Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 04.22.06

[David Shove (shove001]

            P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R     04.22.06

1. Nuremberg/film  4.22 8pm/4.23 2am

2. Mel Duncan      4.23 9:30am
3. Nazi olympics   4.23 12noon
4. AWC volunteer   4.23 1pm
5. Remove weeds    4.23 1:30pm
6. AI              4.23 3pm
7. KFAI/Indian     4.23 4pm
8. Kids benefit    4.23 4pm
9. MplsGreen group 4.23 7pm
10. Mobile home/TV 4.23 7:30pm

11. Build trail    4.24 10am Duluth MN
12. Nov elections  4.24 12noon
13. Hague/Balkans  4.24 3:30pm
14. Fetzer/9-11    4.24 7pm
15. Rovics concert 4.24 7pm
16. Venezuela/film 4.24 time?

17. Robert McChesney - Congress is selling out the Internet
18. Mark Dowie       - Support grass-roots environmentalists
19. Wendell Berry    - Look Out (poem)

--------1 of 19--------

From: Richard L. Dechert <ldechert [at] webtv.net>
Subject: Nuremberg/film 4.22 8pm/4.23 2am

With a flock of awards and a powerhouse cast, this 1961 Hollywood film
presents a highly dramatic analysis of how the political and judicial
leaders of one of the world's most advanced nations descended into the
abyss of the Nazi holocaust. Perhaps even more importantly, it provides
invaluable insights on how our advanced nation is descending into its own
abyss.

Minnesota's Judy Garland well-deserved her Academy Award nomination (and
an Oscar) for one of the last three movies she ever made. For complete
credits and reviews see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055031/.

---
From: Richard Gronning <gronning [at] myclearwave.net>

Recomended reading covering this perspective is Erich Fromm's "Escape
from Freedom." While the examples seem to be Nazi Germany, the reader is
confronted with the fact that Fromm is using the United States as his
example. And that was a while ago.


--------2 of 19--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Mel Duncan 4.23 9:30am

Sunday, 4/23, 9:30-10:30am, Mel Duncan talks on Nonviolent Peaceforce in
Sri Lanka, All Saints Lutheran Church, 15915 Excelsior Blvd, Minnetonka.
randerson5356 [at] mn.rr.com


--------3 of 19--------

From: Stephen Feinstein <feins001 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Nazi olympics 4.23 12noon

Events this Sunday at the Minnesota History Center connected with
the opening of "The Nazi Olympics."
All events at Minnesota History Center, St Paul

Tolerance and Remembrance
Family Day
Sunday, April 23
12noon-4pm

Remembrance Candle Art Activity
Noon to 4pm--Rotunda, level 2

Tolerance Installation
Noon to 4pm--Cloud Wall, level 3

Jackie Robinson: Cross the Line
Performances by Gregory Gibson Kenney
12:15 and 3:15pm--Voice to Vision Gallery, level 3

Voice to Vision gallery talk with David Feinberg
1:15pm--Voice to Vision Gallery, level 3

Lincoln High School Concert Choir Pre-show
1:30pm--Rotunda, level 1 & 2

Butterfly Song Cycle
2pm--Lincoln High School Concert Choir
3M Auditorium, level 1


--------4 of 19--------

From: Tracy Molm <molm [at] umn.edu>
Subject: AWC volunteer 4.23 1pm

Anti War Committee Volunteer Day

Sunday 4/23 @ 1pm AWC office (UTech Building 1313 5th Street SE Suite 213,
Minneapolis)
We need your help to get ready for the Powderhorn May Day festival.  Help
us make our theme - Flags of Resistance - a success!  Activities will
include banner painting/making, sign painting, and other fun activist
activities.


--------5 of 19--------

From: Elizabeth Storey <bstorey [at] fmr.org>
Subject: Remove weeds 4.23 1:30pm

Garlic Mustard Days!

Help protect native plants and animals by removing the invasive garlic
mustard from restoration and trailside areas during Garlic Mustard Days.
Learn to identify the culprit on Sunday, April 23 at 1:30p.m. when FMR
staff will train volunteers. We'll also have recipes on hand so you can
try spicing things up a bit using garlic mustard leaves! Gloves and bags
provided for all events.

