“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
The Lorax, Dr. Seuss
We read these books to our children, but do we actually read them?
It sounds like a wonderful fantasy to give a child. Look at us, giving them high hopes, only to have the realization come crashing down that we humans are doing the exact things we are trying to teach our children not to do.
Do as I say, not as I do. I suppose.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline goes directly through Ben’s family property, his childhood home, the house his mom and dad built up from a dilapidated old barn. It’s sad to watch a big corporate machine come in and demand your land via eminent domain.
They did it to the Native Americans. Now they are doing it to us. We pretend like this isn’t the exact same thing. Here is a check. At least we get that now, I guess. All in the name of the greater good.
It creates jobs, they say. These companies have brought in people from other states to do the work, because the locals don’t want to destroy their own land. Some even resorted to sitting in trees for a while.
Locals tried to fight it in court, but who can compete against these big corporations with all of their fancy lawyers. People were going bankrupt. They couldn’t fight it any longer.
We try to pretend this is different then before, but do we ever really learn our lessons.
Those people have a particular skillset, they say. What about them?
‘Those people’ are not stupid. They don’t need you to save them. Ask anyone who has worked in construction, that shit translates. What if we just had them installing solar panels on buildings, instead of trashing our ecosystem for natural gas.
We know more now. We have better technology. Why do we keep holding on to the past? Tradition? This is the way it’s always been?
Ben told me once that tradition was an excuse to continue your hurtful behavior, not in those exact words, but something close. I’ll follow that up with, we need to learn the lessons from our past. We need to move forward.
The Earth is dying. We are killing her. Happy Arbor Day, or something.
Mad love, Jenna
