| updated weekly |
home - contribute - donate - message board - events - links - contact us - archive |
| |
| September 29, 2006 Red Alert by Soren Wuerth The Tongass and the Nature Conspiracy
“The
earth is the first condition of our existence. To make it an object of
trade was the last step towards making human beings an object of trade.
To buy and sell land is an immorality surpassed only by the immorality
of selling oneself into slavery."
— Friedrich Engels
Environmentalists, the corporate kind, like to sound smart. And, the problem is, sometimes they do. They sound elitist, proud, snobby, and esoteric. I heard them, the good old boys, lay out their plan for the Tongass National Forest a while back. They sat in a conference room, glasses of water on front of them on a round table with a white tablecloth, briefcases at a knee. It was the Nature Conservancy convening the group this time, a group that included sallow-faced government types, men representing the logging industry who appeared tired, and a couple of business owners. “I’m concerned there is not enough Native representation,” said the sole Alaska Native, a Tlingit woman, in the group of thirty-one. There were others, sitting on the sidelines, who also complained about being excluded. They live in Southeast Alaska communities and wondered, like me, who voted for these people to represent us. The panel, with the dubious title, “Tongass Futures Roundtable,” is a “stakeholders” group attempting to reach concord among all the special interests feeding on the forest. The self-appointed group wants to help the Forest Service revise its plan for the Tongass. The agency bungled the plan so badly in its last attempt (it erroneously doubled the projected market for timber) a court shut down all sales. Beleaguered by lawsuits, politicians pushing the “jobs” smack, and by the insatiable appetite of the woodcutters, the Forest Service is a junkie looking for a fix in its largest forest. But the fix isn’t going to come from astute environmentalists who pretend to speak for the rest of us. It has to come from the communities. Yet, for whatever reasons, the people who play the game, the power trippers who routinely fly to Washington D.C., have a hard time accepting local and grassroots decision-making. (Where did the “Tongass Futures” group hold their inaugural meeting? Bothell, Washington.) And the Tongass National Forest belongs, obviously, to every American. Who down South, when asked if they want their old growth, remote forests protected from clearcutting, wouldn’t say, “of course?” When told that the leveling of their forest has cost taxpayers more than $1 billion since 1982, even the most conservative of our country people would raise their eyebrows. Still, the corporate environmentalists speak, in their pompous way, of compromises, of “HCAs” and “RODs,” of allowing cutting here and there, but not there. They bring out their elaborate maps, where they have certain areas shaded in, and speak into their cell phones to someone, a funder perhaps, when they feel close to making a deal. As far as I can tell, they’re not speaking for small Southeast communities, the rest of America, and certainly not the trees. So, what “futures” is the roundtable talking about? Try my computer’s definition: goods or stocks sold for future delivery, or the contracts for them. Soren Wuerth is perhaps Alaska's best known community activist, and is the winner of the Alaska Press Club's 2006 'Best Columnist' award. He resides in an undisclosed location in rural Alaska and can be reached at soren@insurgent49.com. |
-
Columnists -
- column archive -
September 22, 2006 September 15, 2006 September 8, 2006 September 1, 2006 August 25, 2006 August 18, 2006 August 11, 2006 August 4, 2006 July 28, 2006 July 21, 2006 July 14, 2006 June 30, 2006 June 23, 2006 June 16, 2006 June 9, 2006 June 2, 2006 May 26, 2006 May 12, 2006 May 5, 2006 April 28, 2006 April 21, 2006 April 14, 2006 April 7, 2006 March 31, 2006 March 24, 2006 March 17, 2006 March 3, 2006 February 24, 2006 February 17, 2006 February 10, 2006 February 3, 2006 January 27, 2006 January 20, 2006 January 13, 2006 January 6, 2006 December 30, 2005 December 23, 2005 December 16, 2005 December 10, 2005 December 2, 2005 November 25, 2005 November 18, 2005 November 11, 2005 November 4, 2005 October 28, 2005 October 21, 2005 October 14, 2005 October 7, 2005 September 30, 2005 September 23, 2005 September 16, 2005 September 9, 2005 September 2, 2005 August 26, 2005 August 19, 2005 August 12, 2005 August 5, 2005 July 29, 2005 July 22, 2005 July 15, 2005 July 8, 2005 July 1, 2005 June 24, 2005 June 17, 2005 June 10, 2005 June 3, 2005 May 27, 2005 May 20, 2005 May 13, 2005 May 6, 2005 April 29, 2005 April 21, 2005 |
|||||||
| Copyright
2005
Insurgent Media. All Rights
Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
||||||||
