June 2005 | Dock of the Bay
Tikopia, Utopia?
We all know the story of Easter Island, whose long-vanished residents perished after cutting down every last tree to erect rows of colossal stone statues. In his new book, Collapse: How Societies Chose to Fail or Succeed, Jared Diamond attributes the Islanders’ calamity to cultural blindness to ecological realities. He warns that our culture shares this myopia as we hurtle towards our own collapse — one that threatens to engulf all other cultures and most of the biosphere as well.
But there are alternatives, Diamond suggests. Consider Tikopia. Thousands of years before Paul Ehrlich wrote The Population Bomb, the inhabitants of this small Western Pacific island created powerful spiritual ceremonies to celebrate zero population growth and remind Tikopians to keep their offspring from exceeding the island’s limited carrying capacity.
When the first Tikopians arrived almost 3,000 years ago, the island was a lush paradise blessed with many species of edible plants, bird, fish and shellfish. But the Tikopians decided to bring something new to the island — pigs. In Polynesian tradition, pigs are an essential ceremonial delicacy. But, over the centuries, the porcine population grew, displacing once-abundant native species and putting the islanders on the road to collapse.
Around AD 1600, something remarkable happened: Tikopians recognized that, to survive, they needed to stabilize their relationship with nature. They introduced new cultural rituals that made birth control part of their daily life and they made another momentous decision — they slaughtered every last pig.
The foresight of the Tikopians reveals an intellectual sophistication that would be the equivalent of Americans deciding to convert to vegetarianism and agreeing to bury their cherished cars.
Diamond’s fundamental lesson is that societies collapse mainly because they have cultural blind spots for crucial ecological realities. If we Americans are to become as wise as the Tikopians, we wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice our oil-burning, vehicular road hogs. That’s the kind of new thinking needed to prevent the collapse of life on Island Earth. — Richard Register
Mi Arte, Su Arte
Forget artspeak and sparse walls—Santa Rosa’s Mi Arte Es Su Arte is bucking the highbrow gallery trend. Its showroom doubles as a cultural museum, featuring one-of-a-kind pieces from 16 Latin American countries and detailing the history behind each work, Many are assembled from recycled materials. Owner Jaime Penaherrera encourages visitors to touch and ask about the works, creating an inviting alternative to the usual hands-in-pocket gallery ambience. “There’s nothing obscure about [enjoying art],” he says.
Many pieces are by indigenous female artists who would ordinarily have difficulty gaining access to the affluent U.S. market. Penaherrera understands this problem first-hand. “When I got here,” says the Ecuadorean, “I didn’t have anybody to help me out.” With the same drive that took him from speaking no English to graduating from Harvard, he now works toward giving unknown talent the international exposure he feels they deserve.
Mi Arte’s helping hand also promotes fair trade practices and above-market payment, often paying in advance to cover artists’ basic necessities. And portions of Mi Arte’s profits benefit local schools.
Visit www.miarteessuarte.com or stop by Mi Arte at 109 Fourth St. in Santa Rosa. — David Sason
Earth Sabbath or Black Sabbath?
One of the signature events surrounding the UN-sponsored World Environment Day on June 6 is the convocation of the Earth Sabbath — a day of worship that transcends denominations and welcomes followers of all faiths to raise their voices in chants, songs and prayers for the survival of the living planet.
But, if a day of global reverence for the Earth sounds wonderfully sublime, then you haven’t been listening to the folks at the American Sovereignty Action Project (ASAP). They see the Earth Sabbath and the environmental movement as nothing more than neo-pagan “cult.” ASAP’s Cliff Kincaid kvetches that honoring Creation constitutes “a new form of state religion which holds that natural resources have to be protected for the sake of Gaia, a so-called Earth spirit.” ASAP sees the UN Environment Program’s “Earth Charter” as pagan because it calls for people to respect “Mother Earth” and animals.
Kincaid says “this Cult of Gaia has a definite anti-Christian orientation. Christianity holds that there is a gulf between God and man that is breached by Christ, [whereas] the philosophy of Gaia holds that nature is God and that, by experiencing or even worshipping nature, humans can attain oneness with God.”
