Justice Rising Grassroots Solutions to Corporate Domination http://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org • 781-894-1179 • [email protected]Summer 2007 Vol 3, #1 A Publication of the Alliance for Democracy by Jim Tarbell T he bull has taken earth by its horn. Wall Street’s infamous bull has gored our natural world and its environment for profits. Corporations have reaped billions by taking advantage of marketplace failures to account for environmental costs of corporate activities. Impaled on the charging lance of our money-as- power system, we and world’s natural systems are paying the price. Every day the list of costs and calamities grows. Persistent organic pollutants have spread throughout the food chain. Destruction of our soils and other natural systems have led to extensive species decimation. Cataclysmic alterations of the biosphere are spreading cancer and threatening to cook us all. Our corporate-funded political system has installed a government that ignores the fact that hundreds of years of industrial production and consumption are responsible for creating the prob- lem. As a result, they refuse to comply with global environmental agreements on the excuse that the Third World is not sharing a fair portion of the burden. But the burden should be borne by those that created the problem in the first place. As the Greenland ice shelf melts, the petrole- um corporations see opportunities to extract long hidden oil supplies beneath its surface. This will inevitably add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and speed up global warming. One wonders if we are not really just a mutant of lemmings headed off the cliff. On the bright side, awareness is growing, but are the right measures being considered? Pundits for corporate profit, who loathe to see the end of our high-consumption lifestyle, claim we only need to go nuclear or drive a hydrogen car to save the planet. Too often, these solutions only generate envi- ronmental costs elsewhere; often onto the backs of poor and politically disempowered communi- ties. Fortunately, an environmental justice move- ment is mobilizing those constituencies to fight back against the unfair distribution of environ- mental burdens. Such a realization has led the common people in Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela to exert their political power and demand that their leaders not enter into free trade pacts that just expand corpo- rate-driven and environmentally devastating devel- opment. In the end, nothing is free in “free” trade except the environmental and cultural costs that global investors are able to avoid. In this issue of Justice Rising, we look at who is doing the hard work in this country to address these problems. Ruth Caplan points to the Pennsylvania farmers who have begun a drive that could put the rights of nature into our constitution. Lou Hammann recounts the tale of self-reliant Hundredfold Farm, which had to fight entrenched powers to come into being. We have to join them and stop the charge of the imperial bull. It is our responsibility to insure that we have healthy and environmentally sound trade poli- cies. Models of self reliance and consumption control need to be adopted. Finally, we have to realize that we are part of nature. As it thrives we thrive. All of these stories are in this issue of Justice Rising. Enjoy. Corporate Destruction of Nature & Grassroots Solutions to Save the Planet As a result of agricultural pol- lution there is now a dead zone in the Gulf the size of New Jersey. Bob St. Peter, page 3 ExxonMobil has supported 29 groups generat- ing fraudulent information about global warming. Mary White, page 5 Why isn’t the environmental movement about driving the rights of nature into the Constitution? Ruth Caplan, page 2 As usual, what to do is being decided by giant corporations. Jan Edwards, page 13 Rainforest Action network added a painfully skewered earth to The Wall Street Bull, several blocks from the New York Stock Exchange. photo:RAN
Transcript
Justice RisingGrassroots Solutions to Corporate Domination
The bull has taken earth by its horn. WallStreet’s infamous bull has gored our natural
world and its environment for profits.Corporations have reaped billions by takingadvantage of marketplace failures to account forenvironmental costs of corporate activities.Impaled on the charging lance of our money-as-power system, we and world’s natural systems arepaying the price. Every day the list of costs andcalamities grows. Persistent organic pollutantshave spread throughout the food chain.Destruction of our soils and other natural systemshave led to extensive species decimation.Cataclysmic alterations of the biosphere arespreading cancer and threatening to cook us all.
Our corporate-funded political system hasinstalled a government that ignores the fact thathundreds of years of industrial production andconsumption are responsible for creating the prob-lem. As a result, they refuse to comply with globalenvironmental agreements on the excuse that theThird World is not sharing a fair portion of theburden. But the burden should be borne by thosethat created the problem in the first place.
As the Greenland ice shelf melts, the petrole-um corporations see opportunities to extract longhidden oil supplies beneath its surface. This willinevitably add carbon dioxide to the atmosphereand speed up global warming. One wonders if weare not really just a mutant of lemmings headedoff the cliff.
On the bright side, awareness is growing, butare the right measures being considered? Punditsfor corporate profit, who loathe to see the end ofour high-consumption lifestyle, claim we only needto go nuclear or drive a hydrogen car to save theplanet.
Too often, these solutions only generate envi-ronmental costs elsewhere; often onto the backsof poor and politically disempowered communi-ties. Fortunately, an environmental justice move-ment is mobilizing those constituencies to fight
back against the unfair distribution of environ-mental burdens.
Such a realization has led the common peoplein Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela to exert theirpolitical power and demand that their leaders notenter into free trade pacts that just expand corpo-rate-driven and environmentally devastating devel-opment. In the end, nothing is free in “free” tradeexcept the environmental and cultural costs thatglobal investors are able to avoid.
In this issue of Justice Rising, we look at who isdoing the hard work in this country to addressthese problems. Ruth Caplan points to thePennsylvania farmers who have begun a drive thatcould put the rights of nature into our constitution.Lou Hammann recounts the tale of self-reliantHundredfold Farm, which had to fight entrenchedpowers to come into being.
We have to join them and stop the charge of theimperial bull. It is our responsibility to insure that wehave healthy and environmentally sound trade poli-cies. Models of self reliance and consumption controlneed to be adopted. Finally, we have to realize thatwe are part of nature. As it thrives we thrive. All ofthese stories are in this issue of Justice Rising. Enjoy.
Corporate Destruction of Nature &Grassroots Solutions to Save the Planet
As a result ofagricultural pol-
lution there isnow a dead zone
in the Gulf thesize of New
Jersey.Bob St. Peter, page 3
ExxonMobil hassupported 29
groups generat-ing fraudulent
informationabout global
warming.Mary White, page 5
Why isn’t theenvironmental
movementabout drivingthe rights of
nature into theConstitution?
Ruth Caplan, page 2
As usual, whatto do is being
decided by giantcorporations.
Jan Edwards, page 13
Rainforest Action network added a painfully skeweredearth to The Wall Street Bull, several blocks from the NewYork Stock Exchange. photo:RAN
Justice RisingCorporate Destruction of Nature and Grassroots Solutions for Saving the Planet A Publication of the
Alliance for Democracyhttp://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org • 781-894-1179 • [email protected]
Page 2
by Ruth Caplan
When was the last time you read the USConstitution—read it carefully? Did you
take note of how the Constitution protects therights of persons to own property, even the right toown slaves as property, although the "S" word isnever used. Did you remind yourself that the FifthAmendment requires "just compensation" for anytaking of private property for public use and thatthe Fourteenth Amendment says "nor shall anyState deprive any person of life, liberty or property,without due process of law."
Now search for any language referring to pro-tection of nature. Nothing—Nada. This is whyCongress resorted to the Commerce Clause of theConstitution—"The Congress shall have the Power...To regulate Commerce...among the severalStates...."—as a justification for passing nationalenvironmental laws. A bird flies across state lines. Astream feeds a river that eventually crosses state lines.
Air knows no state bound-aries. The environment asan article of commerce!
If the abolitionist move-ment was about drivingfreedom for slaves into theConstitution; if thewomen’s suffrage move-ment was about guaran-teeing women the vote aspart of their Constitu-tional rights; then whyisn’t the environmentalmovement about drivingthe rights of nature intothe Constitution? This isthe logic followed by envi-ronmental attorneyThomas Linzey with theCommunity Environ-mental Legal DefenseFund (CELDF) when heasserts that there is noenvironmental movementin this country.
