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Show One billion people live in starvation, explained Anderson. One billion more live in poverty. Half of the earth's population lives in mortal danger for their lives. Every day more and more life support systems are stressed by human-made causes. And the scientific debate about global warming is over. It has been for years. It's only a political debate now. As Anderson told local politicians in Portland, if what I say is provocative, then be provoked. Be provoked to act. The first industrial revolution was flawed, unsustainable and a mistake, he went on. We must move on to the next one and get it right this time. Six billion minds must change. The crisis of our time is the mindset behind the system. Now what's amazing to me is that these are the words, not of a David Brower speaking to a gathering of the Sierra Club, but of a business leader speaking to national gathering of local county officials. Think about what a change in mindset Ray Anderson had to go through to get to that place. Paul Hawkins disturbed his world. Earth Day disturbed his world. We too must become agents of disturbance. It isn't enough to merely sort one's garbage for aluminum and plastics, although we ought to do that too. It isn't enough to avoid buying products from those who carry out environmental and human rights atrocities around the world, although we ought to do that too. We need to step into the political life of our communities. We need to redeem the word “politics. Leaders of both our major parties have made a travesty of politics. I don't know which is worse: Reagan's incompetence or Clinton's duplicity, Nixon's arrogance or Carter's bumblings, Bush's ignorance or Gore's complicity. But we shouldn't forget that politics comes from the Greek word for city, for community. Getting involved in politics means getting involved in the life of one's community. What more important task is there if we are to carry on Earth Day 365 days a year and become real agents of disturbance than to become in one's community, to become involved in politics? Are we going to be ahead of the curve or merely debris riding the crest of the wave towards who knows what rocks and disaster ahead? We've all had enough of the Republicrats. It's time we all became registered members of the Green Party of Colorado. Why? Because it's time to disturb political business as usual. It's time to support Ralph Nader, a leader of real integrity in his run for the presidency. Is Ralph going to win in November? Of course not. Ralph is no fool. Nor are we. But it's not about Ralph winning in November. It's about the Green Party winning 5 % of the vote. That's what we can win. 5% of the national vote wins us a place at the table. 5% of the national vote wins us respect as a real political movement. 5% of the national vote wins us millions of dollars in federal dollars. And those millions of dollars will allow those of us working in the grassroots to build a real alternative to the Republicrats' business as usual. No, Nader's campaign isn't about Ralph winning; it's about the people winning. It's about winning a voice for people of color. It's about winning a voice for biological diversity and forest health. It's about winning a voice for the earth itself. price is sustainability. Short-term cheap depends on long-term rip-offs. Short-term cheap plastics mean the rip-off of our clean air, clean water. Short-term cheap paper and cheap building products mean the long-term rip-off of our forests and wild lands. Short-term cheap tomatoes mean the long-term poisoning of our croplands and the introduction of genetically modified organisms into our food supply. Let's stop shooting up cheap and face the expensive reality of building a sustainable future for our children's children. Let's face it, protecting the environment is expensive. Protecting worker safety and guaranteeing a living wage here in Grand Junction, as well as overseas, is expensive. Protecting the human rights of all people, and the inherent right to existence for all living things is expensive. Let's help this nation kick the cheap habit. Just say no to Predatory Corporate Globalism. Just say no to Walmart's cheap goods. Just say no to Shell and Exxon's cheap oil. Just say no to Safeway and McDonald's cheap foods. We need to accept a little disturbance in our lives. We need to ride our bikes more and drive our cars less. We need less money for roads and more money for public. transportation. We need to shop at our local co-ops and health food shops, our small local businesses and our environmentally friendly mail order stores. Here, on the 30th anniversary of Earth Day we are at a crossroads. Either we fit in and accept Predatory Corporate Globalism's new world order with its inconsistent laws and self-serving rhetoric in support of ever-increasing growth and affluence at the expense of the natural world and the peoples of other nations, or we can align ourselves with disturbance anomalies like Earth Day, or the Green Party of Colorado, or Ralph Nader's presidential campaign, to help shift society towards a new equilibrium, an economics of sustainability and an ecology of respect and awe. : Local Green Party chapters are springing up all over the Western Slope. Grand Junction has a its own Green Party chapter, the High Desert Greens. San Miguel County has its own Green Party chapter. There are new chapters in Delta County, Eagle County, Summit County. Task you what will be the future we leave our children—a sustainable world that works for the good of all, ora working world of rich elites, exploited masses, and an environment spiraling towards the black hole of mass extinctions? I say be a rock in the way. I say be a disturbance in the smooth engine of the dozer's day. Oooo Editor's Note” While thispublication does not endorse poltical candidates, we do believe that other voices need to be heard and have a right to be heard. We strongly support the Green Party's efforts to participate in all debates and be taken seriously by the mainstream media._JS | THE SILVER GRILL 6 MARKET "BETTER BURGERS RAY'S!" SHIR, It's about winning 1.4 million acres of BLM wilderness in this state, not some watered ; Open Wednesday-Monday from Iam to 7pm In Historic Thompson Springs, Utah wl On Old Highway 6...435.285.2219 ™~ Reservations NOT Required (sg o down proposal for unlimited oil and gas development on the Western Slope. It's about winning universal health care, not the present system of Cadillac care for the rich and sagging safety nets for the poor. It's about winning decriminalization of our drug laws, about redirecting our spending from a fruitless war against drugs into treatment programs and medical intervention — making drug abuse a medical issue not a criminal one. For too long our society has enjoyed cheap oil, cheap food, cheap goods at the expense of the natural world and the slave labor of our brothers and sisters in foreign nations. It's time we kick the cheap habit. We need to pay the real cost of things. There's a real price to pay for cheap, and that ADNESS!!! THEM ESCAPE UNCH OR DINNER HAVEL EST THE WAY It USED TO BE- Now open six IF YOU'RE WONDERING WHY LYNN IS DRESSED UP LIKE A ‘BOARD,’ TURN THE PAGE. YS Week: TUE-SUN 8AM to lopy aoa Wilt! a ; at like Gallst eine 984 Barret Avenue LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY! 502.583.E66S "Still only 4 531 miles from Moab." |