Americans Who Tell the Truth

Environmental   Justice  

 

 

"We can be ethical only in relationship to something we can see, feel, understand, love or otherwise have faith in."

 

Aldo Leopold

 

Notable quote from Wangari Matthai , Kenyan environmental activist, Nobel Peace Prize Winner

 

"And even before, when people would tell me that we need to do something about the fact that America had not yet signed the Kyoto Protocol, I used to say, Im not too worried about the fact that the government has not signed the Kyoto Protocol. Im much more encouraged by the activities of ordinary citizens in America, those who are changing their bulbs and using bulbs that are saving energy, those who are deciding not to drive a car unless they have to, because they want to reduce the amount of fossil fuel and the amount of greenhouse gases that they dump in the atmosphere, those who are making those small actions, like those children this morning planting trees. Thats what makes the difference."

 

"Noses seem to make perfectly good perches or basking spots, and the insect often remains for some time. Almost everyone is delighted by this: the light tickle, the close up colors, the thread of a tongue probing for droplets of perspiration. But somewhere beyond delight lies enlightenment. I have been astonished at the small epiphanies I see in the eyes of a child in truly close contact with nature, perhaps for the first time. This can happen to grown ups,too, reminding them of something they never knew they had forgotten."

 

Robert Michael Pyle

 

"Man's heart, away from nature, becomes hard.(the Lakota)knew that lack of respect for growing , living things soon led to lack of respect for humans,too." 

 

Luther Standing Bear , 1868-1939

 

"We're part of nature, and ultimately, were predatory animals and we have a role in nature, and if we separate ourselves from that, were separating ourselves from our history, for the things that tie us together. We dont want to live in a world where there are no recreational fishermen, where weve lost touch with the seasons, the tides, the things that connect us- to ten thousand generations of human beings that were here before there were laptops and ultimately, connect us to God. We should not be worshipping nature as God, but nature is the way that God communicates to us most forcefully. And when we destroy large resources, or when we cut off our access by putting railroads along riverbanks by polluting so that people cant fish , or by making so many rules that people cant get out on the water, its the moral equivalent of tearing the last pages of the last Bible on Earth. Its accost that s imprudent for us to impose upon ourselves and we dont have the right to impose it on our children. Our children ought to be out here on the water. This is what connects us, this is what connects humanity, this is what we have in common. Its not the Internet, its the oceans."

 

Robert Kennedy , Jr. Environmental lawyer 

 

"The communities where there is over incarceration and over-policing and overspending on so-called crime prevention, which is really just the economies of incarceration, and theysupporting incarceration industry, those same communities are also the communities where theres excessive pollution and excessive toxics, cancer clusters, the asthma epidemic, birth defects and so what the criminal justice movement is now doing is reaching out to the environmental justice movement. We should be one movement. We should come together under the banner of green jobs, not jail. Its possible to create jobs in our community that are clean, that are restorative to the environment, healing of the environment be it solar energy, a permaculture, bio-diesel and new technologies for clean energy and green products that are available. Who is going to get these jobs to make the technologies available? We're saying as environmentalists and criminal justice people, we want the clean, green jobs in our community. Let that be an alternative energy strategy and alternative environmental strategy and community safety strategy.

 

We're entering a third wave of environmentalism in this country. The first wave was the conservation, Teddy Roosevelt, wave. In the 1960s, you got the conservation plus regulation wave as people began to be concerned about toxics. Now we are going into a third wave where its conservation and regulating the bad and investing in the good. Investing in solar and hydrogen and investing in the things that we know will help the environment.

 

The Apollo Project is the leading-edge campaign thats getting labor and environmentalists together who have always been fighting and say, look, lets not fight. Lets say to the government we want billions of dollars spent on clean energy jobs. Thats a great new development. The Bioneers are on that track. Phil Angelitis, with his green wave initiative here in California is trying to put a half billion dollars of state pension money into green and stainable business. Our initiative now, which we call Green Jobs, Not Jails, bringing environmentalists and criminal justice together, saying, hey, dont throw money and give substances to polluters and incarceraters which makes problems worse. Spend that money on good jobs in our community. Jobs that will heal the environment and restore the economic viability of our community. We're saying out of this crisis of over-incarceration, the public health crisis with theof the environmental situation, theres opportunity for new coalitions and a forward vision-driven environmentalism, pollution-driven environmentalism that connects with criminal justice. Thats what we're about."

