Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Frustration on environmental issues

[Rob Sandelin (floriferous]

I very firmly subsribe to the belief that intentional Communities of all
kinds offer great opportunities to role model and living examples of better
ways to live. Each community has its own degree of lessons to teach the
world. Much of my energy going into organizations like NICA is fueled by
this desire to create places to example and outreach good works.

Check out the vision of Cedar Village to get an idea of where I am
personally headed next in terms of community

www.infoteam.com/nonprofit/nica/cedar.htm

Rob Sandelin
On the road, currently at Pinyan Farm community, near Atlanta

-----Original Message-----
From: cohousing-l [at] freedom2.mtn.org
[mailto:cohousing-l [at] freedom2.mtn.org]On Behalf Of Jose Marquez
Sent: Monday, May 08, 2000 3:02 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Frustration


Dear Fellow Cohousers,

Sigh.  I am feeling so very very frustrated by our future prospects on this
planet.  You know, I have to ignore so much just to move on with my life
without being completely depressed.....then I question my choice to ignore
the huge environmental issues because it is by ignoring these things that
they stay as bad as they are.  I also feel tremendously weak and unable to
improve the world.  It is just so frustrating to watch the same old mistakes
being made over and over again.....the same powerful people staying in
power....etc.

In particular, I'm stressed right now about the Bioengineering of foods and
animals!  No one seems to care much in our country and they just released
4000 GE salmon (trout?) into our local lakes for fishing season!  Hundreds
of thousands (millions?) of acres of GE corn & soy (in particular) have been
planted this year....etc.  Then I hear about this particularly bad beetle
which was brought into North America in the late 1860's by a scientist who
wanted to breed them with another bug to produce a stronger strain of
silkworms...now 100+ years later our forests are still being ravaged!  When
will we get it that we don't have the skills to play Mother Nature and win?

It's also so upsetting to see us crowding out so many of our fellow
earthlings.  There is a small town in our area through which the local black
bears travel every year on their way to the salmon runs.  The people of that
town enjoy the annual migration of the bears.  This year the runs were
gone....no salmon showed up.  The bears began to starve (these runs are a
major source of their annual feeding cycle) and many returned to the town
with all of its trash cans.  Although no one was hurt, they were very
aggressive (starving can do that to you) and close to 20 were shot to death
by local authorities.  Yet, an initiative to limit trophy fishing was
defeated last year....and the issue is obviously much deeper than that, but
NO ONE seems willing to do without for the greater good.  I, personally,
decided to stop eating salmon, but what good does that do?  I am only 1 out
of billions!

I believe that we each have to do our part....but we do ALL have to do our
part and that doesn't seem to be happening!  I hope that cohousing can be a
force for increasing unity of purpose for our species....for without unity
we will destroy our planet Earth.  Any ideas out there?

March
Duwamish Cohousing
West Seattle