Dreaming of Wellfleet ...

Today I'm posting from afar, rainy Southern California, to be exact. I opened my email this morning to find a musical greeting from the Cape Cod Modern House Trust.



Seeing images of "our" woods and ponds, in the snow, made me long for Wellfleet. Winter there is very special, a quiet time for reflection and renewal.

I spoke on the phone this morning with Laura Kelley, who attended the second-to-last Ad Hoc Vegetation Management meeting in Barnstable yesterday. Laura pointed out that the science proposed by our utility company is 30 years old. Herbicides like Glyphosate (Round-Up) have been banned in some countries. Emerging science, from the past two years, tells us that herbicides are not as safe as the chemical companies want us to believe. The more I read, the more I realize corporate interests control our country. Laura is right to stand firm on protecting fragile Cape Cod and our water supply. I am proud to know this ferocious soul who speaks the truth.

A few months ago, I went to town hall and read Annual Reports from the early 1980s. I was surprised to find pages and pages detailing characteristics of certain herbicides used at the time in Wellfleet. I was struck by how different the attitude was back then. Over the last 25 years, chemical companies have succeeded in deluding us. How successful their marketing arm! We have been lulled into a stupor, happy to believe toxic chemicals can be used without any consequences. This is simply fallacy. Just yesterday Time Magazine ran an article about recent research on autism. The article indicates that living within 1000 feet of a major highway in Los Angeles raises the risk of autism in small children. They are subjected to breathing in toxins every day.

From the film "A Chemical Reaction," I learned how a town in Canada banned herbicides. This act of defiance pushed the chemical industry to action. The result was the preemption state laws here in the USA. Only 13 states refused. (A preemption law means that a law created at town level cannot be enforced if it is contrary to a state law. Since MA state law allows herbicides, Wellfleet is not free to ban them.)

Body burden has been a concern of mine ever since I watched Bill Moyers react to learning about the toxic chemicals in his own body. We have been subjected to a massive experiment. It's time to say, "Enough!"

When I look at the pristine images of Wellfleet in the Cape Cod Modern House video above, I'm reminded of the power of nature. We will need a lot of it as we struggle against the corporate stranglehold on our country over the coming years ....