Honoring life on Earth Day and Every Day. Perhaps a sobering starting point for us as we begin each day would be to think of the thousands and thousands – millions? – of innocents killed by those carrying out senseless, sadistic violence – and by those carrying out expedient political mandates or final solutions (genocidal, sadistic “ethnic cleansing”) or in the name of justified, political retribution – as well as those killed by the collateral effects of all the profit-protected toxicities (which result in those nasty degenerative diseases) and greenhouse gas climate disrupters (resulting in the devastation of super-storms, for starters).
And, with those who have died in our minds, say, “¡Presente!”, as marchers with the School of the Americas Watch say every year outside Fort Benning in Columbus GA. In so doing, they are honoring those who have died at the hands of the foreign military graduates who had attended our Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) – formerly known as the US Army School of the Americas (SOA) – and which some call the School of Assassins.
And then, having those who have died present in us, include in our thinking during the day, our intent to stop the violence being done – to others, to us, by us, or in our name.
Bill McKibben, of 350.org, speaking on “Global Climate Change” at Lehigh University on April 9th said it will take a movement to protect life on planet Earth.
A movement is needed to counteract the power of the entrenched movement which is taking us the other way. In the following sections, there’s info about efforts to counter the life-threatening and planet-threatening movement our way-of-life is now dependent on. How indeed to counter the climate crisis stokings of the oil-and-gas industry; the nutritionally-depleted, toxic foods of agri-business; the “cure-based” rather than “health-based” approach of big pharma and mainstream med; the concentration of power allegedly to “protect” us rather than to preserve our democratic rights?
Countering the climate-crisis stokings of the oil and gas industry:
- Earth-Days on the Greenway: “We hope that Earth Days 2013 will give birth to new partnerships between the participating individuals and groups and generate the ideas and leadership required to reverse our human contributions to Climate Change.” 4/20 & 4/21.
- Earth Day Protest at Regional DEP Offices: “A coalition of more than 40 environmental organizations and individuals are rallying for protection of communities and the environment with a statewide Earth Day Protest on Monday, April 22. These rallies will call on our public officials to act with integrity and protect the people of Pennsylvania, who are being victimized every day by fracking and the cradle-to-grave dangers of shale gas extraction.” 4/22.
- Community Forum on Fracking: “not everyone – specifically, our elected officials – knows how strongly we stand against this destructive process. So, we need you to join us for our public forum on fracking on Tuesday.” 4/23.
(See Events Calendar for other events, like: Shale Gas Development: Black, White, or Many Shades of Gray? 4/20; and Do the Math: The Movie – on 4/21 – at Friends Meetinghouse and at Lehigh University and in Kutztown.)
Countering the nutritionally-depleted toxic foods of agri-business:
- Farmers’ Markets closed for the Winter will be re-opening in May.
- More info about local food is available from Buy Fresh Buy Local-Greater Lehigh Valley and via the Food & Farm Directory of the Lehigh Valley Chapter of The Weston A. Price Foundation.
Countering the “cure-based” rather than “health-based” approach of big pharma and mainstream med:
- Check out the Holistic Health Practitioners listed in the Directory of the 2013 Sustainable Lehigh Valley.
- D. Andrew Neville, ND: “Releasing the Brake: Treating Chronic Stress and Adrenal Dysfunction“. 4/25.
Countering the concentration of power allegedly to “protect” us rather than to preserve our democratic rights:
- The coalition working together for the Earth Day protests at DEP offices around the state.
- The coalition the Sierra Club of the Lehigh Valley put together for the April 20 & 21 Earth Days on the Greenway: See the Sierra Club of the Lehigh Valley website or Earth Days on the Greenway blogspot for more information.
- The Do The Math Film Showings all over the country organized by 350.org for 4/21.
- The grassroots efforts of Food & Water Watch in mobilizing Allentonians on water privatization, waste incineration, and Lehigh Valley folks on fracking (the forum on 4/23).
New Study Group being started by the Alliance
Pathways to Cooperatives
We’ll be using Gar Alperovitz’s America Beyond Capitalism as a starting point for discussion focused on generating actionable ideas. Meeting once a month at Moravian College. First meeting is Fri, 5/10, 10am — munching through Chapters 1-3 in Alperovitz. If you’d like to participate, RSVP to fara@sustainlv.org