If people worship the Earth, Kincaid warns, “the US and other industrial countries” might be forbidden “from certain uses of the world’s natural resources” and an undue obsession with “sustainable development could stifle economic growth and promote a drastic decline in the American standard of living.”
ASAP found an ally in GOP hard-liner Rep. Helen Chenoweth-Hage (R-ID) who argues that mixing environmentalism with spirituality has “profound Constitutional implications because of the First Amendment prohibition on government establishment of religion.” Outlawing “nature worship” as a violation of the First Amendment would be the consummate act of hypocrisy from an administration that claims to favor “faith-based initiatives.” — Gar Smith
Amtrak Ambush
About ten blocks from my Oakland apartment, an elevated section of Interstate 880 collapsed in the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake. A 1.5-mile stretch of replacement freeway was built at a cost of $l.2 billion — the same amount of money that Washington spends on Amtrak’s public rail service for a year. The politicians who complain about Amtrak’s $1.2 billion “subsidy,” never apply the term to the $284 billion the White House plans to spend to extend and repair roads, streets and freeways over the next six years.
When you remove the value-laden terminology, expenditures on road and rail are both “investments.” One is a massive investment in vehicles that waste energy, foul the air, and require paving valuable open space. The other is an investment in energy-saving mass-mobility that is equally available to everyone — including people who don’t own cars. A single rail line can handle approximately as much freight or passengers as eight lanes of freeway. There’s no light at the end of the tunnel for Amtrak. The Bush administration (which has spent billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out privately owned airline companies) has indicated that it wants to eliminate all funding for the People’s Railroad in the next fiscal year.
DON’T JUST GET MAD…. Get Active
It’s not just railroad passengers who are being shortchanged. The people who work for Amtrak also are being derailed. Testifying before Congress on April 21, United Transportation Union International President Paul Thompson accused Amtrak officials of “seeking to make Amtrak a low-wage, poor-benefits, anti-union Wal-Mart on wheels.” The next day, the union demanded the resignation of Amtrak’s entire board of directors.
The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers has made it easy to send a message to Congress asking them to preserve the nation’s rail passenger system by fully funding Amtrak! Just flag down their website on the Internet and dispatch a letter to your reps. (Click here)
For more information on the campaign to preserve and improve Amtrak service, you can also check out www.saveamtrak.org — Richard Register
Nonprofit News
The East Bay Community Law Center’s (www.ebclc.org) criminal record expungement program will be holding a second round of applications in May. It will follow up on the successes of a January Expungement Summit organized by Congress member Barbara Lee, Judge Gordon Baranco and the EBCLC. “We wanted to do something good that would change people’s lives forever,” said EBCLC client liaison Cseneca Parker.
Expungement is way for formerly incarcerated individuals to get their records cleared by applying to a judge, who can then decide whether or not their records should be purged. With court approval, people who had been denied jobs, housing or student loans because they checked the box indicating a criminal conviction can now reapply without checking that box. The first batch of over 100 applicants were processed in early April. Attorney’s and other volunteers who want to help out should contact the EBCLC at (510) 548-4040 or click here.
“Great news — we’ve taken down Unocal!” That was how human rights lawyer Katie Redford and Earth Rights International announced the end of an eight-year battle between the California-based oil giant and a coalition of environmental and social justice groups. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of 15 Burmese villagers forced to work as virtual slaves on the construction of the Yadana gas pipeline — a joint project of Unocal and the military junta of the Republic of Myanmar (aka Burma). Business Week hailed the settlement as a “milestone for human rights” and the London Financial Times called it “the most significant [judgment] reached under the Alien Tort Claims Act.”
“Milestones like this don’t come along very often,” ERI’s Katie Redford observed. So, to honor the occasion, ERI hosted a party for the Bay Area groups— including Rainforest Action Network, Earth Island Institute, and Global Exchange — that helped win this remarkable victory. The celebration at SF’s Bambuddha Lounge concluded with a rousing group toast to: “The End of Unocal.” For more info, click here — Tim Kingston & Gar Smith
Brazilian Cooperative Wins Major Victory
On May 5th, after 14 years of struggle, the Amazoncoop has secured protection of the land of the Parakana Indians deep inside the rainforests of Brazil. Rapid expansion of soybean plantations in the Amazon has increased the pressure on Indian reserves by land speculators. The larger challenge of securing the future of the entire reserve in which the Parakana and other indigenous peoples reside still remains.