So where is this newapproach taking root? Inthe work of the nationalenvironmental organiza-tions? No, it began in therural town of Tamaqua,located in the anthracite
coal-mining region of easternPennsylvania. On September19, 2006, the TamaquaBorough Council unani-mously passed a law banningcorporations from spreading sludge in the boroughand recognizing that ecosystems in Tamaqua pos-sess enforceable rights against corporations. Whowill enforce these rights? The ordinance "establishesthat Tamaqua residents can bring lawsuits to vindi-cate not only their own civil rights, but also thenewly-mandated Rights of Nature."
Just a week later, the Board of Supervisors innearby Rush Township passed a similar sludge ordi-nance recognizing the rights of nature. Then inearly December the East Brunswick Board ofSupervisors passed a similar ordinance. Threetowns in three months in rural Schuylkill Countytook this radical action. The East Brunswick ordi-nance goes one step further: "In the Ordinance, theTownship Board of Supervisors declared that ifstate and federal agencies—or corporate man-agers—attempt to invalidate the Ordinance, aTownship-wide public meeting would be hosted todetermine additional steps to expand local controland self-governance within the Township."
As CELDF historian Richard Grossman notes,"East Brunswick has joined other Pennsylvaniamunicipalities in contesting the constitutional,legal and cultural chains that bind communities tothe corporate system. They have heroically nullifiedcorporate privilege delivered from on high by exer-cising democratic rule of law from below."
In April, Linzey joined with Wild Law authorCormac Cullinan to speak at a conference on"Earth Jurisprudence: Ethics, Ecology, and Law"hosted by the Barry and St. Thomas UniversityLaw Schools. In 2006, the law schools had joinedto launch the Center for Earth Jurisprudence,whose mission is to "re-envision law and gover-nance in ways that support the well-being of theEarth community as a whole, and to foster mutual-ly enhancing relationships among humans andnature and recognize the rights of nature."
It is time to stop treating nature as property, tostop trying to protect the environment by treatingair, water and wildlife as articles of commerce. It istime to build a real environmental movement!
Ruth Caplan is the national coordinator of AfD’sDefending Water for Life Campaign. She will help lead apre-convention Democracy School in Tucson this Fall.
Speaking Out For the Rights of Nature
Wild Law: A Manifesto forEarth Justiceby Cormac Cullinan
reviewed by Alis Valencia
How did we get to the brink of environmental catas-trophe? Are we up against forces too strong to over-come? Do we need to adopt different strategies toprevent the continuing destruction of nature? Ormight there be more fundamental issues that we needto examine as well?
Wild Law is Cormac Cullinan's response to the lastquestion. The crux of the matter is how we see our-selves in relation to nature We are the source of suchgrievous harm to nature because we stand apart fromand exploit the natural world. Earth's salvation lies inour return to an existence where we live as an integralpart of nature, no more privileged than any other part.
The importance of Wild Law lies in Cullinan's viewson how to think and behave as a member of the earthcommunity. Because laws guide how members ofsociety are to act, we must reconceive the purpose ofour systems of governance to promote behaviors thatbenefit human society without causing harm tonature. In part, this means accepting the fundamentalprinciple that "each member of the Earth Communityshould be at liberty to fulfill its role within the EarthCommunity." Cullinan's touches of pragmatism—forinstance, we would need laws that keep us from tak-ing so much water from a river that it cannot sustainits natural flow—not only ground nice sentiments butalso point the way forward.
graphic: Kjersten Jeppesen
Justice RisingCorporate Destruction of Nature and Grassroots Solutions for Saving the Planet A Publication of the
Alliance for Democracyhttp://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org • 781-894-1179 • [email protected]
Page 3
Cheap FoodAt What Cost?
by Bob St.Peter
In the middle part of the country, where endlessrows of corn and soybeans dominate the land-
scape, a very telling event takes place each Spring.This is the time of year when chemical fertilizers areapplied most heavily and the Spring rains carry run-off into the rivers and drinking water. When thenitrate levels, from the nitrogen-based fertilizers, getreal high, "blue baby alerts" are issued. Pregnantwomen are told not to drink tap water and parentsare warned against giving it to infants under sixmonths. High concentrations of nitrates in the bodyinterfere with the blood's ability to carry oxygenand in small bodies can lead to the suffocation ofthe brain, thus the term "blue baby."
Astoundingly, it doesn't stop there. Fertilizerrun-off that enters the tributaries of the MississippiRiver travels south and gets dumped into the Gulfof Mexico, now industrial agriculture's sewer sys-tem. The fertilizers give algae a big boost in growth,causing large algae blooms. When the unnaturallyhigh amount of algae die off and begin to decom-pose they absorb oxygen from the water, suffocatingfish, shellfish, and plants. As a result of agriculturalpollution there is now a dead zone in the Gulf thesize of New Jersey, where aquatic life cannot survive.
The rise in the use of chemical fertilizers can betraced to the end of World War II, when munitionsplants began to convert from producing nitrogen-based bombs to nitrogen-based fertilizers in order tomaintain production and stay in business. Someobservers have noted that World War II actuallynever ended; it just changed fronts.
If the benefits of an abundant supply of cheapfood outweighed the harm caused in producing it,then proponents of industrial agriculture couldargue that such actions are justified. But are 99-centhamburgers a suitable trade-off for non-lethaldrinking water? Who made the decision that wewere going to forgo thriving ecosystems so that foodprocessors like Cargill, ADM, Coca-Cola, andNestlé could have access to cheap ingredients? Oneonly needs to consider the rates of obesity, diabetes,heart disease, and cancer to wonder whether we'regetting our money's worth.
Research conducted by the Institute for Foodand Development Policy, (Food First) has foundthat throughout the world smaller, diversified farm-ing systems are upwards of 1000% more productivein terms of the overall amount of food producedthan large-scale industrial farms. Food First has alsofound that there is already plenty of food for every-
one and that the push by industry and govern-ments for even larger yields is not solving theunderlying problems of poverty and lack of accessto productive land. There are alternatives to bluebabies, dead fish, and hunger, but none that earnagribusiness the enormous profits as in the presentway of doing food.
For farming to be ecologically sound it mustbe economically viable. This means rewarding thosewhose farming does not compromise the surround-ing ecosystem and our health. As consumers, wecan do this by paying what they ask. Sustainably-produced local food reflects the true cost of pro-duction and often a very small profit. It is unrea-sonable, and perhaps reflects a common ignoranceabout how good food is produced, to expect thosewho keep us fed and the land and water viable tobe martyrs.
As citizens, we can lobby and agitate for anoverhaul of the federal subsidy system that priori-tizes high commodity yields, which reward corpo-rate agribusiness at the expense of diverse, ecologi-cally sound farming. If those who practiced justand sustainable farming were eligible for federalsubsidies, a price support system was put in place,and agribusiness oligopolies were broken up wewould be looking at a much different, and muchhealthier, food system.
Bob St.Peter is the executive director of The Good LifeCenter at Forest Farm in Harborside, Maine, the lasthome of pioneering homesteaders Helen and ScottNearing. He can be reached at [email protected].
There are alterna-tives to bluebabies, dead fish,and hunger, butnone that earnagribusiness theenormous profitsas in the presentway of doingfood.
Justice RisingCorporate Destruction of Nature and Grassroots Solutions for Saving the Planet A Publication of the
Alliance for Democracyhttp://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org • 781-894-1179 • [email protected]
Page 4Page 4
by Nancy Price
Our bodies are a "natural" environment, a com-plex ecosystem of many separate systems
(nervous, hormone, immune, etc.), beneficialorganisms (digestive bacteria), and the array ofchemical molecules that run the complex messagingsystem that turns on or off the 20,000-plus genes ineach of our cells to make them function. Toxic Trespass Without Our Consent
Corporations have no right to harm these nat-ural systems of our bodies. Yet, armed with corpo-rate personhood, they do so with impunity.
