Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Sorry for the oil I use

Is sorry ever good enough?
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=43768&src=eoa-iotd


This is the oil leaking from the well under the platform.
This is off the coast of Louisiana. 11 workers lives were lost.  It is hard to work offshore. They are away from their families for months at a time. I am sorry for your loss. I know the drilling companies out there are very safety conscience. There are few mishaps.


It is our hunger to drive motorized vehicles that is the impetus for these lost human lives. Will it soon be this entire eco-system? It is so weighed down with toxins that come from every tributary and basin from the Rockies to here.


I am partially to blame for this tragedy, and I pray to do better. This is our habitat. We must think to do things, "differently" than before.


Thank you for all you do. Bless.




http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=43768&src=eoa-iotd


This scren shot is from the website NASA.gov, it is under their Earth Observatory Page.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

"E.P.A. Seeks Citizen Participation..." - Do you want to get involved?

News Releases By Date: "EPA Seeks Citizen Participation with Open Government Plan."
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/30B7465C50F2FB2C852576FE00678E4B
 Announcement Date: 04-07-2010. Information: Latisha Petteway, petteway.latisha@epa.gov, 202-564-3191, 202-564-4355

More Information on Open Government: http://www.epa.gov/open

HOW TO GO ABOUT MAKING A PUBLIC COMMENT: http://www.openepa.ideascale.com/

This site (above link), has a very simple format. It asks for your ideas. It asks for citizens to give input. It is a chance for citizens to come together and be a part of our government.

We can gripe about the shape of our environment, and what the Representatives and Senators have done and not done about human welfare all day long. Until we hold the people we elect to 'REPRESENT' us accountable, (by inspecting their work, and getting rid of them if they operate out of self-interest), we are partially to blame. Please, Get involved.

 The door is opened...please respond.

Thank you for being a public servant, thank you for the hard work you do, so that others can be helped, thank you for showing up to work each day when it seems an impossible task ahead. Peace.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Appalachian Blues

Dear Citizens of the World,                                                                                  April 2, 2010


Today my blog is going to be an appeal... "...during my 50 years on this planet, I have seen jungles, forests, centuries old stands of trees disappear."


While creating a presentation for my Speech class in University, it occurred to me that I have been here while entire Peoples have been wiped out.


I had only thought of habitat and species in terms of; them! Those Ivory Billed Woodpeckers, that African Jungle system, that beautiful stand of trees that may not exist in many places.That Ocean, that Coral Reef... It is serious folks. If other People cease to matter, cease to exist, consider it will not be long before most of us follow.


The rich, lush, gorgeous biodiversity of the Appalachians enriched the whole earth at one time. Mountain people are rare, because Mountains are viewed by very few with Dollar signs in their eyes and that is all that matters.


Mountaintop Removal is like 10 million amputations on one body. This announcement by the EPA today* has moved me to beg, on my knees for people to care that another civilization is about to be wiped out.


Natural resources that will be taken for the Coal-fire energy industry to make a godawful profit. The make a little electricity for the amount of material harvested. Jobs are not lasting or many. At the end there is the giant mess for all citizens to live with, or clean up. Energy production does not have to be this costly.


The lightening fast removal of formations (mountains are created by movements of the earth's plates) that took at least 2500 Million years to form is like poking a mountain size giant in the eye with a stick. 


The Appalachians and the Ouachita Mountain Range are close in Age. Peoples settled in these mountainous areas hundreds of years ago. The Appalachian People are of this mountain range. They are of an ancient society that took and gave, but loved their mountains.


 Modern society would disregard the gifts and mystical tones we have gotten from this melding of Geology, Geography and tradition in the Appalachians, but it is invaluable. 


Mountaintop removal is a raping of a land, and the destruction of a society. It is a filthy way to provide power. The by-products of the Coal powered energy, that is ripped from these majestic formations are toxic, plentiful and using more good land for stockpiling. This is not wise. It must stop.


Have the Appalachian Peoples gained more in financial incentives to their ultimate destruction? We had a lot of Ozark Peoples displaced by the encroachment of 'civilization' to the mountains. Hillbillies are fun to poke fun at, but they are more than the public gives them credit for. Them mostly live green (except for the washing machines piled up in the yard- lol). Those people; "those hillbillies" weren't exterminated, but their way of life was. They knew how to take from the Earth to live, but they also knew they must give back.


Every culture that is destroyed when their habitat is destroyed should raise alarms aplenty, but there is little notice. The other example that will never leave my heart is what happened to the American Natives and all of their habitats during the last 200+ years. The Native Peoples respected the Earth and all of Earth's resources. They took, but respectfully gave back.


What destroyed the Native People was, what some will call "progress". And of course, greed. We have warned time and again, we are harming the Earth to our own destruction. It is true. No one wants to believe that or really consider it, but we must stop unwise landuse practices from today on.


*Please have your voice heard. Today's Announcement by the EPA: "News Releases By Date: EPA Issues Comprehensive Guidance to Protect Appalachian Communities From Harmful Environmental Impacts of Mountaintop Mining". Contact EPA Press Office, press@epa.gov


Usually, there is a contact given...


Instead here is a link to young activists who are making a difference...
http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2010/03/18/lisa-jackson%E2%80%99s-reaction-to-mountaintop-removal-activist-lock-down-at-epa/


Here is the link to EPA's recent information on steps to regulate Mountaintop Removal http://www.epa.gov/owow/wetlands/guidance/mining.html#memo20100401


Thank You for everything you do! Thank you for random kindness. Thank you for healing the people and land.