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Open Letter from Barbara
Kingsolver
Dear Friends,
Okay, I'll admit it, I spent the inaugural weekend in denial.
(He's not my president. Most of us didn't actually vote for the
guy ) Ignored the smarmy front-page photos of parades and balls,
skipped straight to Section B to look for coverage of the protests.
But the fact is, we now have a new administration that's hostile
to the things I love most: human kindness, the dignity of
diversity, and the wild glory of life on earth. It's time to
move on from denial to the next stage, which would be bitter
cynicism or action. I'm opting for action, because I don't really
have a choice. Looking out my window right now I can see my two
girls outside under the mesquite trees in this precious riparian
woodland where we live, and my heart starts to break for all
the beautiful things they'll never see if I allow unchecked Bushwhacking
in the next four years. Civil rights and reproductive choice
I suppose we could win back in time (though not the lives lost
along the way), but the waters and wild lands devastated will
never come back.So I've taken a vow to spend at least some part
of every week protecting the truths and places I treasure. Part
of that commitment involves this letter asking you to do the
same. I'm fairly confident you'll agree with my concerns, because
we're the majority.Not only did most of us not vote for the guy,
we also -- by a handy majority, the polls say -- oppose the assault
he and Gale Norton hope to launch.To choose an urgent example,
their plan to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
is hugely unsupported by U.S. citizens, and has even met some
opposition from his fellow Republicans. Most of us want the Arctic
Refuge to remain pristine and untouched -- and we feel this way
in spite of current energy worries and the fact that this magnificent
birthing ground for Arctic wildlife is, for most of us, a place
we've only imagined.
The widespread reputation of Americans
for selfishness notwithstanding, we are wise and generous enough
to care about lives and places beyond our own backyards.
Starting today, if you haven't already,
I hope you'll do a handful of concrete things including these:
- Post the addresses of your legislators
somewhere you'll see it, and make a habit of writing them weekly
to help guide their decisions about social justice and the environment.
- Think of the California energy crisis
as an opportunity to institute, in your home and your conversations
with friends, a policy of conserving resources that will provide
the only long-term solution. And get involved with your conservation
community, locally and nationally.
- A step I recommend is the Internet activist
campaign called www.SaveBioGems.org.
When you visit this site, it will take you only about ten minutes
to send faxes to politicians and CEO's to voice your interest
in protecting places like the Arctic Refuge, Greater Yellowstone,
the Macal Rainforest of Costa Rica and Red Rock Wilderness of
Utah. If you register there, the Natural Resources Defense Council
will send you email alerts every so often (while also respecting
your privacy) asking you to return to www.SaveBioGems.org
to participate in a crucial fax or email campaign.
- These things work. Every kind of communication
adds up, and web activism is a new force in the political landscape.
Lots of effective campaigns have made good use of the internet,
such as the one against Nike, and it was web activism that recently
helped NRDC to prevent the Mitsubishi corporation from destroying
birthing grounds for the Pacific Grey Whale in Mexico. But it
only works if we all care enough to get involved.
I believe the Bush administration has happened
to us for a reason. Setting aside election fraud, family connections
in Florida, and the fact that Republican districts almost everywhere
have better voting machinery, the reason is complacency: too
many people must have assumed that the things we cherish are
permanently protected. We underestimated the power of wealthy
corporations to put a Petroleocracy into the White House. Now
that it's there, it's our obligation and our right as citizens
to drown out its awful agenda with our voices. We have majority
support, now we just have to use it.
Please take a minute to visit www.SaveBioGems.org,
and if you agree with me, please extend this invitation to your
friends and family.
Thanks-- our
kids ask the world of us, and my greatest hope is to give them
one, intact.
Truly yours,
Barbara Kingsolver
Reply to Barbar Kinsolver's letter. . .
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