After WW II, corporate/political corruptioncaused the failure of the federal regulatory system.Since then, tens of thousand of chemicals in theproducts of modern life have not been tested fortoxicity. In the process of manufacture, use and dis-card, these chemicals pollute our air, land, waterand food. And they are mainly stored in our fattytissue creating a serious “body burden.”
Since Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962, weknow a great deal about how pollution affects our"personal" environment, lives and health. She out-lined the basics that prevail today: How businessand industry, along with "their" scientists, engagein suppression or falsification of information, cover-ups, lies, and intimidation; How federal and stateregulatory agencies are hi-jacked, not least by therevolving-door between government and the privatesector; How corporate control of science, especiallyalliances with universities, undermines objectiveresearch to study links between toxic chemicals anddisease; How deceptive advertising shapes consumerunderstanding and choice, and deflects "bad" news;How doctors and authority figures peddle untestedproducts giving them a gloss of approval.
Even knowing the effect of lead poisoning inchildren in 1906, National Lead launched theirlead-white "Dutch Boy" brand paint for homes andchildren’s rooms to make them bright and clean,and "help guard their health." In the mid ’20s,General Motors and DuPont, knowing the hazards,marketed leaded gasoline .
In the mid ’30s several chemicals that mimicthe natural hormone estrogen were shown to pro-duce cancer in both male and female bodies.Scientific research now shows that trace amounts ofthese persistent hormone-disrupting chemicals andheavy metals (lead, mercury) can cause life-threat-ening diseases and disrupt our normal cognitive andneurological development from conception tograve. Sandra Steingraber and Theo Colborn (seebook list) show how a mother’s "body burden"affects the development of the fetus and content of
breast milk. Our accu-mulated body burden—even many years afterexposure—also creates a"precondition" for: can-cer; serious male andfemale reproductive andfertility problems; faultyimmune systems; anddiseases of older age like Parkinson’s andAlzheimer’s.The Cure—Civic Action
We, the People, must assert our fundamentaland inalienable right to be free from involuntaryinvasion of our bodies by corporate pollution. Wemust harken back to the early regulatory thinkingthat used precaution to protect the public good.There are two clear steps for community action.The first is to use the Precautionary PrincipleOrdinance as adopted in 2003 by the SanFrancisco Board of Supervisors, which states thatthe City may act with "precaution" to preventharms to the environment and protect publichealth even when full scientific evidence aboutcause and effect is lacking. The second is passing a"Chemical Trespass Ordinance," like that ofLiberty Township in Pennsylvania, which prohibitschemical bodily trespass within Liberty Township.It also establishes strict liability and burden ofproof standards for chemical trespass and subordi-nates chemical corporations to the people of theTownship.
Suggested reading and resources:Living Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at
Cancer and the Environment, by Sandra Steingraber,1997.
Our Stolen Future, Theo Colborn, DianneDumandski and John Peterson Myers, 1997. Alsowww.ourstolenfuture.org
Deceit and Denial: The Deadly Politics ofIndustrial Pollution, by Gerald Markowitz andDavid Rosner, 2002
The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, andDeadly Persistence of the Product That DefinedAmerica, Allan M. Brandt, 2007.
Google San Francisco Precautionary, there aremany good articles
Go to Community Environmental LegalDefense Fund, www.celdf.org and on left, underNew Ordinances, scroll down to CorporateChemical Trespass Ordinance.
Nancy Price is the Co-chair of the National AfDCouncil and the Western Coordinator of theDefending Water for Life Campaign.
Our Bodies, Our Environment
Business andindustry, along
with "their" sci-entists, engage
in suppression orfalsification of
information,cover-ups, lies,
and intimidation.
Corporate Destruction of Nature and Grassroots Solutions for Saving the Planet A Publication of the
Alliance for Democracyhttp://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org • 781-894-1179 • [email protected]
Page 5
is whether to impose a taxon upstream producers ordownstream users. TuftsUniversity EconomicsProfessor Gilbert Metcalf,argues that you can overseethe majority of emissions bycontrolling the large pro-ducers. He also notes that ExxonMobil, by con-trast, wants the controls to be downstream and asbroad based as possible—in other words, totallyunmanageable. ExxonMobil also claims it is easierto replace electricity with alternative energy sourcesthan it is to replace liquid fuel. In other words,control them not us.
Ross Gelbspan, author of the book on globalwarming, Boiling Point, says that the future of civi-lization is at stake, and ExxonMobil is only con-cerned about the return to their stockholders. Hecalls them "criminals against humanity."
So what can we do? The group Expose Exxonsays: 1. Don’t buy their products, 2. Ask candidatesif they are taking money from Exxon, 3. Write allof your politicians—repeatedly.
1 See The film Out ofBalance: ExxonMobil'sImpact on ClimateChange, a Joe Public Film.
Mary White has coordinatedthe AfD national office, is aformer AfD Council mem-ber and is on theNorthBridge AfD Chapter steer-ing committee.
By Mary White
ExxonMobil, the world’s largest company, hashad undue influence over national energy and
environmental policy. Shortly after Bush was electedin 2000, Cheney set up the Energy Transition TaskForce in which Exxon played an important part.1
In 2001, at the behest of ExxonMobil, PhilCooney, a lawyer and lobbyist from the AmericanPetroleum Institute, was appointed Chief of Staff ofthe President’s Council on Environmental Quality.Cooney was essentially a watchdog within the admin-istration shaping policy for ExxonMobil. When theNew York Times broke the story that he was heavilyediting the Environmental Quality reports, Cooneyresigned and took a position at ExxonMobil.
In 2002, the National Resources DefenseCouncil attained a memo from ExxonMobil toPresident Bush on global warming policy that con-tained a hit list of people from the Clinton admin-istration. At the top was Bob Watson, the chairmanof the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange and an outspoken supporter of strongaction against global warming. A vote was taken atthe U.N. and Watson was replaced.
ExxonMobil has supported 29 groups generatingfraudulent information about global warming. Theydemand that news media always present “both” sidesof the global warming “debate,” despite the fact thatthe overwhelming majority of scientists agree thathuman activity is a contributing factor as opposed toa well-paid handful claiming the opposite.
The Wall Street Journal reported on January 11,2007 that with a Democratic-controlled CongressExxon expects regulations on emissions. Inresponse, they are busy pulling together meetings ofindustry leaders to assure themselves a role in deter-mining what those regulations will be "so theyescape with minimum economic pain." The debate
ExxonMobil Influences Energy & Environmental Policy
U.S. Department ofEnergy Peak Oil Report
The U.S. Department of Energy’s report Peaking ofWorld Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation, & RiskManagement is an eye opener. While the reportstates that world peak oil will produce a crisis likewe have never seen, it narrowly sees the crisis as aliquid fuels problem rather than an energy crisis.The recommended solution: replace liquid fuel withliquefied coal, oil derived from oil shale, and bio-mass—totally ignoring global warming!
The report recommends transitioning as a crashprogram in order to avoid "lengthy environmentalreviews and lengthy public involvement." It statesthat starting sooner would waste resources! A chartshows scientists’ predictions of the peak-oil onsetranging from 2008 to 2025. If the scientists areright, we don’t have 20 years.
There is no mention of how other sectors of soci-ety, such as agriculture, will be affected. Nor does itsuggest changing to locally based economiesrequiring less fuel; sustainable solutions; conserva-tion; or preserving oil as the precious commodity itis. Of course, the lead author, Robert L. Hirsch, is aformer ARCO executive.
