collaborative, science-based water management to protect the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area and serve Ft. Huachuca and the neighboring communities. This program has brought into clear focus the need for change in state and local water and building codes to significantly reduce water demands and groundwater overdrafts to prevent the last free-flowing river in the Southwest from running dry, as well as protecting the chief economic drivers in the area. There is a great deal more work to be done over time to meet these water goals but it is an approach that should be considered for other watersheds throughout the state.
Please be assured of my deep concern for Arizona’s water resources. Do not hesitate to contact me again on this or any other issue.
Seems it could be a long and very HOT summer in the land of the Dine and Hopi–and I’m not talking about solar heat. Sorry no sheep or plastic water bottle math lessons in this video. Just a full body reality check. When’s the last time your grandparents protested?
Okay folks my lack of geek brain cell mass is seriously crippling an addition of a quick Care2 widget to this blog for instant gratification petition signing purposes. But what I can do is provide the link to Care2 and the title of the petition you can find on site there to sign. I realize this will require a few more minutes of YOUR time and energy –and I do apologize for this extra effort on your generous spirits. But even my resident geek computer god cannot fathom why the embed code will not thrive in this WordPress blog’s post soil. So– we’re going there the slower route–but we CAN get there! Or so I hope. This is for everyone who requested an online petition to sign. Thanks to Barb Reese for putting this petition online at Care2. Folks, they’re only hoping for 1,000 signatures. Can you help them blow way past that amount by sharing on fb, tweeting, email, reblogging and other means? They’re up to 190 at the time of this blog post. Please show your support. And if anyone figures out how get that widget code to work on this Word Press blog theme – Come back a leave specific step by step recipe for ME!!!!
Petition title —-> “Senate Bill seeks to extinguish Navajo and Hopi water rights” petition to sign at Care2
Oh yeah the water wars are heating up and Senators John “I think I own 7 homes” McCain and Jon Kyl are on the point predators on the prowl to destroy the water rights of the Navajo and Hopi people in Arizona and New Mexico. Apparently the two senators of questionable honor have been making very quiet verbal agreements with an attorney for the Navajo Tribe without any consultation of the Dine and Hopi people most concerned and most in need of water for their survival. If they’ve got nothing to hide and if this is such a sweet deal for the Navajo and Hopi then why have the deal makers been keeping SB 2109 sooo out of the view of those most interested? When the two senators representing the greedy needs of water hungry urban communities and industries arrived in Tuba City over three hundred Dine and Hopi people were there to share their NON acceptance of Senate Bill 2109 to take away their rights to water. Grinning like greedy fat cats McCain and Kyl left Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly to face the wrath of his own people after their closed doors little chat. 110 Navajo communities will be negatively impacted by Senate Bill 2109 yet their own elected president is offering town hall meetings in only 7 communities to discuss SB 2109.
Where do you get your water from? Do you turn a knob and have all you need for drinking, cooking, and cleaning? Or do you have to put out containers to catch rainwater for consumption? What would you do if someone cut off your drinking water supply? What’s more important–water for drinking or for washing cars? Would you water your lawn and deprive others of clean water to drink by doing so? Btw, drinking water out of those plastic bottles is bad for your health—and it’s someone else’s tap water anyway. Yep, you enrich some plastic bottle company with every one you purchase thinking it contains ‘special’ magic water.
Oh and apparently the Peabody Coal Mining Company has a vested interest in this agreement. Yes, more dirty energy industry development on the move despite climate change realities…..