Sunday, April 23, 1:30-3:30pm near 35th Street and West River Parkway.
Meet near the overlook, east side of West River Parkway, Minneapolis

Tuesday, May 9, 6:00 - 7:30pm
Meet at Eustis & Mississippi River Blvd, St. Paul

Thursday, May 17, 6:30 - 8:00pm, 36th Street and West River Parkway
Meet at the parking lot at 36th St. & WRP in Minneapolis

Elizabeth Storey River Stewardship Coordinator
Friends of the Mississippi River 360 North Robert Street Saint Paul, MN
55101
Phone: 651/ 222-2193 ext. 16 Fax:  651/ 222-6005


--------6 of 19--------

From: Gabe Ormsby <gabeo [at] bitstream.net>
Subject: AI 4.23 3pm

Join Group 37 for our regular meeting on Sunday, April 23rd, from 3:00 to
5:00 p.m. Please note that this is a change from our normal "3rd Sunday of
the month" schedule.

We will hear updates from our sub-groups about specific human rights cases
and projects, share actions alerts, and build the worldwide human rights
movement.

All are welcome at the meeting, and refreshments will be provided.

Location: Center for Victims of Torture, 717 E.  River Rd. SE, Minneapolis
(corner of E. River Rd.  and Oak St.). Park on street or in the small lot
behind the center (the center is a house set back on a large lawn).


--------7 of 19--------

From: Chris Spotted Eagle <chris [at] spottedeagle.org>
Subject: KFAI/Indian 4.23 4pm

KFAI's Indian Uprising for April 23, 2006

THE 11th ANNUAL AMERICAN INDIAN WELLNESS FAIR, Wednesday, April 26, 2006,
11am to 3pm, Minneapolis American Indian Center 1530 East Franklin Avenue
South.  Health Assessments will be available on site along with over 60
Community Resources.  Program guests are Christine Roy (Ojibwe), Office of
Indian Ministry, Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis and Dr. Patrick
Rock (Ojibwe), Medical Director, Indian Health Board of Minneapolis. FFI
contact Christine Roy at 612-824-7606, royc [at] archspm.org

INDIAN HEALTH CARE, A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH.  There is a serious health
care crisis in Indian Country, affecting over four million Native
Americans. According to a study conducted by the Indian Health Service
(IHS), in 2003, Native Americans had a diabetes rate which is 249 percent
higher than average, a tuberculosis rate 533 percent higher than average,
and an alcoholism rate 627 percent higher than average.

Native Americans born today suffer a disproportionate occurrence of
disease and have a life expectancy six years below the U.S. average. For
example, the life expectancy for men on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud
reservations in South Dakota is lower than all but one other country in
the Western Hemisphere (Haiti has the lowest life expectancy for men).

Approximately 60 percent of Native Americans rely on the IHS to provide
for their health care needs, yet funding for IHS has not kept pace with
medical inflation and population growth. As a result, IHS services are
underfunded, and patients are routinely denied care. For many critical
services, patients are subjected to a literal "life or limb" test; their
care is denied unless their life is threatened or they risk immediate loss
of a limb. Care is denied or delayed until their condition worsens and
treatment is costlier or, all too often, comes too late to be effective.

Federal per capita funding for Indian health is only $1,914, about half
the allotment of federal per capita funding for health care for federal
prisoners.

President Bush has proposed the elimination of the Urban Indian Health
Program [$33 million] within the Indian Health Service.  Urban Indian
health programs report that such a cut would result in bankruptcies, lease
defaults, elimination of services to tens of thousands of Indians who may
not seek care elsewhere, an increase in the health care disparity for
American Indians and Alaska Natives and the near annihilation of a body of
medical and cultural knowledge addressing the unique cultural and medical
needs of the urban Indian population held almost exclusively by these
programs.  According to the 2000 Census, nearly 70% of Americans
identifying themselves as of American Indian or Alaska Native heritage
live in urban areas.  Notably, the Urban Indian Health Program receives
only 1% of IHS funding, stretching those dollars to achieve extraordinary
results.

