Last week I saw a few Occupy Wall Street protesters in Eastham, across from the town hall, holding signs aloft. Where are the protesters here in Wellfleet? You are reading one right now. I thoroughly support this movement. In my case, I feel their outrage, as the 99%, when I think of NStar.The EPA New England Web site explains that citizens must defend their sole-source aquifer. I wrote letters early on to explain how citizens on Cape Cod wanted to do just that, so that our drinking water would not become compromised by toxic chemicals. I received wishy-washy replies back, one from an appointee by Bush, and one by the current appointee by Obama.
Not acceptable.
The EPA is hindered in enforcement of such recommendations as protection of our aquifer by corporate interests. I feel this is part of what the Occupy Wall Street protest is about.
Here’s Naomi Klein, speaking this past week:
“The point is, today everyone can see that the system is deeply unjust and careening out of control. Unfettered greed has trashed the global economy. And it is trashing the natural world as well. We are overfishing our oceans, polluting our water with fracking and deepwater drilling, turning to the dirtiest forms of energy on the planet, like the Alberta tar sands. And the atmosphere cannot absorb the amount of carbon we are putting into it, creating dangerous warming. The new normal is serial disasters: economic and ecological.
These are the facts on the ground. They are so blatant, so obvious, that it is a lot easier to connect with the public than it was in 1999, and to build the movement quickly.
We all know, or at least sense, that the world is upside down: we act as if there is no end to what is actually finite—fossil fuels and the atmospheric space to absorb their emissions. And we act as if there are strict and immovable limits to what is actually bountiful—the financial resources to build the kind of society we need.
The task of our time is to turn this around: to challenge this false scarcity. To insist that we can afford to build a decent, inclusive society—while at the same time, respect the real limits to what the earth can take ...”
And yesterday, Bill McKibben explained why the 350.org movement on global warming has not made much progress. Do listen.
For background, go here.
Finally, Chris Hedges in a recent interview of note.