It’s been a strange morning here where spring has apparently sprung right into summer: herons nesting in residential area, magnolia blooms come and gone, rose bushes budding and balmy warm winds. It seems things are just a wee bit out of sync in the natural scheme of things. But one early morning email made it even stranger because of the news it carried regarding environmental activist Tim DeChristopher being placed in solitary confinement via the demand of an unidentifed US congressman. Apparently one of DeChristopher’s emails disturbed the mental health of some congressman because of content regarding some financial matters discussed regarding a contributor to his own legal fund. Now why does a US congressman get to request the solitary confinement of a political prisoner in a minimum security prison based on the content of their email concerning the business practices of a contributor to his defence fund? Why has this elected US congressman remained unidentified? Who is this person? What right do they have to dictate the practices of a prison in California regarding a low risk prisoner? Why does Tim DeChristopher’s concerns about who funds his legal defence concern any US congressman? Who gave any congressman the right to wield political influence in such a manner? Whose money is behind this harassment of DeChristopher? What is the incognito congressperson soo threatened by in Tim DeChristopher’s email? Personally I have no specific answers. But–as this seems to center on a discussion of business practices, values, a legal defence and the only thing respected in the USA aka MONEY– my imagination is having a free-for-all this morning with this news. Btw, this little chess move on the prison political game board was covered by Democracy Now! in headlines for March 28, 2012. I suspect the alternative press may begin racketballing the item as soon as they get their heads out of their symbolic hoodies over the senseless murder of young Trayvon Martin in Florida.
Now, since I’ve been following Tim DeChristopher’s journey ever since learning about his gig as Bidder 70 at an illegal land auction of oil and gas leases—wait–there’s that special special word ‘oil’–oops—yes, DeChristopher upset the oil carts of some oil people by throwing a monkey wrench in their plans to acquire public lands on the cheap during an illegal federal auction. Do I really need to write anything more? Hmm? Do I?
Yes I do. I need to share the request of Peaceful Uprising asking for support for Tim DeChristopher to be removed from solitary confinement. What is going on in America? For more information about Tim DeChrisptopher aka Bidder 70 http://www.peacefuluprising.org/tim-dechristopher
President Obama is earnestly ignoring number 9 on Jeff Goodell’s Rolling Stone list of “10 things to do for the environment”–”pardon Tim DeChristopher.”
Apparently putting Tim DeChrisptoher in prison for protecting America’s environment from illegal oil development leases is not enough for some people. They want in him in solitary confinement to further restrict his communication with the rest of the world beyond Herlong Prison. Why?
Oh the tea kettle is whistling–time for a chat with George Orwell.
The following is copied directly from Peaceful Uprising:
In response to Tim’s transfer into isolated confinement, we’re asking you to please take a few moments to call the following contacts (or whomever you have time to call from this list) and ask that:
“Tim DeChristopher inmate #16156-081 be immediately removed from the Special Housing Unit (SHU) and placed back in the Minimum Security Camp at FCI Herlong.”
If you’d like to say more, here are a few key talking points we suggest:
Moving Tim DeChristopher to SHU based on the complaint of an unidentified Congressman doesn’t make sense. Why is Congress intervening in one inmates detention status, anyway?
Keeping inmates in isolated confinement for an indefinite amount of time awaiting a hearing is not humane and is not acceptable.
*FOR CONGRESSIONAL MEMBERS* If they are your congressperson, tell them about the situation, [read here] and ask them if they know who ordered the transfer, and that you’d like them to take a look into it and get back to you promptly. Ask them why Congress is taking such an interest in the emails of one inmate. Tell them that Tim is a nonviolent offender who was wrongly charged and convicted to begin with, and was placed in a minimum security camp because he posed no threat to anyone. If you have time, mention that an oil and gas company owned by William Koch was recently found to have conspired to defeat a BLM oil and gas lease auction, but was merely fined, while Tim sits in isolated confinement after being charged with two felonies. If you call Jason Chaffetz, ask him to launch an investigation in his oversight committee.
FCI Herlong
530-827-8000
Richard B. Ives, WARDEN
Eloisa DeBruler, Public Information Officer
BOP Central Office
202-307-3198 Director Charles E. Samuels, Jr.