[I propose the elimination of Bush from his stolen presidency. Good
riddance to bad rubbish. -ed]

Oppose the President's FY 2007 Budget Request to eliminate the Urban
Indian Health Program. Contact the National Council of Urban Indian Health
(NCUIH) attorney, Greg A. Smith, The Smith Law Firm, 2099 Pennsylvania
Avenue, NW, Suite 850, Washington, DC 20006, Fax: 202-265-4901,
gsmith [at] johnstondc.com. And contact your congressional representatives,
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

* * * *
Indian Uprising is a one-half hour Public & Cultural Affairs radio program
for, by, and about Indigenous people & all their relations, broadcast each
Sunday at 4:00 p.m. over KFAI 90.3 FM Minneapolis and 106.7 FM St. Paul.
Current programs are archived online after broadcast at www.kfai.org, for
two weeks.  Click Program Archives and scroll to Indian Uprising.


--------8 of 19--------

From: humanrts [at] umn.edu
Subject: Kids benefit 4.23 4pm

April 23 - Invisible Children's Benefit Concert. 4pm Cost: $5.00 donation
at the door ($3.00 for students).

Raising Awareness for Africa presents the Invisible Children's Benefit
Concert.  This benefit concert is an appeal and an invitation to see
Northern Uganda through young eyes.

Clips from the documentary "Invisible Children" will also be featured.
The documentary clips are funny, heartbreaking, quick and informative -
all in the same breath.  Join us for this life- changing concert-film
event.

Blazing performances by 8 Switch Assembly, Voices Merging, Brighter Day,
and more!

FFI: Peju at 612-229-6205 OR Marcia at 612-227-0165.

Presented by Raising Awarness for Africa (RAFA) at www.rafanet.org.
Cosponsors and collaborators: HIPHOPCLUB, Black Student Union (BSU), UPS,
Intermedia Arts, and the University of Minnesota Human Rights Center.

Location: Coffman Memorial Union Theater, University of Minnesota East
Bank, Minneapolis, MN


--------9 of 19--------

From: Dave Bicking <dave [at] colorstudy.com>
Subject: MplsGreen group 4.23 7pm

Sunday, April 23, 7:00pm, at Dave Bicking's house:  3211 22nd Ave. S.,
Mpls (lower)  Two blocks south of Lake St., just west of Hiawatha LRT
stop.  (potluck snacks)

It has been a very busy two weeks since our last meeting.  I think Rebecca
said it best:  "our mplsgreen research group is doing a good job to be a
home for some of these ideas....  I think keeping the momentum going after
the 9th ward city council race is producing good results!  Hurrah for us!"

One of the things we'll want to talk about is "What next?" in fighting the
stadium.  One avenue is working at the city level, in the City Council.
Last July, the Council passed a resolution opposing the stadium plan
unless there are some changes to recognize the sovereign rights of the
city (the current plan, for instance, over-rules the City Charter - our
city's constitution).  We need to turn that expressed opposition of the
City Council into something meaningful - and strengthen opposition to
include opposing any tax without a referendum.

Some other things that we have discussed that we should follow up
on:

Cam has written about the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for
the Central Corridor - that is the transit corridor from downtown Mpls to
downtown St. Paul.  LRT is proposed, mostly down the middle of University
Ave.  Also, comments have been solicited regarding Minneapolis's Community
Policing Initiative.  Both of these have deadlines.  How will we
participate?  Also, Cam has sent out notices of the City's Transportation
Planning workshops.  Has anyone gone to one of those yet?  Similarly,
Stephen Eisenmenger has sent a message to the group regarding his Uptown
neighbors and their effort to influence the Lake St.  redesign.  Do we, as
individuals, or as a group, have an interest in helping with that?  What
do we do to follow up the involvement in the WiFi issue?

Many of us participated in and were inspired by the massive immigrant
rights march in St. Paul two weeks ago.  The momentum from that is
building toward a strike / boycott action on May 1st (the real May Day!)
There is a meeting of the group that is planning this.  I couldn't attend
the one last Monday, but I hear that it was large and well-run.  I would
strongly encourage anyone who can to attend tomorrow's planning meeting:

Sunday, 4/23 2:30pm Meeting to plan May 1 strike, at Waite House, 2529
13th Ave. S., Mpls

Thanks to everyone who has been involved in our work so far!!  We
are starting to make a difference, as Rebecca said.  Please come
to our meeting tomorrow night,

Dave Bicking 612-276-1213


--------10 of 19--------

From: Margaret Kaplan <siena88 [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Mobile home/TV 4.23 7:30pm

American Dream Under Fire:
Mobile Home Park Residents Fight to Hold Ground

"Where am I going to go?" wonders Vanessa Ramirez, a hard working mother
who lives in a mobile home park facing closure.  Her community's story is
captured in a new documentary that exposes the bleak future of one of
America's least understood affordable housing options, manufactured - or
"mobile" - home parks.