The report can be found on the EPA website at:http://www.netl.doe.gov/publications/others/pdf/Oil_Peaking_NETL.pdf with a summary on pages 64-67.
graphic: math.ucr.edu
Justice Rising
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Justice RisingCorporate Destruction of Nature and Grassroots Solutions for Saving the Planet
North Bridge Chapter Joins Global Warming Symposium and Fair
by Jim Tarbell
Our world has been polluted. After two centuries of humanindustrial activities, the vital natural systems that sustain us
are on the verge of collapse. Just outside my window in flowingfields overlooking the Pacific, toxic remnants of an old mill lurk in the bushes.Up the road a 435 acre ocean-front mill closed down in 2002. The corporateowner said the environmental damage was no worse than a gas station.
Only the persistent demands of a small dedicated group of local citizensforced the investigators to find dioxins, PCBs and a series of toxic anomaliesintentionally buried out of view. This is a tale repeated across the nation andaround the globe. Corporations have used rights their judicial friends gave themto avoid scrutiny and accept responsibility for this environmental destructiontheir production processes and consumer products have saddled on the world.
As the nation’s citizens realize the proportions of this calamity their angerhas begun to boil. This smoldering pot of public resentment threatens the powerof economic and political elites. In an attempt to keep a lid on this discontent,the FBI has begun charging vandals trying to protect the environment with ter-rorism.
They have yet to charge the farmers of Pennsylvania with terrorism. Thesebrave souls have begun a process where all successful social movements havegone—changing the Constitution. Only by getting judge-made corporate rightsout of any interpretation of our Constitution and rights of nature into the consti-tution will the movement to save the natural systems of our world have a chanceof saving the planet.
Not until the burdens of environmental destruction are truly borne by thosewho create them will our production and consumption patterns change. Not untilwe embrace the fact that we are part of nature and not until an economic frame-work is devised that accounts for the huge environmental costs of our factories andwaste disposal systems will sustainable human survival be possible on earth.
That is the topic of our next Justice Rising: Moving from the ExtractionEconomy to the Restoration Economy. Restoring our economy, environment andcommunity life is essential for a truly sustainable life style. Please join us in thisundertaking. The deadline for articles will be August 1. Thanks for joining in.
JUSTICE RISING is a publication of The Alliancefor Democracy, whose mission is to end the domi-nation of our politics, our economics, the environment,and our culture by large corporations. The Alliance seeksto establish true economic and political democracy and tocreate a just society with a sustainable, equitable economy.
dors took part in the fair – fromyoung students exhibiting energy effi-cient light bulbs, to socially responsi-ble investment councilors, to water fil-ter and other environmentally con-scious small business people. Localbusinesses donated everything fromdoor prizes to food, to balloons andplants, to free services. Our localNorth Bridge Alliance Chapter wasamong the vendors with informationon water privatization, peak oil andExxonMobil’s influence on publicenergy policy. We were impressed withthe high level of interest shown bythose who crowded around our table.
by Mary White
Coordinated by Concord-CarlisleAdult & Community Education
and many volunteers, the GlobalWarming Symposium on March 24drew some 400 to 500 high spiritedparticipants from around the area. Thekeynote address by Marc Breslow,from the Mass Climate ActionNetwork started the day off with realspecifics about what a community cando. It was followed by presentationsthroughout the day on saving energy,greening town buildings, recycling,increasing a home’s energy efficiency,wind energy, and the new energy ini-tiatives the state is taking. Sixty ven-
Justice Rising
Download past issues and articles ofJustice Rising free at www.thealliance-fordemocracy.orgPast issues include:
• Creating Honest Elections • Information and Democracy • Global Corporate Empire or PopularGovernance?• Reclaiming the Commons• Water for Life Not Corporate Profit• Corporate Origins of War andGrassroot Struggles for Peace• Progressive Religion vs PervasiveCorporate Corruption
Justice RisingCorporate Destruction of Nature and Grassroots Solutions for Saving the Planet A Publication of the
Alliance for Democracyhttp://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org • 781-894-1179 • [email protected]
Page 7
Announcing the 2007 AfD National Convention!Thursday November 1 to Sunday November 4, Tucson, ArizonaSave These Dates. Mark Your Calendar.by Nancy Price
Planning is underway for our Convention. Welook forward to a full representation of chapters
and members at this convention. Thursday evening, November 1, we will gather
together for dinner and an after-dinner social hourto renew old friendships and welcome new mem-bers. There's a lot to catch up on since our last con-vention in Boston in 2004.
Friday, November 2, we focus on skills-work-shops such as how to create T.V. and radio pro-grams, interviewing techniques, publicity andmedia skills, alliance and network-building skills,and we will provide plenty of time for chapters andmembers from each region to meet together toshare planning for education and action in theirareas. Please let Barbara Clancy, AfD OfficeManager, know if you have specific skills you mightcontribute to these workshops. Write her [email protected] with "Convention" inthe subject line.
Saturday, November 3,we will discuss our campaignsand how to reframe our workto focus on the corporateactor and the ways we canassert the rights of people andour communities over therights of corporations. Withthe 2008 election coming up,the message and mission ofthe Alliance is crucial.
On Sunday morning,November 4, Lou Hammann,AfD Co-Chair, will give anillustrated talk on the
Hundredfold Farm Co-housing Community, theintentional community he and his wife Pat havecreated in Gettysburg PA, with now more than tenfamilies in homes. Their community is self-suffi-cient in energy production and recycles its waste-water. It is a model in microcosm of how our com-munities could be designed to be "off the grid" andsustainable. This will provide a starting point fordiscussion of how some AfD chapters and membersare now working with others to create local andregional sustainable economies and communities.
More details and registration information willbe coming soon! Remember to save these dates!
From the Program Committee: Nancy Price, LouHammann, Ruth Caplan, Bonnie Preston, JacquiBrown Miller, Peter Mott, Jean Maryborn, CJ Jones,and Vikki Savee
Two Special Events Connected to the AfD ConventionPre-Convention, Democracy School, October 30th-November 1AfD will host a pre-convention Democracy School in Tucson from the evening of Tuesday, October 30th untilThursday noon, November 1st, taught by Thomas Linzey of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund(CELDF) and AfD's Ruth Caplan. If you've wondered why grassroots struggles are not winning ecological sani-ty and democratic self-governance, attend Democracy School and learn how to reframe issue-oriented work inways that confront corporate control on a powerful single front—people's constitutional rights. You'll learnwhat other communities have done and how AfD members and chapters can, in their community, assert thepeoples’ rights over corporate privilege to end corporate rule.
Post-Convention, Border Tour, November 5th & 6thAfter the convention, November 5th and 6th, you can take a two-day trip, by 15-passenger van, to the bor-der region and Nogales, Mexico, hosted by Borderlinks, a bi-national non-profit organization that offerstravel seminars exploring issues that shape life on the border region. On this guided trip—with an inter-preter—we'll stay in Nogales, with opportunities to meet, talk and share meals with community memberswho are struggling daily with the economic and social impacts of NAFTA and free-trade and finding waysto resist and organize for community survival.
Joe Seidita and Kevin Danaher hit up thecrowd at the 2000 Convention in Davis.
Paul Cienfuegos informs the Davis Convention on corporatepersonhood as panelists Jan Edwards, David Cobb, DougHammerstrom, Bill Meyers and Jim Tarbell look on.
Ruth Caplan and others dance up a skit onpopular defeat of Corporate Domination at2004 AfD Convention in Boston.
Ted Dooley and LouHammann wrap them-selves in AfD quilt at theBoston Convention.
photos: Jim Tarbell
Justice RisingCorporate Destruction of Nature and Grassroots Solutions for Saving the Planet A Publication of the
Alliance for Democracyhttp://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org • 781-894-1179 • [email protected] 8Page 8
protect property and theability to operate at ahandsome profit, regard-less of external costs tosociety. In this way, theCourt favors the ability ofthose with money andproperty to enforce theirrights to engage in com-merce, unfettered by com-munities trying to protect their well being.
