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Grassroots Activism: The Core of the Environmental Movement
Stefanie Penn Spear
Editor, EcoWatch
Posted: 06/01/2012 4:47 pm
Grassroots activism is the core of the environmental movement. Nowhere have I found that to be more evident than at Heartwood Forest Council gatherings. Last weekend, I attended the 22nd Annual Heartwood Forest Council in Northwest Pennsylvania, at which nearly 100 of the most passionate and dedicated activists gathered in the Allegheny National Forest next to the land of the Seneca Nation of Indians.
The three-day gathering, Become Your Place, Defend Your Self!, was filled with workshops, discussions, keynote speakers, field trips to oil and gas drilling sites in the Allegheny National Forest, late-night revelry at the campfire, live music, and the greatest local and organic vegetarian food prepared by chefs Shane McElwee and Mia Manion.
The first evening kicked off with a showing of Remembering the Removal -- a documentary by Caleb Abrams, a college student and member of the Seneca Nation of Indians -- depicting the forced relocation of nearly 700 Senecas who had to abandon their homes in the 1960s -- despite a 1794 treaty that had guaranteed them those lands in perpetuity -- because of the construction of the Kinzua Dam along the Allegheny River in Warren, Pa., that submerged more than 9,000 acres of of the Seneca's habitable land.
The next day I sat in on a workshop presented by Veronica Coptis and Melissa Troutman from Mountain Watershed Alliance. Mountain Watershed Alliance works to protect, preserve and restore the Indian Creek watershed and surrounding areas in southwestern Pennsylvania and is the home of the Youghiogheny Riverkeeper. The duo provided one of the most thorough and knowledgeable overviews on the impacts of hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania. This workshop covered it all, including the impacts of the construction of the drill sites; pipeline projects underway to transport this domestic energy overseas; massive water withdrawals from local watersheds used in the fracking process; contamination of groundwater from fracking well sites and fracking wastewater; the Marcellus Citizen Stewardship Project that offers basic training on monitoring shale development; increased air quality concerns from dust and diesel fuel emissions from excessive truck traffic, and details on the permitting process, how to file a complaint and how to track permits for proposed oil and gas drilling projects.
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stefanie-penn-spear/grassroots-activism-and-environmentalism_b_1559586.html
Editor, EcoWatch
Posted: 06/01/2012 4:47 pm
Grassroots activism is the core of the environmental movement. Nowhere have I found that to be more evident than at Heartwood Forest Council gatherings. Last weekend, I attended the 22nd Annual Heartwood Forest Council in Northwest Pennsylvania, at which nearly 100 of the most passionate and dedicated activists gathered in the Allegheny National Forest next to the land of the Seneca Nation of Indians.
The three-day gathering, Become Your Place, Defend Your Self!, was filled with workshops, discussions, keynote speakers, field trips to oil and gas drilling sites in the Allegheny National Forest, late-night revelry at the campfire, live music, and the greatest local and organic vegetarian food prepared by chefs Shane McElwee and Mia Manion.
The first evening kicked off with a showing of Remembering the Removal -- a documentary by Caleb Abrams, a college student and member of the Seneca Nation of Indians -- depicting the forced relocation of nearly 700 Senecas who had to abandon their homes in the 1960s -- despite a 1794 treaty that had guaranteed them those lands in perpetuity -- because of the construction of the Kinzua Dam along the Allegheny River in Warren, Pa., that submerged more than 9,000 acres of of the Seneca's habitable land.
The next day I sat in on a workshop presented by Veronica Coptis and Melissa Troutman from Mountain Watershed Alliance. Mountain Watershed Alliance works to protect, preserve and restore the Indian Creek watershed and surrounding areas in southwestern Pennsylvania and is the home of the Youghiogheny Riverkeeper. The duo provided one of the most thorough and knowledgeable overviews on the impacts of hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania. This workshop covered it all, including the impacts of the construction of the drill sites; pipeline projects underway to transport this domestic energy overseas; massive water withdrawals from local watersheds used in the fracking process; contamination of groundwater from fracking well sites and fracking wastewater; the Marcellus Citizen Stewardship Project that offers basic training on monitoring shale development; increased air quality concerns from dust and diesel fuel emissions from excessive truck traffic, and details on the permitting process, how to file a complaint and how to track permits for proposed oil and gas drilling projects.
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stefanie-penn-spear/grassroots-activism-and-environmentalism_b_1559586.html
Environmentalism and progressivism are linked at the hip both today and historically, we all need a sustainable supply of food and water, clean air to breathe, and a world to enjoy. There is nothing more essential and there is nothing bigger at stake.