"American Dream Under Fire" explores the urgent issue of preserving
manufactured home park communities in the face of skyrocketing land values
and development pressures.  The program follows the fight to save a
manufactured park community located in a Minneapolis suburb.  Other
stories, challenges, and solutions are woven into this eye-opening
documentary.

Will Vanessa Ramirez and her neighbors remain independent homeowners or
have the land sold right from under their homes?  Will they become
subsidized renters or end up homeless?  What options do residents, housing
advocates, non-profits, and policy makers have to save these much needed
communities?  This provocative documentary sheds light on this little
known piece of the "American Dream."

April 23
7:30-8pm
Twin Cities Public Television
Channel 17
Sponsored by the Northwest Area Foundation and Twin
Cities Public Television


--------11 of 19--------

From: GibbsJudy [at] aol.com
Subject: Build trail 4.24 10am Duluth MN

The Superior Hiking Trail Seeks Volunteers to help build 40 miles of trail
through the City of Duluth. No experience is needed, all ages welcome.
Bring a lunch and plenty of water. Dress for the weather. Tools and
instruction provided. For more information contact Judy Gibbs at 728-9827
or gibbsjudy [at] aol.com or go to the Superior Hiking Trail website at
www.shta.org.

Monday, April 24, 10-3 pm. Meet on Vermilion Road halfway between the Park
Hill Cemetery entrance and Pleasant View Road, near the Amity Creek
Crossing. We will park there and walk out and back to Hawk Ridge and do
final route flagging, including determining locations of any needed
boardwalks. Friday, April 28, 10-3 pm. Meet on Vermilion Road halfway
between the Park Hill Cemetery entrance and Pleasant View Road, near the
Amity Creek Crossing. We will park there and walk out and back to Martin
Road and do final route flagging, including determining locations of any
needed boardwalks.

For more information contact Judy Gibbs at 728-9827 or gibbsjudy [at] aol.com.
Judy Gibbs 728-9827 391-0886 5875 North Shore Dr., Duluth, MN 55804


--------12 of 19--------

From: Stephen Feinstein <feins001 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Nov elections 4.24 12noon

[This event is likely but not certain to be un- or anti-progressive, stale
lesser-evil rah-rah Dems down with the Greens liberal line.  Brookings is
liberal (not progressive), as was Harriman. The CFR is a pillar of the
ruling class. Being widely quoted and published in the popular media is
almost a guarantee of establishmet-safe credentials. All too typical for
the UofM & HHH center.  Go to see the propaganda machine in action.  -ed]

Center for the Study of Politics and Governance
New Research on American Politics and Governance:
A series of in-depth talks by prominent experts

Presents:
Thomas E. Mann Senior Fellow, Governance Studies The W. Averell Harriman
Chair The Brookings Institution

America at the Crossroads: The Midterm Elections and Republican
Government

Monday April 24
12noon-1:30pm

America faces profound challenges overseas and at home.  Politics in
Washington is beset with recriminations over the Iraq War, charges of
corruption and wrong doing, and large and growing budget deficits.
Meanwhile, national security and domestic challenges remain daunting.
Republican leaders are openly worrying about the coming mid-term elections
and whether they can sustain a remarkable run of electoral victories.
Democrats eagerly welcome the political opening but are struggling to find
a common platform and consistent message.  Thomas E. Mann, one the
country's most visible and widely respected political analysts will sort
through these political developments.

Humphrey Museum and Forum
Hubert H. Humphrey Center
301 19th Ave. S., Minneapolis (U of M West Bank)

THOMAS E. MANN was director of Governmental Studies at The Brookings
Institution from 1987 to 1999 and executor director of the American
Political Science Association before that.  He earned his B.A. in
political science at the University of Florida and his M.A. and Ph.D. at
the University of Michigan. Mann has taught at a number of universities;
conducted polls for congressional candidates; and worked as a consultant
and adviser to a number of organizations and efforts to reform American
government.  He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mann is a recipient of
the American Political Science Association's Frank J. Goodnow and Charles
E. Merriam Awards, and has written a number of books on Congress,
elections and polling, foreign policy, political reporting, campaign
finance reform, and redistricting.  He is widely quoted and published in
the popular media.