This trend is also now cemented into the docu-ments governing the globalization of commerce.World Trade Organization rulemaking on trade issuesis done away from local and national democraticdecision-making in inaccessible international venues.The private sector makes the decisions. Yet, the pub-lic bears the social and environmental costs stemmingfrom corporate practices allowed after local, state, andfederal democratically enacted laws are struck downas "barriers to trade."
Similarly, the North American Free TradeAgreement (NAFTA) includes unprecedented corpo-rate investment protections. NAFTA allows a corpo-ration to sue a foreign government in a secret tribu-nal if a regulation adversely affects one of its invest-ments. If it wins, foreign taxpayers pay. This is anextraordinary attack on governments' ability to regu-late in the public interest.
This is a serious problem that we can fix if weunderstand its roots and fight back strategically. Theroot problem is a fundamental lack of democracy—decisions are made by wealthy minorities.
The Court has assisted wealthy minority rule by"reading into" the constitution (okay inventing)"provisions" like the dormant Commerce Clause andcorporate personhood. Additionally, it invented theidea that money is protected free speech and thatcampaign finance laws must be invalidated if theydiminish the "market place of ideas," regardless ofhow these laws would enhance the democratic con-versation. These doctrines seem designed to deny reg-ular citizens their ability to act as the source of deci-sion making.
Creating authentic democracy is not easy. But westand a fighting chance only if we aim to eradicate thethings that actively deny us our right of self-governance.
Jacqui Brown Miller has been a government and envi-ronmental lawyer since 1996.
Minority Rule Pervades Constitution and International Trade Agreements
by Jacqui Brown Miller
In the late 1800s, the Supreme Court began a trendof interpreting the U.S. Constitution as granting
the propertied or corporate class the right to protectits property, yet denying average citizens the right topreserve a healthful environment and engage in com-munity democracy.
The Court’s treatment of the Constitution’sCommerce Clause gives an example of this trend.This clause gives Congress exclusive and sweepingpower to regulate interstate commerce. Conversely,states have "police powers" to protect health, safety,and welfare. But, the Court limits state police powerunder the so-called "dormant Commerce Clause,"reasoning that congressional power over interstatecommerce leaves no room for states to discriminateagainst or overly burden commerce.
Justice Clarence Thomas has dissented, reason-ing that "the negative Commerce Clause has no basisin the text of the Constitution." Still, the Court rou-tinely allows corporations to use the clause to invali-date state and local health and safety laws.
The dormant Commerce Clause is like "corpo-rate personhood. It's made up by judges and used bycorporations to strike down democratically enactedenvironmental laws, so wealthy corporate owners can
Community
Rights
Not Corporat
Rights
Why use Commerce to Regulate theEnvironment?
Congress passes environmental laws to protect the environment from harm and, inturn, protect humans in the long-term. Yet, the powers exclusively enumerated toCongress in the Constitution do not include environmental protection. So, as sort of acontrivance, Congress reaches for its power to regulate interstate commerce.
While this power to regulate interstate commerce is sweeping, the Supreme Courthas been pulling in the reins when it comes to the environment. Recently, the Courtinvalidated Clean Water Act regulations because the regulated isolated wetlandslacked sufficient connection with interstate commerce.
But wait a minute. Do we really want commerce as the contrived justification forprotecting the environment? Doesn’t this set up an argument that everything underthe sun relates to interstate commerce? Isn’t arguing that everything impacts com-merce heading toward failure in lawsuits because corporations want to invalidate stateand local law—under the dormant commerce clause—for impeding interstate com-merce? If we want to be logical and consistent, what do we do?
Cormac Cullinan, in Rights of Nature, a Manifesto for Earth Justice, argues for con-stitutional rights of nature. This would provide a constitutional peg for environmentallaws rooted in an understanding of our interconnectedness with and interdependenceon nature. This also would impose on government a trust duty to use the precaution-ary principle and disallow actions that would threaten our sustained, healthy, and com-mon future. Citizens would have the power to enforce this duty in the courts. Nowwouldn’t that be a nice change?
The Court favorsthe ability of
those withmoney and prop-
erty to enforcetheir rights to
engage in com-merce, unfettered
by communitiestrying to protecttheir well being.
graphic: kjersten Jeppesen
Page 9
Justice RisingCorporate Destruction of Nature and Grassroots Solutions for Saving the Planet A Publication of the
Alliance for Democracyhttp://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org • 781-894-1179 • [email protected]
Rural Communities Act toEnd Corporate Domination
by Ruth Caplan
The Alliance was creat-ed to "End Corporate
Domination." When cor-porations invade everynook and cranny of ourexistence, where do webegin to respond to thisdaunting call to action?The answer lies with actionthat can be taken right in
our own communities, which, when such actionsreach a critical mass, have the potential to overturn"settled" law created by our courts and drive therights of nature straight into the U.S. Constitution.
It all began in the most unlikely of places—rural, conservative Pennsylvania townships. Thiswas not the result of progressives getting together.In fact, it was in reaction to a coalition made up oflabor, environmentalists, the Pennsylvania FarmBureau, and the Democratic governor, which suc-ceeded in getting a law passed to establish regula-tions that would reduce the pollution from CAFO’s(Concentrated Animal Feedlot Operations).
Trouble was, farmers did not want these cor-porate hog farms in their communities period.They called Thomas Linzey with the CommunityEnvironmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) inrural Chambersburg and said they wanted him tohelp them keep the CAFO’s out. Well, Linzeyknew from his previous legal assistance to commu-nities that the regulatory system was not going todo it. Together they took a radically differentapproach. The towns passed local ordinances thatbanned corporate farming altogether, with anexception for local family-based corporations.Instead of focusing on the regulatory action, theordinances focused on the corporate actor.
These towns did not get down on their kneesand plead with the corporations to be "responsible"or "accountable" to the community. They assertedtheir local authority over the corporations in orderto protect their local farms and the health and wel-fare of their communities.
Then two teenagers drove their all-terrain vehi-cles over a field freshly spread with sludge frommunicipal treatment plants. Within days, DanielPennock, one of the teenagers, was dead from inhal-ing toxics from the sludge. It was a wake-up call.Farmers had been sold a bill of goods. What wassupposed to be a boon to farmers—free fertilizer—
was in fact laced with an unknown mix of toxins.Townships now knew how to respond. They bannedcorporations from spreading sludge in their towns.
The idea spread to western Pennsylvania, deep inmining country, where the coal companies were usinglong wall coal mining techniques to tunnel horizontallydeep under homes and farms without supporting pil-lars. Homes cracked. Ponds disappeared. Water had tobe trucked in to feed the livestock. Blaine Township,knowing that in the not too distant future the longwalls would be coming to their township, has taken theincredibly brave step of passing an ordinance banningcorporate mining in their town. Are our towns thatbrave?
As with the 19th century Populists, these farmerswere learning just how the system of corporate domi-nation works. They learned about how corporationshad gained protection as "persons" under the Bill ofRights through "settled" law and they learned how inour history citizens have created movements to over-turn "settled" law—the abolitionists and the suffra-gettes. In some townships they themselves took on"settled" law by denying corporations the rights ofpersons within the township as part of their ordi-nances against corporate farming or sludge spreadingor coal mining.
Today over 100 communities in Pennsylvaniahave passed laws grounded in asserting communityrights over corporate rights.
