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Show THE ZEPH aia JUNE-JULY 2006 join consensus groups dominated oy power people; we indulge in the other small set of tactics employed by just about every activist outfit in our country and around the world. And it isn't enough. We burn out and go to the land of sophisticated despair. Lots of company there, you become thankful you escaped in time from romantic goals and pie-inthe-sky expectations. Free of delusions now, you lie back and live the life of hard realism. Is it a good life? Does it make up for what you threw away? I don’t think so. Well, what do you know, disillusion is not the only show in town. Those romantic idealists, they've stumbled onto a new tactic. Reverse the formula, change Power People to People Power. Note: If you are.a seasoned sophisticate and have gotten this far, | doubt that you will want to continue. My particular obsession is the Red Desert of Wyoming and its adjacent mountains and high plains. Here is one of several e-mail invitations I’ve been receiving from Friends of the Red Desert. Leave Rock Come to locals a Legacy Week Events: Springs: Red Desert Dance out and celebrate the Red Desert chines dancing, eating good food, and listening share stories about this magical place. Music will be provided by the classic rock band 4th Rock. And, don’t forget to wear RED. Where: Santa Fe, Southwest Grill, 1635 Elk Street, Rock Springs LOSING SOLITUDE oye When: Saturday, February 4, 7-11 p.m Who: Co-sponsored by Friends of the Red Desert and the United Steel Workers of ‘America Local 13214. For More Information: Contact Marian Doane by phone at (307) 332-3608 or by email at marian@reddesert.org Ercan @l crate And here is Marian Doane, organizer, speaking about Friends of the Red. "Friends got its start from a few of us discussing how the folks in Wyoming don't have Sure, Why Not? A demo, passing out leaflets protesting mega power dam projects in Quebec. Even back then, a decade before 9/11, we had to go through border interrogation by worried officials. But it was a good day. An Inuit from the Canadian side was especially effective. He had the knack of getting people's attention without antagonizing them; he smiled, sometimes he laughed. He also listened. He was doing two-way t enjoying the challenges. Afterwards I couldn't help telling him that he seemed to/be having fun: He said, "Sure, why any groups that represent them in the political/environmental area. Many are not against development, logging and other environmental concerns and don't want to have anything to do with the popular Environmental groups in Wyoming or nationally. They don't know where to go to get support or how to participate in the public process. _ Looks totally HOPELESS at times. There's the danger...those LOOKS. We yield not?" Yes, why not? Why go around demonstrating and protesting and looking like the weight of the universe is on our shoulders? Why not lighten up, give ourselves a break? There is a catch, there always is. The catch is that happiness can't be put on like a new coat or a smart bumper sticker. Between the resolution and the act, as Hamlet mumbled to himself, is the Big Question. In my infantry company we made jokes about the Big Picture. We knew we didi’t see it; no one was bothering us rifle-toting units with such| weighty matters. As time went by we knew the top brass didn't have that picture either. Does anybody have it? Remember George Burns, honored at an Oscar blast 4 few years back? He, 100 years old, made it to the stage and said, "Now I’m going to do something very difficult. I’m going to sit down." Let's do that. Now, let's try the REALLY difficult thing, a journey, a few minutes of quiet travelling away from our solitary selves, away from status, hates, frustrations, resentments, all that personal stuff. There, see it? The world of todayjand tomorrow: Wonderful, Tragic, Funny, Risky and headed for Hell. We see that we re losing our citizenship; we are allowing the drift of other species into the Dark Night; we are becoming consumers and we are treated that way ... consumer units ... by those in e Our choices, if we pare them down to bare bones, are three: (1)Make resolutions and fail to act. (2) Straddle the fences. (3) Take the bull by the horns. Varmentalists and other activists, now here, now there, are in exploratory mode, groping for that bull, looking for The Big Picture. To put it a tad less abstractly , we are beginning to examine much more closely the context in which we work, the relationship matrix in which our activist territory is situated, whether it be/Lake Powell, or drought or global dirondacks, or Peace and Justice. Whatever the cause, once you start exploring you find tough strands of a world-wide net warming or a 120 acre patch of Old Growth in the of power. Power of a kind that we activists do not have. You don't actually see the strands; you sense them, you know they are there, as real as their products: dozers, oil rigs, chain saws, trade agreements, SUVs, ORVs, WMDs, deaths and destructions worldwide. There's the Big Picture. Or isit? Looks totally hopeless at times. There's the danger, those looks. We yield to temptation, A cross continent struggle to save people and other endangered species. $15 Order direct from — . "So it was decided that FRD would be a place for the so called ‘non-traditional’ guys and gals to come together, become informed and participate in all the issues surrounding them here on all the public lands within the Red Desert. "Dan and Mac got the coalition together and asked if we were interested in becoming the Steering committee for this group and after a few years of struggling here we are. We only work on oil, gas and coal bed methane development and only on the Red Desert. We do not work on other issues like ORV traffic, Wild Horses or grazing. This way everyone that uses the area, Ranchers, Hunters and recreationalists, even drillers, can work together. If I have my way FRD would expand across Wyoming and, possibly the Rocky Mountain West, supporting and working with similar groups. "ERD wants to see development done in the right place, at the right pace." It looks like Friends of the Red are reaching to those left out by the political manipulators and ignored by so many varmentalists. No one of us can predict the future, whether we will prevail in time, but I want to put forward as a certitude that until a sizeable lot of those left out are heard from, our country, our civilization, our great traditions will continue on the path toward the fiery furnace. If this is true, there are many corollary outcomes, one of them | or: SIGNED COPIES DIRECT FROM MARTIN MURIE: OSING SOLITUDE: A contemporary Western. ee invade a owtown....$14.95 NDSWEPT: Birdwatchers & a biker from Montana tangle with w Q A NOVEL BY MARTIN MURIE and it isn't ENOUGH. 8 BREAKOUT dominated by POWER PEOPLE; We indulge in the other small group of tactics employed by just about every activist outfit in the our country & around the world... A “NOW AVAILABLE to temptation, join consensus groups orporation extremists in Medicine Bow. Wyoming....$14.95 BURT’ S WAY: Environmentalists labeled ‘terrorists, "keepa’ chuggin’ on the Quebec/New Y ork border...$12 RED TREE MOUSE CHRONICLES: Forest animals on assignment; hat is the future of the forests? They turn activist.....$6.00 SERIOUSLY INSISTENT: 80 pages of activist critique...$7.00 Plus Postage---$2.20 for the first book, $1.00 for the second. Martin Murie : Xe e Send your order to: MARTIN MURIE 470 CR 12 North Bangor, NY 12966 fovea riteli mere sagehen@westelcom.com |