The Center for the Study of Politics and Governance sponsors a wide range
of conferences, public events, and analyses.  The "New Research on
American Politics and Governance Series" offers presentations by premier
experts in politics and public policy.  More information about the Center
can be found at http://www.hhh.umn.edu/centers/cspg/index.html

Subject: Rovics concert 4.24 7pm
This event is free and open to the public.  No registration necessary.


--------13 of 19--------

From: Stephen Feinstein <feins001 [at] umn.edu>
Subject: Hague/Balkans 4.24 3:30pm

"After Milosevic: Implications and Effects for the Hague Tribunal and
the Balkans."
Monday April 24
3:30pm Room 125 Nolte Center
Professor Thomas Emmert
Gustavus Adolphus College History Department

The death of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosev while on trial in
The Hague Tribunal for Genocide and Crimes against Humanity has raised a
number of questions about his death, and more significantly, the issue of
pursuit and trial of war criminals from the Bosnian War of 1992.

Has his death weakened the court? Have the victims been cheated without a
full trial? Will Radko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic be brought to trial?
What will be the impact of all of these events on the future of the
Balkans.

Prof. Emmert, an expert on all matters pertaining to the Balkans, will
explore these subject.

Co-sponsored by CHGS, IAS, Dept. of History, Minnesota Population Center
and the College of Liberal Arts Special Events Fund.
Refreshments will be served. (And a good thing, too. -ed]


--------14 of 19--------

From: alteravista [at] earthlink.net
Subject: Fetzer/9-11 4.24 7pm

Free Monday Movie at Lori's:  Monday, April 24, 7pm:
"Conspiracy Theories:  Part 2.  9/11."
Lori's Coffee House, 1435 Cleveland Av N, StPaul (across from StPaul
Campus).

The second in a series of talks on the circumstances of the death of JFK,
9/11, and the death of Wellstone, presented by Prof. James Fetzer,
McKnight Professor of Philosophy, University of Minnesota-Duluth,
co-founder of Scholars for 9/11 Truth.

Come hear the evidence Prof. Fetzer presents about 9/11, and then plan to
meet him in person at St. Thomas University on May 3, 7 pm, 3M Auditorium
in the Science Building, corner of Cretin and Summit.

--
9/11 has redefined the course of the future for the whole world.  Is the
official story true?  Did 19 Muslim fanatics bring down the Towers and
strike the Pentagon, unchallenged by U.S. defenses?  Was 9/11 really a
surprise?

Come hear Prof. James Fetzer McKnight Professor of Philosophy, University
of Minnesota-Duluth Co-founder, Scholars for 9/11 Truth* give a

CRITICAL REVIEW OF 9/11 EVIDENCE

Wednesday, May 3, 7 pm
3M Auditorium, St. Thomas University
Southwest corner of Summit Ave. and Cretin, St. Paul
(On-street parking on Summit, metered parking behind building)

Presented by mn911 group

Examples of Unanswered Questions

* Why did six of the alleged 19 hijackers turn up alive right
  after 9/11?

* Who made millions selling "puts" on (short selling) United and American
  Airlines just before 9/11?

* Why did firefighters and others report hearing explosions in the towers
  before they fell?

* Why was the steel wreckage immediately hauled off and shipped abroad
  before forensic examination was done?

* Why was there no sign of an airliner or bodies in the PA meadow where
  Flight 93 supposedly went down?

*An association of academicians and experts dedicated to exposing
falsehoods and revealing truths about the events of 9/11.
(www.scholarsfor911truth.org)
FFI 651-633-4410


--------15 of 19--------

From: Lydia Howell <lhowell [at] visi.com>
Subject: Rovics concert 4.24 7pm

Mon. April 24: Rovics, Walking Elk, Hulett @ Joan of Arc, Minneapolis

>From labor struggles in the 19th/early 20th century to the
African-American civil rights movement to peacemaking, music always
powers political struggle. The BBC says "if Phil Oches came back from
the dead, he'd sound like David Rovics" A prolific songwriter, Rovics is
an anti-corporate globalization troubador with deep labor and anti-war
roots.

He's joined by Indigenous folk artist Mitch Walking Elk and
Scottsman-famous-in-Australia, Alistair Hulett reinvents Celtic music with
politicized lyricism. Bolster your spirit of resistance with these three
great voices for justice.