Inspired by Pennsylvania, the citizens ofBarnstead NH became the first town in the countryto pass an ordinance banning corporations from tak-ing their water. The ordi-nance also denies corpora-tions the rights of persons inBarnstead, as well as deny-ing them protection underthe commerce clause andcontracts clause of the U.S.Constitution or similar pro-visions in the NHConstitution. The Alliance’sDefending Water for Lifecampaign triggered localinterest in taking thisapproach and providedstrategic support such assponsoring a DemocracySchool in Barnstead. Tom Linzey helping citizens to establish local control and
end corporate domination.photo: CELDF
Over 100 commu-nities inPennsylvaniahave passed lawsgrounded inasserting commu-nity rights overcorporate rights.
te
Justice RisingCorporate Destruction of Nature and Grassroots Solutions for Saving the Planet A Publication of the
Alliance for Democracyhttp://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org • 781-894-1179 • [email protected]
The Climate Crisis Coalition seeks to broaden the circle ofindividuals, organizations and constituencies engaged in
the global warming issue, to link it with other issues and toprovide a structure to forge a common agenda and advance action plans with a united front. See their website atwww.climatecrisiscoalition.org for more information.
Page 10Page 10
Aproduct of the EnvironmentalResearch Foundation, Rachel’s
Weekly has been giving readers newsand resources for environmental justice and provided understandable scientific information about humanhealth and the environment since 1986. Almost each one deals with corporate power and the environment.Their website www.rachel.org also has some very valuable databases including links to thousands of groupsworking on destruction of the environment by corporations, a vast library with almost 40 articles onCorporate Power and the Environment and best of all, a long searchable list of What Works Now.
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF)wasformed to provide free and affordable legal services to community-based
groups and local governments working to protect their quality of life and thenatural environment through building sustainable communities. Increasingly, that means teaming up with peopleand their municipal representatives to mount campaigns that challenge the legal clout of corporations to overruledecisions made by citizens for their communities. Check out their website at www.celdf.org to see the almost threedozen local ordinances they have helped pass including ones that: ban corporate waste, mining, farming and chemi-cal trespass; recognize the rights of nature; establish sustainable energy policies and eliminates corporate claims toconstitutional rights. Find out how your city or local government can become a truly self-governing entity and checkout their Daniel Pennock Democracy School.
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Marine StewardshipCouncil (MSC) were established to bring together forestry and marine
stakeholders to guarantee that forests and oceans are managedsustainably. They establish strict standards for forests and fisheries and certify practitioners of thosestandards. Their label allows consumers to make intelligent choices for the planet’s future.
Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and Amazon Watch have long taken on multi-national cor-porations for their destruction of the environment. RAN’s Global Finance Campaign looks at
the destructive investment decisions of the world’s largest financial institutions and seeks to chart acourse towards a sustainable global economy. Amazon Watch has spearheaded the Chevron Toxicocampaign to hold ChevronTexaco accountable for its toxic contamination of the Ecuadorian
Amazon. Its actions at Chevron headquarters in San Ramon CA support the precedentsetting legal battle in Ecuador that is working under the authority of US laws.
Co-op America promotes social justice and environmental sustainability; demands anend to corporate irresponsibility; promotes green and fair trade business principles
and helps build sustainable communities. Check out their campaigns to counter corpo-rate destruction of the environment at www.coopamerica.org.
Sierra Club's Corporate Accountability Committee sees that systems of corpo-rate governance, and corporate abuse of power interfere with community pro-
tection of the environment. Their website at www.sierraclub.org/committees/cac/ lists their three task forces: Shareholder Action; ConfrontingCorporate Power; and Water Privatization, which is calling on Nestlé to complywith any vote taken by a local community prohibiting Nestlé from taking their spring water.
FOE sees that multinational corporations, in their quest for higher profits,are wrecking the world’s resources. Their Corporate Accountability
Campaign promotes proactive policies to ensure that multinational companiesact in a responsible and accountable manner. They are also looking at the environmental impacts of nanotechnology,ensuring the safety of our foods and exposing the risks of factory farms.
Groups Working on Solutions to Save the Planet
Rachel's Democracy & Health News
CLIMATE CRISIS COALITION
Justice RisingCorporate Destruction of Nature and Grassroots Solutions for Saving the Planet A Publication of the
Alliance for Democracyhttp://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org • 781-894-1179 • [email protected]
Page 11
Books on Corporate Environmental Destruction& the Rise of the Grassroots Solutionsby Jim Tarbell
As the American commercial empire grew toglobal hegemony after World War II, a parallel
movement took root to counter the horrendousenvironmental costs of the empire. Five books out-
line this history. Aldo Leopold,writing in the late 1940s in hisprescient book, A Sand CountyAlmanac, pointed out that humansuperiority lies in our ability to seethe future and understand the costof lost species, “not in Mr.Vannevar Bush’s bombs or Mr.
DuPont’s nylons.” He early recognized that theincreasingly rapid “disappearance of plants and ani-mal species...must ...be regarded as symptoms ofsickness in the land organism.” He emphasized theneed to create an ethic that embraces “land” as abroad biotic community of which we are part anddependent upon, and rejected “land” as simplyproperty.
Fourteen years later, in the early1960s, Rachel Carson in her semi-nal book, Silent Spring, alerted theworld to the fact that our interven-tion into the natural biota withherbicides and pesticides had broadsystemic impacts on multiple layersof species including ourselves. Herconnection of the poisoning of the
planet to corporate policies laid bare the extent ofour environmental and political catastrophe.
Then writing in the late 1980s,Bill McKibben in The End of Naturepointed out that wild nature couldno longer be separated from humansociety. His premise is that we can-not control nature, but our changesto nature are out of control. Climatechange threatens to unsettle the bal-ances that the natural biota has used
to maintain stability on our planet for eons.Ross Gelbspan’s Boiling Point, published earlier
this decade, makes the connection between the pub-lic denial of global warming andspecific policies of the oil and coalindustries that saw their futurethreatened by the climate crisis. Hepoints out that, "What began as anormal business response by thefossil fuel lobby—denial anddelay—has now attained the status
of a crime against humanity."Published this month, Blessed Unrest by Paul
Hawkens adds to this history and more. It covers200 years of environmental and grassroot activistthinking that has led to the creation of thousands ofgrassroots social justice, environmental and indige-nous groups. Hawkens sees this as the largest move-ment in global history, yet one that is largely unseenby politicians and unreported by the media. “Thediversity of this movement, its brilliant ideas, innova-tive strategies and centuries old histories...is...human-ity’s genius and the unstoppable movement toreimagine our relationship to theenvironment and one another.” As adecentralized organism this move-ment “is the most complex coalitionof human organizations. the worldhas ever seen...What will emerge is aliving intelligence that creates mira-cles every second.” It is this move-ment that will save the planet.
Others looking at the impending catastrophebrought on by the perfect storm of resource deple-tion, climate change and the breakdown of multiplenatural systems caused by the corporate pollution ofour oceans and soils are not quite so optimistic.James Howard Kunstler in The Long Emergency:Surviving the End of Oil, ClimateChange, and other ConvergingCatastrophes of the Twenty-FirstCentury looks at population growthand profligate consumerism as thedrivers behind the grim future. Hefeels that corporate executives havesimply been misled by economistsand that the “consequences of theiraction ranging from the destruction of local com-munities to climate change” were merely “unintend-ed consequences.” In the end he figures we will allhave to go local.
Finally, Jared Diamond’sCollapse: How Societies Choose toFail or Succeed is a look at the longhistory of the collapse of varioushuman civilizations. Then in thefinal section he applies these lessonsto our present plight. Herein hepoints out that what makes moneyfor a business...may be harmful tosociety as a whole. In the end he is cautiously opti-mistic, but it all depends on what we do.
“The diversity ofthis movement,its brilliant ideas,innovative strate-gies and centuriesold histories...is...humanity’sgenius and theunstoppablemovement toreimagine ourrelationship tothe environmentand one another.”
