“You, not I, are the indifferent killers of the poet’s dreams” – Minotti
We all plan for the future
We all strive to be our very best
We all aspire to live, laugh and love
We all dream of reaching that mountain top
We all wish to have our own “happily ever after”
We all are the indifferent killers of the poet’s dreams
We all see the scars we have carved into the earth
We all know the facts and figures of our actions
We all learn of people struggling to survive
We all discuss the causes and effects
We all ignore, and the earth bleeds
I am not a pessimist nor am I an optimist, I merely am a hopeful realist who is ashamed of his nation, his culture and his own complacency with this life of ease. This blog is not as pretty as the past, nor as clear but I hope the message is conveyed. If not… at least I feel better.
I am not sure when the disease will strike me. I don’t even know what the symptoms will look like. The bacteria could even be at work inside me today. For some, the disease strikes early and for others it attacks when people are in tough situations but sooner or later you will be infected. Despite years of education, the well being of humanity, earth and its resources is replaced with greed for self until the point where self becomes threatened because of the ignorance towards the earth that sustains his own life.
Richmond and the James River Watershed (JRW) is a great example of how the disease infiltrates. We can see throughout history as the JRW is used to sustain life and sustain transport. As man progressed and multiplied he became ignorant of his effects on the earth and his own health. Resources were depleted, chemicals were dumped and the quality of life, while fruitful in an economic sense, was dangerously low. The river no longer even sanitary for Satan, still existed but what was once a clear, clean and thriving with life resource lay stinky and dead. There is a great story I heard from Ralph White which describes how a man finally broke through the City Council’s ignorance and began the river clean up project. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it online but I bet he will share it with us when he comes to visit.
Last fall I went to Virginia Tech to an environmental conference called Powershift which tore through my veil of ignorance about the world’s condition and compelled me be own of the founding members of the Virginia Alliance for a Cleaner Environment (VACE.) This group is a coalition of all 54 universities and colleges in Virginia who are educating, advocating and working alongside national movements such as Quit Coal, GreenPeace, CSCAN, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Mountain Justice and other groups for a better Virginia. I went to UVA last weekend for a group discussion on our current campaign to work alongside Dominion to support them in a transition to renewable resources. As we went through facts and figures of the damage that has been, is being and will be done to Virginia because of our current rate of consumption, population and ignorance I began to think what am I doing here?
Why do I, as the not completely educated, 100% completely broke college student, seem to be the one of the few people left in this world who see that changes need to be made? I have no political power, no celebrity reputation and very little knowledge of the science and technology that is used for fracking, coal, and oil but I do see the injustice of Dominions monopoly and it’s affect upon small towns, the environment and my own health. Why is it impossible for anyone to make a sacrifice whether it be their time or their wealth for the betterment of the future?
I have the right as a consumer to demand what I want from my supplier but until others stand alongside me, I am merely the extremist, the outcast, and the hippie.