$12 Mon.April 24,7pm, Joan of Arc Church, 4537 Third Ave. South,
Minneapolis Advance tickets available at Electric Fetus/Homestead Pickin'
Parlor (Lydia Howell)


--------16 of 19--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Venezuela 4.24 time?

Monday, 4/24, Venezuelan director presents documentary "The Old Man and
Jesus: Prophets of Rebellion," Macalester College, St. Paul.  Time and exact
location from msp [at] ushov.org


--------17 of 19--------

From: "Robert McChesney, FreePress.net" <list [at] freepress.net>
Subject: Congress Is Selling Out the Internet

Dear media reformer,
Congress is about to sell out the Internet by letting big phone and cable
companies set up toll booths along the information superhighway.

Companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are spending tens of millions in
Washington to kill "network neutrality" -- a principle that keeps the
Internet open to all.

A bill moving quickly through Congress would let these companies become
Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go fast or slow -- and
which won't load at all -- based on who pays them more. The rest of us
will be detoured to the "slow lane," clicking furiously and waiting for
our favorite sites to download.

Tell Congress to Save Net Neutrality Now:
http://action.freepress.net/ct/lp2yY-719PRt/

Our elected representatives are trading favors for campaign donations from
phone and cable companies. They're being wooed by people like AT&T's CEO,
who says "the Internet can't be free" and wants to decide what you do,
where you go and what you watch online.

The best ideas rarely come from those with the deepest pockets. If the
phone and cable companies get their way, the open and free Internet could
soon be fenced in by large corporations. If Congress turns the Internet
over to AT&T, everyone who uses the Internet will suffer:

* Google users -- Another search engine could pay AT&T to guarantee that
it opens faster than Google on your computer.

* iPod listeners -- Comcast could slow access to iTunes, steering you to a
higher-priced music service that paid for the privilege.

* Work-at-home parents -- Connecting to your office could take longer if
you don't purchase your carrier's preferred applications. Sending family
photos and videos could slow to a crawl.

* Retirees -- Web pages you always use for online banking, access to
health care information, planning a trip or communicating with friends and
family could fall victim to Verizon's pay-for-speed schemes.

* Bloggers -- Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips
-- silencing citizen journalists and amplifying the mainstream media.

* Online activists -- Political organizing could be slowed by the handful
of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups to pay a fee to
join the "fast lane."

* Small businesses -- When AT&T favors their own services, you won't be
able to choose more affordable providers for online video,
teleconferencing, and Internet phone calls.

* Innovators with the "next big idea" -- Startups and entrepreneurs will
be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay for a top
spot on the Web.

We can't let Congress ruin the free and open Internet that has
revolutionized democratic participation, economic innovation, and free
speech online.

Let Congress Know that You Want Net Neutrality Now:
http://action.freepress.net/ct/lp2yY-719PRt/

We must act now or lose the Internet as we know it.
Onward,
Robert W. McChesney Free Press

P.S. Visit http://action.freepress.net/ct/012yY-719PRg/ to contact your
representative, learn more about this issue, and discuss this campaign
with other activists.

You can take action on this alert via the web at:
http://action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet/i786ebd4fjnx8jd?

Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
http://action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet/forward/i786ebd4fjnx8jd?

INSTRUCTIONS TO RESPOND VIA THE WEB:
If you have access to a web browser, you can take action on this
alert by going to the following URL:
http://action.freepress.net/campaign/savethenet/i786ebd4fjnx8jd?

Your letter will be addressed and sent to:
Your Congressperson
Your Senators


--------18 of 19--------

SUPPORT GRASS-ROOTS ENVIRONMENTALISTS
By Mark Dowie
From: The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Apr. 20, 2006

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, the modern American environmental
movement has been in a constant state of flux. The movement itself began
about a century ago with a small number of relatively conservative
organizations largely committed to wilderness preservation, and has in the
past 35 years grown into a vast national complex comprising a few dozen
large national organizations and thousands of small grass-roots groups
that focus on local and regional matters as well as social concerns like
environmental justice.

American environmentalism is interested in such a wide range of issues
that it seems at times to be many movements. Groups that are preserving
the forests, conserving wildlife, protecting rivers, defending the oceans,
and improving air and water quality all operate under the broad and very
vague rubric of environmentalism, as do organizations making sure that
minority neighborhoods don't suffer unduly from environmental harms and
that workers are not exposed to toxic substances.

