George & all: I have been part of the environmental justice movement for many years, decades now. Many people who have commented are also sensitive to these issues. Every struggle brings its own facts & circumstances. While I feel a strong sympathy for George's positions and strongly respect his knowledge & experience, I think that stopping the drilling is necessary. Not only will we protect our small corner of the region/planet but hopefully will offer up an opportunity to educate our community on the need for conservation and reduction of fossil fuel use. We must extend our hands & energies to stop this kind of development close to home or in Tanzania. Even if everyone in Tompkins & surrounding counties used wood, we know the problems that would engender. I think Georges point of shutting THE BIG VALVE is a defensive posture that doesn't contribute to the resistance to the profit motive & the drilling/mining for resources. Another mine disaster in China. The workers' state is killing its workers and everyone around it to produce junk for us.
Time may not be on our side but we've still got to organize and persuade everyone we can talk to through the myriad communication outlets to reduce the use of fossil fuel energy. There's no ONE solution or magic bullet. But to stop the Exxon Mobils & Halliburtons is a major struggle we must engage in as we wean our society from the delusion & addiction of energy for "our way of life," or as too many Americans see it, our right of conquest & superiority to plunder the earth because we're somehow "special." By stopping the energy corporations as we did over 20 yrs ago when the James Bay Hydro project was introduced, we put the empire on notice that we would not go along with business as usual. We have to protect our basic resources, water, farmland and yes the beautiful views we enjoy because this is our ground zero. It won't do us any good if we're suffering the effects of hydrofracing like those in PA or TX. Let's be a model to other communites about what sustainability really means and support those communities who are suffering the effects of energy development. The outpouring of people and energy into this struggle is inspiring. Let's make our stand a strong one. Fortunately this isn't the Kansas that is waiting for the apocolypse or the rapture. We are moved by reason and by the spirit of connectedness to our land and all of our relatives. Tony Del Plato (Toto) On Sun, Nov 22, 2009 at 3:14 PM, George Frantz <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I stand by my post on NIMBYism and leisure class environmentalism. > > -- There is an evil tendency underlying all our technology - the tendency to do what is reasonable even when it isn't any good. - Robert Pirsig _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