The Amazoncoop is one of several grassroots initiatives working to preserve the forest. Formed by eight tribes, its reserves are larger than New Jersey. The co-op has developed a number of small-scale business activities, including a Brazil nut factory and an Internet service, which generates part of the income needed to fund health and education.
Its Green Pharmacy project produces over 60% of all the medication used by the tribes. Plants are grown on the co-op’s farm and the products given to the tribes at no cost.
Because of the lack of support of the Brazilian government, the Indians have relied on donations to fund the legal costs of obtaining rights to their land.
The Amazon is the largest remaining rainforest in the world. It is home to more than 50 percent of the world’s plant and animal species and contains the largest source of fresh water in the world. The Amazon is generally regarded as the last frontier, where many Indian tribes live and some still remain isolated.
The current government model for the economic development of the Amazon places Indian tribes and the pristine forest in direct conflict with cattle ranching, logging, soybean farming, mining and exploration for oil. Such development is not sustainable, has had a devastating impact on tribal life and is a significant contributor to climate change. At the current rate of destruction, it is estimated that most of the rainforest will disappear within the next 25 years.
Common Ground is supporting the Amazon Rainforest Foundation with an appeal to our readers to help raise urgently needed funds. Visit www.amazonfoundation.org/appeal.
Poop Pup Tent
Ah, wilderness! The crisp scent of pine needles! The roar of raging rapids! The sharp cries of “What? I thought YOU brought the toilet paper!”
Fret not, two-ply-challenged nature-lovers. Here’s a product that would surely leave the shade of John Muir aghast — the PETT Portable Environmental Toilet.
No longer will hikers desperately seeking relief have to look for a convenient bush. With the $329 briefcase-sized PETT package lashed to your backpack, you’ll have a load of help: toilet paper, sanitizing hand napkins, and 15 double-layered waste bags. These puncture-resistant, EPA-rated, Made-in-the-USA biodegradable containers are filled “with bioactive nontoxic powder that gels waste.” Each zip-lockable waste bag is good for up to six off-trail deposits, and the rugged unfolding plastic toilet is rated for bearing bottoms of up to 600 pounds.
The privy has private parts as well. It comes with its own Portable Utility Pop-up (PUP) tent — a plastic outhouse for the outdoors. And, if you like to linger awhile, the tent features several bug-proof window screens for light as well a built-in magazine rack. One promotional photo shows a copy of OUTSIDE magazine commodiously waiting for you in the loo.
Caveat Emptor: Erecting your Insta-Poop PUP tent may be a luxury you can’t afford, when you REALLY have to go. And the Dock has no idea how to recycle those indestructible bags of jellified waste once you leave the backcountry.
Oakland Sues Bush Boys?
Why doesn’t someone sue the Bush administration for global warning? As implausible as that premise sounds, someone actually has done just that. Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth (FOE) and SF’s Bluewater Network (newly merged with FOE) have linked legal arms with the cities of Oakland, Santa Monica, Arcata and Boulder, Colorado in an attempt to hold the Good Oil Boys accountable for pumping the atmosphere full of global-warming pollution.
The co-plaintiffs in this historic challenge include a coral reef biologist, retired couple whose coastal home is threatened by rising seas, and a Vermont sugar maple producer who’s seen his syrup supplies sapped by climate change. The lawsuit (three years in the making) was filed in the SF US District Court on April 29 by the law firm of Shems Dunkiel Kassel & Saunders PLLC. The suit specifically targets the Export-Import Bank and OPIC, two government programs that give billion of tax-dollars to help oil companies build pipelines overseas. These projects are estimated to be responsible for producing 8% of the pollution driving the Greenhouse Effect.
“Climate change is messing with the entire planet,” says Randy Hayes, Oakland’s Director of Sustainability. Hayes hopes that the lawsuit will “force the government to start taking responsibility for funding the dirty energy projects that cause global warming. The US has to be not the leader, but an equal partner on this planet.” Whether or not the suit succeeds, the emergence of this unprecedented eco-municipal coalition clearly foreshadows the emergence of a new political power bloc. For more info, see: www.climatelawsuit.org. — GS
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