United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and
On February 14 people everywhere express their love with actions, flowers, cards, gifts and more. Some people express their love for Earth by protesting its ongoing destruction by our continuing dependence on oil for meeting our energy needs. Some write these lovers off as foolish hippies and idealistic tree huggers but they are neither foolish nor idealists. These are the hardcore realists of our world. Today there is another effort underway to stop the Keystone XL pipeline development yet again in spite of the public outcry. If you’ve signed any petition for this effort previously I’m sure your email box is currently awash in urgent requests for your signature again because big oil and its supporters don’t give up. Their intention is to wear everyone down until big oil gets its way AGAIN. Apparently the American government has learned nothing from the BP oil spill and its continuing consequences in the Gulf of Mexico. There is an upside to all this lobbying for more pipelines and greater development of an oil project that is already the size of Great Britain–more people are learning about the Tar Sands. And more people are saying NO to it and to big oil. Change makes many uncomfortable but change we must–or kill the only planet that supports us with air to breathe, water to drink, and soil for food. Nature is not dependent upon us. We are dependent upon nature for our survival. As you drive along in your car fueled by oil you may feel far removed from the heartbeat of the world. Everything except your next chore of the day may be far from your mind. But consider how different your daily life would be if there was no clean air to breath, no clean water to drink, and no fresh food in your grocery store. Shall we all live on little purple pills popped into our mouths while we breathe through gas masks? Shall we? Isn’t it time to write your own “love letter” to Earth? Folks–big oil has to ”go.” It’s literally killing people and the Earth. It will kill you and your loved ones–make no mistake about it. And the people who own and operate big oil will also die by their own actions. Denial will not prevent their demise. So, take some time and figure how you can show some love.
All day, every day Occupy Dame Street kettles the Central Bank in Dublin, Ireland. The camp receives postal mail at Occupy Dame Street, Central Bank, Dame Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. The garda help keep the drunks out of the occupy camp. Sweeny’s Pub provides laptop charging. Other businesses donate food, including a steady stream of CAKE. Yes, you read that right, CAKE. In case you thought occupy only occupies in America here is an introduction to an occupy in Ireland. The Emerald Isle also has economic and environmental woes. Yes the Irish march and protest too. Though you might not believe that if you trust your television news.
The following videos offer video information of the Tar Sands Action at the White House on November 6, the Ottawa action (video just recently posted on YouTube) and an older segment from Democracy Now! which offers an introduction to the issue and the ongoing Indigenous struggle. Approximately 12,000 people surrounded the White House three lines deep–and other buildings to express disapproval of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline which President Obama can veto all by himself. If you saw live coverage of this protest on your television please post a comment stating which station, where, and when.
Much appreciation to the Livestreams of Occupy Oakland and Global for sharing the LIVE Tar Sands Actions video feed with their viewers as soon as they learned of the protest. Thanks to the Occupy DC KSt media team for expanding LIVE coverage of the protest by going mobile with their own equipment. The combined efforts brought the Tar Sands Action viewership to approximately 3,000 people online via the Livestream media.
http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution Other occupy locations are coming online. Occupy LA has been supported by City Hall and is supported by their local police–unlike in Seattle, NYC, and St. Louis.
Go forth and explore the Reality Show the mainstream media is failing to wrap its corporate paid talking heads around. I do believe there are reasons why it’s tough for the corporate owned media to get on board. Number one reason: they are corporate owned. They are NOT FREE PRESS by any stretch of the imagination. But that should not stop anyone from stretching their imagination. Peace.
Violating copyright births bad karma---imagine a mad hacker you'll never see coming--nor catch going. Respect = my work is my work and your work is your work.
Everything posted here is my work, copyrighted, unless otherwise noted. Comments aside. Om
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“Today, we tell Congress that we ‘sacrificed’ ourselves for the national good,” Oliver Houck wrote in the Tulane Environmental Law Journal. “Never has there been such a willing, complicit sacrifice. We made a bundle of money, wasted most of it, and blackballed anyone who questioned what it was doing to the Louisiana coast. About 70 years ago, Louisiana made a deal with the oil and gas industry. The industry would get what it wanted; the state would get a piece of the take.”
om mani padme hum jewel in the lotus wahupa qi prana universal life energy
