August 8, 2013 – It’s getting a little hot in here, don’t ya
think? I mean in the United States,
because of all the protesting goin’ on.
Unless I’m badly mistaken, it’s starting to look like Americans are
really getting mad. From California to
Maine, citizens of this blessed country are exercising their rights to freedom
of association and freedom of expression.
The government, whether it’s state, local, or national, is doing nothing
about protecting the environment, and we want it to do something. Americans have finally found their voice.
In California, more than 200 protesters were arrested while
they were peacefully demonstrating outside a Chevron refinery that caught on
fire a year ago. At least 15,000
residents of Richmond, CA went to the hospital for respiratory complications as
a result. (You may have heard that
Chevron was fined $2 million after months of failed negotiations between the
oil company and Richmond’s City Council.)
In Salmon, Idaho, 19 members of the Nez Perce Tribe were
arrested because of their participation in forming a human chain of more than
250 people, mostly Native Americans.
Participants blocked a highway in protest against a 322-ton load of
equipment traversing tribal land and federally protected land on its way to tar
sands mines in Alberta, Canada.
In Belgrade, Maine, mothers and others protested Gov. Paul
LePage’s veto of the Healthy Kids Bill, which had been passed by both the state
House and Senate. The bill would have
required more stringent labeling of potentially harmful chemicals in food
packaging. Of particular concern is
bisphenol A, also called BPA, which is extremely toxic to humans. The danger isn’t over once it winds up in
landfill.
Protests were lodged in opposition to federal plans to
auction off mineral rights for gas drilling in Blue Rock State Forest in
Muskingum County, Ohio. While the
eventual auction may only have been forestalled, environmentalists are ready to
take further action. In Michigan, one
individual got involved in order to halt construction of a pipeline intended to
cross the Kalamazoo River, already the site of a 2010 tar sands oil spill. Enbridge is the offending company; the 2010
spill has never been satisfactorily cleaned up.
An environmental organization called MI-CATS worked in conjunction with
the individual.
Finally, in Washington State, the Lummi Nation has protested
a proposed export terminal for coal at Cherry Point, WA for months. Tribal officials maintain the terminal will
infringe on treaty fishing rights.
Washington State residents who live in nearby Bellingham are also
opposed to the terminal, and have met and protested for months.
The level of awareness indicated by these various actions is
inspiring. The willingness to become
involved has at long last developed to the point of warranting newspaper
coverage. Action in one place can and
will lead to action in another. As
protests increase in number and effectiveness,
more and more Americans will step forward in order to be heard. As we assume a leadership role in protesting
the destruction of our planet, others will follow. When that happens, we shall overcome.
Comments
Post a Comment