The large national groups take on most of those issues in one way or
another, so they often think of themselves, and their members, as part of
the grass roots. However, most members of national organizations are
passive check writers and occasional letter writers, essential perhaps to
the operation of the organization, and of some value to the cause of
environmental protection, but hardly vital to the grass-roots commitment
and energy essential to any successful social movement. Changing the
balance, so the grass-roots groups can be stronger, is an essential
challenge for the world of philanthropy.

To be sure, the Sierra Club and the National Audubon Society work
aggressively to foster activism among their members, and a few members of
the other groups are active in local causes, often at the behest of
national headquarters. But the serious and most effective activists are
more likely to be found in the 50,000 or more small to medium- sized
regional and local groups scattered about the country, many of them ad hoc
and temporary in nature, frequently and unpredictably appearing and
disappearing from watersheds and neighborhoods they seek to protect.

The press rarely pays attention to these activists, so the American public
is generally unaware of them, except perhaps when talk-show hosts describe
them as single-issue cranks, troublemakers, and antagonists of economic
development. Meanwhile the news media turn to mainstream organizations,
which have wrapped themselves in a mantle of elite respectability and come
to regard themselves as "the movement." Sadly, those big green groups show
little regard or respect for anything remotely grass roots beyond their
own largely inert membership.

The failure of these mainstream organizations to produce meaningful change
has led some smart but not very wise young people to declare the death of
American environmentalism. These critics are right about one thing: The
movement is certainly in trouble. It is courting irrelevance as unwieldy,
unimaginative, overfed organizations, with plush headquarters in
Washington and New York, rely on tired old tactics, such as politely
lobbying the federal government, that long ago ceased being effective.

But even if the big organizations are presenting obvious symptoms of organ
failure, it seems premature to write an obituary for a nationwide matrix
that still has 11 million dues-paying members, about 400 foundations and
even some corporations supporting it, as well as thousands of
organizations that employ some of society's most committed and brilliant
scientists, lawyers, organizers, and activists.

What the critics have missed isn't whether environmentalism is alive or
dead, or should be dead. The real question is what can be done to bridge
the divide between the mainstream and the grass roots of the movement, and
the answer to that has a lot to do with how environmentalism is financed.

About 70 percent of the revenue flowing into the entire environmental
agenda ends up in the treasuries of about 25 large national organizations,
according to the book Environment Inc.: From Grassroots to Beltway, by
Christopher J. Bosso, a political scientist at Northwestern University.
That leaves literally thousands of small to medium-sized groups, some with
large and significant missions, to compete for the other 30 percent.

While much of the money that flows to environmental activism comes from
individuals, a significant share comes from foundations that attach
strings to their grants. As a result, grant makers are setting the agenda
for much of the environmental movement.

Foundations tend to support the big groups, in part because they are so
unwilling to take risks. Many of them would rather write one large check
to a high-profile national organization than 10 small checks to groups
they have barely heard of and would have to monitor more closely.

Some foundation executives also tend to buy into the sophisticated
publicity that flows endlessly from mainstream organizations, many of
which have merely swept into campaigns or issues at the last minute, when
success seemed imminent, and claimed credit for accomplishments that
grass-roots groups had been working on for years.

The lack of attention to the grass roots has been further exacerbated by
the growing number of foundations that want to shape their own programs,
rather than giving money to projects developed by environmental groups.
Most of the foundation program officers who create these efforts have no
experience working with grass-roots groups.

Changing such patterns is not easy, but if foundations would pool their
money into a new effort to strengthen the grass roots, they could make a
big difference.

Foundations that join forces for such a project would have to be willing
to take risks, and even fail at times. Here are some of the ingredients
that should go into an effective effort to stimulate the grass-roots
groups:

* Grant-making decisions would be made fast, and money doled out quickly.
Grass-roots groups rarely have serious financial cushions, nor do they
have the luxury to take a long time to plan their campaigns and wait for
the money to come in.

* While moving quickly is important to helping groups get their start and
stay afloat, the best way to help grass-roots groups flourish over the
long term is for grant makers to commit funds for as long as 20 years,
instead of the three years that so many foundations now offer before they
cut off their aid.