Justice RisingCorporate Destruction of Nature and Grassroots Solutions for Saving the Planet A Publication of the
Alliance for Democracyhttp://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org • 781-894-1179 • [email protected]
Page 12Page 12
Trading the EnvironmentSay “No deal” to the New Trade Deal Democrats Fail to Deliver on "Fair" Trade Policy
by Nancy Price
Late on May 10th at a surprise newsconference, Bush trade officials,
Speaker Pelosi, and several House andSenate Democratic and Republican tradecommittee leaders announced the out-line of a "deal" to facilitate new "bi-par-tisan" cooperation on trade. That’s thehype. What’s the reality?
Bush, the administration, free-traders in Congress and big business des-perately want the Peru, Panama,
Colombia and South Korea trade agreements to passCongress before Fast Track expires on June 30. Theyclaim there’s "conceptual" agreement to change cer-tain provisions in these Bush-negotiated agreements,especially with Peru and Panama, and they hope toadd Colombia, despite the fact that there has been arash of labor union assassinations there. Showingflexibility on labor, the environment, and pharma-ceuticals, the administration aims to grease the railsto get Fast Track renewed.
Let’s be clear. When Congress passes Fast Track,they give authority to the Executive to negotiatetrade agreements for the next five years, but alsoagree to the trade policy and goals spelled out in the300-plus page "Fast Track" bill. This includes thenumber of trade agreements to be negotiated andgoals to further lower trade barriers, open markets,and protect corporate profits and property. Thequestion is whether the "deals" just announcedwould be included as benchmarks in the new FastTrack bill.
In Congress, momentum was growing to stop
these four trade agreements and Fast Track. Takenote that in 2002, Fast Track barely passed Congressafter a bitter fight. In 2005, CAFTA passed by twovotes after last-minute strong-arm tactics. Recently,in the 2006 elections, 37 seats of "free traders" whovoted for NAFTA, the WTO and Fast Trackchanged hands (7 Senate, 30 House). And, earlierthis year, 71 freshman Democrats signed a letterurging Democratic leaders not to compromise ontrade.
Unfortunately, these factors seemed to havebeen ignored in these most undemocratic, secretnegotiations.There was no open discussion in com-mittees, the Democratic party caucus, or on thefloor of Congress. Representative Rangel andSenator Baucus, House Ways and Means and SenateFinance Chairs respectively, eager to "capitalize" ontheir new authority and power in theDemocratically controlled Congress, seem to havenegotiated this deal on their own "fast track."
Now Civil Society must remain vigilant andcall for the binding legal text to be released andanalyzed against the proposed conceptual "deals."Progress on labor, environmental and pharmaceu-tical provisions, and removal of the right of for-eign port operators to operate U.S. ports is good.But, Public Citizen states that very important"fixes" are not part of the deal. These fixes includea ban on: off-shoring; Buy America procurementpolicies and NAFTA-Chapter 11-style foreigninvestor-rights protections. We have to make surethat these agreements cannot supercede federal orstate laws on prevailing wage , recycled content,
renewable energy; agricul-ture or food safety.
Public Citizen says youcannot paste some goodprovisions into bad NAFTA-like agreements. The contentand process of this deal arevery disappointing for thefair trade movement andwill be opposed by allgroups fighting for a newU.S. trade policy. Watch forAfD action alerts and stayinformed at www.citizen.org/trade. Call your repre-sentative and senators andtell them what you think.
Stop the Fast Track Express NOW!The "Fast Track" trade negotiating process expires on June 30th this year. Nixon cooked up Fast Track to take awayCongress’ constitutional authority over U.S. trade policy. The recent "trade deal" brokered in secret by Rep.Rangel, Chair of House Ways and Means and Sen. Max Baucus of Senate Finance Committees, that Speaker Pelosihas now to "sell" to Congress, is calculated to demonstrate that Bush and the United States Trade Representativeare willing to negotiate with Congress on trade, but still on "fast track." - But, under Fast Track, the White House picks the countries, negotiates trade deals, and signs agreements beforeCongress votes. Congressional hearings are a sham, because our elected representatives cannot offer amendmentson the final text. Congress is limited to 20 hours of debate before a yes or no vote.- Yet, now, Rangel and Baucus negotiated a deal in secret, leaving their Congressional colleagues in the dark.How democratic is this? In Nov. 2006, 37 candidates, 7 in the Senate and 30 in the House, won Congressionalseats opposing free trade deals – like NAFTA, CAFTA, the WTO, and many bilateral agreements (FTAs). - Call the U.S. Capitol at (202) 224-3121. Ask to be connected to your Representative and Senators. Ask for the"Trade Legislative Assistant" and say you oppose Fast Track and secretly brokered deals.- We don’t need Fast Track. We need new trade policy with representatives of civil society at the table and anopen, fair, transparent process with full "democratic" debate on trade agreements that protect the rights of peo-ple, their communities and nature.
graphic: Kjersten Jeppesen
Justice RisingA Publication of the
Alliance for Democracyhttp://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org • 781-894-1179 • [email protected]
Page 13
Page 13 Corporate Destruction of Nature and Grassroots Solutions for Saving the Planet
The good news is—the United States govern-ment has finally joined the rest of the world
and seems ready to do something about climatechange. The bad news is—as usual, what to do isbeing decided by giant corporations.
Let's agree that drastic measures must be takento reduce carbon emissions by up to 90 percent.Right now the leading idea seems to be "Cap andTrade." Environmental proponents are quick tostress the "Cap" on emissions, but it's the "Trade"that really interests the big polluters. The basicscheme is to turn the "right" to create pollutioninto a form of property, distribute this newly creat-ed property only among the largest polluters for freeand then let them sell it to each other. The value ofthe carbon credits rises with the lowering of caps asthe polluters play ecological chairs. Each time theearth circles the sun, another chair is removed, thepollution caps are lowered, and the value of the car-bon credit becomes greater. Cap and Trade createsan entirely new market, new types of property, newwealth and increased inequity.
In a recent interview, The News Hour reporterasked a Pew Trust spokeswoman a very good ques-tion. Why not give every person an equal amountof carbon credits and let everyone get in on thetrading? After all, he said, we all pollute. The Pewanswer was that it would be "too complicated." Infact, only the biggest polluters were to be let in onthe Cap and Trade. The rest of the "smaller pol-luters" would be regulated. The term "small pol-luters" covers every type of manufacturing from carsto computers and even households. So basically, thisis regulation for most of us, but not for the biggestpolluters. It seems they will escape regulation.Europe has a similar plan. But it has not been suc-cessful in reducing emissions, many say, because thecredits were given for free to the big polluters.
The Pew Trust reports that Cap and Trade isthe preferred choice of the large energy corpora-
tions. I wonder why? Could it be that they will bethe recipients of this new government propertygiveaway; a benefit that they receive because theyare the biggest producers of greenhouse emissions?And what is the actual goal here- are we trying todrastically cut greenhouse gasses in a race to saveall life on earth, or are we catering to the preferredchoices of the energy corporations?
How do you think this will play out in real-world America? Pew also believes that the Congresswill act on climate change soon. If not thisCongress, then the next one. We have watched thisdance long enough to predict the steps. For theCap and Trade to really work, the caps must be setlow enough to deeply cut emissions year after yearfor the next 50 years.
Do you think Congress, controlled by eitherparty, will take drastic action on climate change? Ordo you think they will listen to their benefactors, thebig corporations, and move slowly to avoid hurtingbusiness and the economy? Do you think regula-tions for the so-called "small polluters" will have anyteeth, or will they remain pretty much as they arenow, a slap on the wrist and go on polluting?
The climate, air, atmosphere and ozone layerare common to all life on earth. It would be hardto argue otherwise. The destruction of these com-mons was led by corporate interests. Now thesesame players want to privatize and profit from theplanet's last gasp.