 

Van Jones, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights

Democracy Now Interview, April, 2004

 

Fishing Tips for Parents, Matthew Louv, age 12:

 

Fish with your kid.

1. Let your kids go fishing, even if you dont want to take them

2. Let your kids buy supplies and tackle. Thats half the fun of fishing.

3. If your kids are young, take them to a place where fish are easy to catch and small.

4. Let kids fish as long as they want. Let them get obsessed.

5. Let the kids go off and do their own thing. It can get to be incredibly annoying and /or frustrating if theres an adult standing over them barking orders. 

6. At least pretend to act excited when your kid catches a fish. It can quickly ruin a day of fishing if the kid feels you dont want to be there and hes just dragging you down.

8. If you know how to fish, dont give your kid too much unsolicited advice, although it can be helpful if the kid is very young.

9. Let your kid teach you how to fish. Participate in the fishing. This can be quality bonding time.

10. Remember that fishing and spending time with family is just as , or more important, than homework.

11. Have fun; thats the entire point of going fishing in the first place.

12. And whatever you do, DONT LET YOUR KID THROW ROCKS IN THE WATER!

 

As long as I can remember, every time I heard the word nature II thought of a forest surrounded by mountain peaks seen off in the distance. I never thought too much of this until one year when I was on a family vacation at Mammoth Mountain. I decided I would try and find a  place that was similar to the place I have thought about since I was a kid. So I told my parents I was going to go on a walk. I grabbed my coat and I left.

 

To my surprise, it took only about five or ten minutes to find The Spot. I stood there in awe; it was exactly how I imagined it. Dozens of massive pine trees were visible. Maybe one hundred feet from where I stood, snow lightly covered the ground; pine needles were scattered about. Out in the distance above the trees was a breathtaking view of the mountaintop. To my side was a small creek. The only sound I could hear was the trickling of the water and the occasional car behind me on the highway. I was in a star-struck daze for what seemed to be five or ten minutes, but that turned out to be tow and a half hours.

 

My parents had been looking for me because it was getting dark. When we finally met up I told them I had gotten lost, for how could I share such as experience, such as overwhelming religious experience? This episode really made me think about the real meaning of nature. I have come to the conclusion that one's idea of nature is also their idea of a paradise or a heaven on earth. In my case, I felt perfect when I was at The Spot. 

 

Ninth grade student- quoted in Last Child in the Woods

 

 

These are great adult resources and can also be useful for older high school students.  Excerpts are very useful with students also.

 

Wendell Berry- 

All writings of Mr. Berry can be used to look at the relationship of the human being to the environment in some way. His poetry is particularly eloquent  as are his recent writings on the issue of mountaintop removal.

 

Erik Reece

 

Bill McKibben

 

Terry Tempest Williams

 

Last Child in the Woods   

By Richard Louv

 

 

Winter 2008

A good journal as a resource for environmental education. This particular edition is focused on highlighting schools and their work in this realm. 

This includes articles describing school and other organizations working with youth and how they got involved in local environmental justice issues.

 

A film and book, as well as a childrens title for younger students, that shares the story of Mark Plotkin, an ethno botanist. Dr. Plotkin traveled to the Amazon River to work alongside shamans whose wisdom and knowledge of plant life is disappearing. His work has evolved into a program that allows young people to become apprentices in this program. An excellent resource for helping students understand the practical implications of  the destruction of surrounding botanical life in industrial developments.

 

Selected and Introduced by Barry Lopez

A collection of essays that are great for use in discussion of various ways environmental issues confront us today. 

 

Orion Magazine
A subscription to this publication will guarantee every teacher/youth worker regular and excellent resources for reading and discussion, as well as research for students. The Orion Society publishes this magazine six times a year and it is always filled with opportunities for study of the environment as well as its celebration, which is equally of value.