* Getting good and fresh ideas is also a critical need, and a key role for
a foundation collaborative. It could support circuit riders whose task it
would be to search the countryside for effective change agents and
organizations needing support. The collaborative should also turn to its
first or second round of grantees for suggestions about what groups to
support in the third or fourth rounds, thereby getting feedback from
groups that know what is needed most and democratizing the process of
grant making.

* To give small groups the help they need with marketing, technology, fund
raising, and back-office administration, foundations should support the
development of groups that provide those services effectively and at low
cost. Then struggling groups would not be forced to waste time on tasks
unrelated to their mission of protecting the environment.

Such a collaborative needs to worry not just about supporting
organizations, but about supporting people. It should pay for health and
liability insurance for people who work for small, risk-taking groups.
Environmentalists should not have to feel compelled to work at a big group
just because that is the only way to get decent benefits.

The collaborative should also demonstrate its commitment to
environmentalism by making sure its money is invested in ways that are
aligned with its mission. It would either avoid investments in companies
with poor environmental records or use its power as a shareholder to
change the policies of companies that damage the environment. Focusing
solely on making grants is not enough.

Other goals of a collaborative to spur grass-roots groups would be:

* To provide grass-roots activists protection against retaliation from
companies they protest and from the backlash of activists from the
counter-environmentalist movements.

* To foster regional and international networks of small groups that will
become more powerful by multiplying their numbers and combining their
efforts.

* To encourage solid multicultural work that brings racial and ethnic
minorities into a movement that is still largely made up of white and
middle-class people.

* To strengthen the entire environmental effort by linking advocates for
environmental justice, economic justice, public health, democratic
decision making, and civil rights.

While large national organizations provide the overall movement an
invaluable service in the form of research, litigation, and communication,
they are not, and should not be regarded as, the heart of the movement.

Once liberated from that self-image and the responsibility that goes with
it, national groups will be free to expand and improve their scientific
and legal contributions to the cause of environmental protection and
public health, all the while providing supportive service and
encouragement to the thousands of smaller neighborhood groups applying
social and political pressure where it is needed most --- at the grass
roots of the nation.

**Mark Dowie is conducting research on the historical relationship between
international conservation and indigenous peoples for MIT Press. He is
also the author of American Foundations and Losing Ground: American
Environmentalism at the Close of the Twentieth Century.


--------19 of 19--------

Wendell Berry - Look Out
(found by Lydia Howell)

Look Out*

    Come to the window, look out, and see
    the valley turning green in remembrance
    of all springs past and to come, the woods
    perfecting with immortal patience
    the leaves that are the work of all of time,
    the sycamore whose white limbs shed
    the history of a man's life with their old bark,
    the river quivering under the morning's breath
    like the touched skin of a horse, and you will see
    also the shadow cast upon it by fire, the war
    that lights its way by burning the earth.

    Come to your windows, people of the world,
    look out at whatever you see wherever you are,
    and you will see dancing upon it that shadow.
    You will see that your place, wherever it is,
    your house, your garden, your shop, your forest, your farm,
    bears the shadow of its destruction by war
    which is the economy of greed which is plunder
    which is the economy of wrath which is fire.
    The Lords of War sell the earth to buy fire,
    they sell the water and air of life to buy fire.
    They are little men grown great by willingness
    to drive whatever exists into its perfect absence.
    Their intention to destroy any place is solidly founded
    upon their willingness to destroy every place.

    Every household of the world is at their mercy,
    the households of the farmer and the otter and the owl
    are at their mercy. They have no mercy.
    Having hate, they can have no mercy.
    Their greed is the hatred of mercy.
    Their pockets jingle with the small change of the poor.
    Their power is the willingness to destroy
    everything for knowledge which is money
    which is power which is victory
    which is ashes sown by the wind.

    Leave your windows and go out, people of the world,
    go into the streets, go into the fields, go into the woods
    and along the streams. Go together, go alone.
    Say no to the Lords of War which is Money
    which is Fire. Say no by saying yes
    to the air, to the earth, to the trees,
    yes to the grasses, to the rivers, to the birds
    and the animals and every living thing, yes
    to the small houses, yes to the children. Yes.

             --Wendell Berry

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   - David Shove             shove001 [at] tc.umn.edu
   rhymes with clove         Progressive Calendar
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