08-12-2008, 08:18 PM
Keith Millea Wrote:Peter I'm not sure what time frame this action was taken,but if it was back in the late 70s' this was OUR battle.If I'm wrong,then this is just another story of taking on the beast.And first a disclaimer,I am a Vietnam veteran,and I know nothing of the story about the Vietnam veterans in the above quote,Honest.........
I was part of the "counter culture" migration that moved North from the Bay Area up into the mountains of Northern California,Oregon,and Washington.I landed in the lush rainforests of the Oregon Coast Range mountains.Supremely wild and basically unihabited except for locals that worked in the mills,and the loggers that have lived there for several generations.Their families were the original homesteaders.This area has an average annual rainfall total of around 112-118 inches.Most people who live back in these woods use the many springs that come off the side of the mountains as their main water source.Simple gravity fed systems.So you see that the dioxin was finding it's way into our drinking water.
It was the women who first connected the dots.After having conversations with women from several other isolated communites,the women had come to a realization that there seemed to be an awful lot of miscarriages amongst them.This was the beginning.My only role in this fight was that once I drove into town and joined a protest at the Courthouse.My wife(we were not together then)was very much involved in the beginnings of this battle.This action was started from just a few women (real grass roots stuff here).Once they made this awareness known to the whole community,things started to role.
What most people don't understand is that these "Hippies",were not vagrant druggies like most percieved.These were people with a vision of a new way of living (The Utopians).Many of those who chose to "drop out",were indeed very well educated with PHDs' and so forth.In the small side valley that I lived in,there were about eight or so adults.Two lived there part time.One guy being a Marine biologist,and the other was working at Oregon State in some kind of forest biology department.These two were the leading researchers from my small community.Enough evidence was finally produced to take the Forest Service to court.A study was ordered which produced the conclusion that our women had miscarriages at 3 times the level of both Eugene and Corvalis.We proved our case,and WE WON.The Govt' was forced to stop spraying Dioxin(agent orange) on logged cleacuts.
Finally,I have read that this study was one of three that was used in the class action court case that Vietnam Veterans had against Dow chemical.We won that case also.
Just one small battle in the neverending war
Keith
Yeah, the not-yet-ended war....but Jensen and others are in for the longhaul - win or die trying to win. There are many fronts and we each have to chose which 'fit', but the environmental front and the deep political front don't have room for one thin sheet of paper between them! I, personally, have a foot in each camp and don't have to keep my legs apart. Same people; same corporations; same wrong paradigm; same blindness and hubris; same old same old......
I don't know exactly when Derrick is referring to, but I'd hazzard to say about 10 years ago or a bit more...but the same stuff goes on all the time - or varients - spraying for fruit flies or whathaveyou.
Speaking for myself, veterans are most welcome in the battle and have faced the beast sometimes at closer range than most of us..... Gulf War Syndrome; Vietnam Vets with cancers and other problems due to Agents Orange, White, et al.... DU rounds...all madness - not to mention the gimmics thought-up about the righteousness of the 'wars' - and the immorality involved in fighting them had it been only with chess...but it involved napalm, indiscriminate killing, white phosphorus, and more.
Well, now there is a war on all that lives by all that seeks only profit and exploitation. While many particpate in it some, only a very small group are driving this. May I suggest you get ahold of Jensen's last book and/or find a way to watch his speech at the link I gave [about 3 hours]. I could name other similar people. Each has their own special way of connecting to the reader/listener - but the message is much the same - we are nearly OUT of time and even if things changed tomorrow - the Planet and many species are in deep ****. It is currently estimated that every day we loose about 200 species forever [extinct] and that rate is picking up very quickly - half will be extinct by the end of this century! This is obscene and humans are on that list..maybe not today or next decade...but if we don't stop killing the others, we will surely kill ourselves sooner, rather than later. The Native Americans [and most indiginous peoples] had it nearly correct and we have it all wrong. We are a plague on the Planet living like we do in the 'developed' world. We are the ones with the huge environmental footprints. The average American consumes and produces the waste equivalent to 250 people in the poorest developing nations.
....and I could go on and on and on...and will
