Poder Floreciente Californiano

California Flower Power

The summer in Alta California is moving right along, and before we know it we will be in full autumn mode. Work continues unabated, including an interesting restoration job I did in helping clean up loads of scrap metal off a parcel that will become part of the Humboldt Redwoods State Park. I have been making my living again as a garbage man for the earth.

In this day and age it is an extreme challenge to maintain the quiet rural rhythms that are so grounding for those of us living on the Lost Coast. Chop wood, carry water, these are the breathing tasks of living in the woods.

The drive for culture is incessant in this internet age. Keeping up on music for the occasional radio show becomes more than a hobby, it becomes a monumental production project. But who cares? Music is freedom. I have been to a few fantastic shows lately, seeing Radiohead play in Golden Gate Park down in The City, and recently catching Ozomatli again. Looking ahead I will catch Fishbone at the Mateel Community Center's Pipejam next weekend. Then there will of course be Earthdance, which will be the perfect party to bring the summer to a complete close.

Oh, and don't forget that I will be seeing Willie Nelson tomorrow!

Those are the spikes in social activity and artistic stimulation. The majority of my time is definitely dedicated to those down to earth chores that make country living so transcendental. Perhaps the big city is in my future again, but for now I relish the tranquility of the hills, and the power of the flowers.




Patagonia Rivers Update

The companies have turned in the Environmental Impact Study for the construction of the 5 dams on the Pascua and Baker Rivers. A friend from Puerto Montt wrote an email about the two shipping containers worth of material that made up the copies of the EIS that were turned in officially. It is a bulky and unyeildy document, the kind designed to obfuscate and distract.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the 2000+ kilometers of transmissions lines are not included in the study, revealing the entire environmental review process in Chile (free trade partner with the USA!) to be asburd and scientifically untenable. Any ecologist knows that it is all about cumulative impacts, but once you consider those issues the proposal loses all charateristics of environmental responsibility. So such an analysis is avoided. Such is the nature of the politics of natural resource conservation--keep the legitimate science to a minimum, and the greed for profits at a maximum.

Nonetheless, even poor hidroAysén has conceded that getting approval for the project could take more than a year, and in the meantime the pressure heats up to get Home Depot to stop providing commercial cover in the USA for the dinosaurs in the Matte and Angelini groups that keep stumbling forward drunkenly with this irresponsible project. There is still quite a bit of work ahead of us, but protecting the wild rivers of Patagonia from massive hydro development is still an attainable vision.