Schemes like Cap and Trade just put off fac-ing the truth. Humans, and especially Americans,use more than the planet can support. We have tostop now. If that's bad for business, well so is eco-logical disaster.
Jan Edwards is the creator of the "Tapestry of theCommons," which is online at www.TheAllianceForDemocracy.org. She is a member of the RedwoodCoast Chapter of the AfD.
graphic: Matt Wuerker
Rights & Wrongs by Jan Edwards
Cap and TradeEnclosing the Climate Commons
The basic schemeis to turn the"right" to createpollution into aform of property,distribute thisnewly createdproperty onlyamong thelargest pollutersfor free and thenlet them sell it toeach other.
Justice RisingCorporate Destruction of Nature and Grassroots Solutions for Saving the Planet A Publication of the
Alliance for Democracyhttp://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org • 781-894-1179 • [email protected]
Page 14
by Lou Hammann
By December 2007, the Hundredfold FarmCommunity, near Gettysburg PA, should be a
multi-generational village of fourteen homes dedicat-ed to energy efficiency and resource conservation.Right now, we own seven certificates of occupancyand four more houses in advance stages of planning.Hundredfold Farm is one of those modest venturesthat cannot save the planet by itself, but is an effort inthe right direction.
To realize our dream, we had to negotiate withTownship supervisors, zoning boards, planningboards, Pennsylvania DEP, County Planning advisors,banks not famous for their imaginations, and, ofcourse, a local rumor mill. As you read on, take timeto check out our web site: www.hundredfoldfarm.org.Even then you may not believe the story it tells.
Hundredfold Farm is a co-housing communitywhose members are dedicated to energy and resourceconservation. Currently there are seven families livingin modular homes designed for maximum energy effi-ciency. Within another two months we should havefour more homes ready for occupancy. It should nottake us much longer to complete the full complimentof fourteen households. When that is done, a projectstretching over seven years will be in place—though,we suspect, not even then completely realized.
This intentional community’s environmentaldedication is best appreciated by observing its twomain "technological" features. On the roof of eachhouse is an array of photo voltaic (pv) cells, generat-ing an average of 75% of each home’s electricityneeds. A solar panel is mounted above the p.v.’s topre-heat all the water the house requires. Otherdesign features further contribute to energy conversa-tion. The pre-fabricated Superior Walls have a veryhigh "R Value." Most of the floors are dark tile.Windows also have high "R value" as does the"green" siding. Several houses use insulated shadesand shutters. The concrete slab on the bottom floor isinstalled with radiant heating. Two other practical fea-
tures are EnergyStar Rated appliances and non-incan-descent lighting. And, of course, the orientation ofthe houses themselves make for maximum solar gain.During a recent cold snap, we set our thermostat at60 degrees, but our solar-friendly little dwelling main-tained a temperature of 65 to 67 degrees.
And then there is our water conservation project!You can see on the website a 30 by 100 foot green-house structure. This is the last phase in our water-recycling plan. There are three wells that supply thehouseholds with water. Each household dumps ALLof its wastewater—gray and black—into a powersewer that turns it into a slurry that is then pumpedto the greenhouse. There it goes through a series oftanks that aerate the slurry and filter it through graveland plant roots. The water continues its purificationand filtration into and through another system oftanks and is then sprayed into a very large gravel bedthree feet deep and planted with a dense growth ofaquatic plants. Eventually the clean water, zappedwith ultraviolet light, is diverted into a parallelplumbing system to be used for flushing bathroomwaste—and the process starts again. Any surpluswater that is not diverted for household flushing issent through pipes and spread across the fields to irri-gate our Christmas trees and rows of berries!
The community also maintains cooperatively athird of an acre organic garden. We make no compro-mises with inorganic fertilizer or pesticide in this ven-ture. A local manure supply, a well-tended compostpile, and volunteer labor produce an amazing abun-dance of fresh vegetables and berries.
Hundredfold Farm is self-sufficient in water andshould soon approach self-sufficiency in electricity.Some of us are hopeful that we will install two windgenerators at the top end of our 80 acres.
For the most part, members of the communityfinance the project. If the web site and this account ofHundredfold Farm piques your curiosity, don’t hesi-tate to contact Lou Hammann, Co-Chair of the AfDCouncil. However difficult it has been to have comethis far in our corporation-free, enviro-tech-organicproject, I can only say it has produced in many of usa sense of relief: We have stood up against the entropyof nature and our psychological inertia. Even if wehave not definitively reversed those processes, forsome of us a clear conscience counts for something.We are, after all, quite independent of the predatoryinfluence of "the gangs of America."
Lou Hammann, a retired Professor of Religion andAdjunct Professor of Philosophy, is a the Co-Chair of theAlliance for Democracy National Council.
Replacing the Corporate Model with a Natural Community
The homes of Hundredfold Farm complete with solar panels on their roofs.photo: Hunredfold Farms
During a recentcold snap, we setour thermostat at
60 degrees, butour solar-friendly
little dwellingmaintained a
temperature of65 to 67 degrees.
Justice RisingA Publication of the
Alliance for Democracyhttp://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org • 781-894-1179 • [email protected] Destruction of Nature and Grassroots Solutions for Saving the PlanetPage 15
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History Notes by William P. Meyers
Human Weedsgraphic: Peter Veres
Modern humans are weeds. Let a breeding cou-ple get to a previously unexploited land,
whether a tiny island or a continent, and soonenough it will be overrun by people at the expenseof most other species.
It was not always that way. Ten million yearsago ancestors and relatives to humans, includinggorillas and chimpanzees, numbered less than twomillion individuals and were all confined to Africa.A million years ago homo erectus had migrated toEurope and Asia, but scattered about at low densi-ties. Even a hundred thousand years ago homo sapi-ens still numbered in the low millions world wide.As recently as ten thousand years ago, after theAmericas had been populated by humans, the world'spopulation came in around five million people.
With the widespread adoption of agriculture, thepopulation climbed more dramatically. By 1000 B.C.the human population may have reached 50 million;there were a number of cities with populations of over50,000. A mere thousand years later, in the time ofAugustus Caesar, 200 million people may have inhab-ited the world.
By the time European humans began theirconquest of the Americas the population was in the500 million range. The conversion of natural lands
to farmland continued to swell the population, butthen the Industrial Revolution got underway aswell. World population climbed to 1 billion around1800 and to over 1.5 billion by 1900.
Up until 1900, human medicine was relativelyprimitive and often ineffective. But advances in bio-logical science combined with the corporate profitmotive began conquering big killers like yellow fever,malaria, and worm infestations. Modern medicineand global food networks prevented the usual naturalmechanisms of population control, disease and star-vation, from working in the 20th century. In A.D.2000, the world population of humans was around 6billion; at the other end of the teeter-totter, numer-ous species had gone extinct or declined severely.
About another half-billion people are alive todaythan there were 7 years ago. That is equal to theworld's entire population in the Late Middle Ages.
In this era of global warming, corporate domi-nance of the debate about solutions means that thepopulation issue will not be addressed. Higher humanpopulations mean higher demand for everything fromreal estate to Priuses. Declining populations wouldrequire a whole new economic mindset that goesagainst the intrinsic values of for-profit corporations.
In high per capita consumption countries like theUnited States, tax laws still encourage people to havechildren. A rational policy for our era would be todouble the income tax credit for a family's first child,give no credit for a second child, and penalize familieswith more than two children. Rights have to be bal-anced against responsibilities; no family should beencouraged to have more than two children given thereal world situation that we face.
William P. Meyers is the author of The Santa ClaraBlues: Corporate Personhood Versus Democracy. Heserves on the Point Arena, CA school board and the boardof the California Center for Community Democracy.
In this era ofglobal warming,corporate domi-nance of thedebate aboutsolutions meansthat the popula-tion issue willnot beaddressed.
