When Neko Case asks a favor, I cannot resist (especially when part of the favor includes her dancing in her underwear)... She posted this on the Porchlight discussion board:
EMERGENCY! WE ONLY HAVE UNTIL SEPT. 14TH!!!!!
HELLO EVERYBODY! IT'S NEKO, THANK YOU FOR CHECKING ME OUT ON THIS WEBSITE. I MUST CONFESS I RARELY EMAIL, LET ALONE GO ONLINE, BUT I WANTED TO ASK YOU FOLKS FOR A BIG FAVOR. IT'S A BIT OF AN EMERGENCY.
I GREW UP IN WASHINGTON STATE, WHICH I LOVE WITH ALL MY HEART. I LOVE THE WEATHER, I LOVE THE KIND PEOPLE AND MOST OF ALL I LOVE THE BIRDS AND THE DEER AND THE TREES AND THE MOUNTAINS. YOU MAY NOT KNOW THIS BUT THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION IS TRYING TO TAKE 30% OF OUR NATIONAL FORESTS, NOT JUST IN THE STATE OF WASHINGTON BUT EVERYWHERE.
THEY ARE TO BE USED FOR LOGGING, MINING AND OIL DRILLING.
I AM NO SCIENTIST OR ECOLOGIST, BUT I DID WATCH MOST OF THE FOREST I REMEMBER FROM BEING A KID DISAPPEAR IN THE SHORT SPAN OF ABOUT 12 YEARS. IT BREAKS MY HEART. NOT JUST BECAUSE OF THE LOSS OF SUCH BEAUTY AND THE ONGOING,
NEEDLESS EXTINCTION OF WILDLIFE, BUT BECAUSE WE AS A COUNTRY ARE MUCH TOO SMART TO LET THIS GO ON. WE NEED TO FIND NEW WAYS TO FUEL OUR CARS, MAKE OUR ELECTRICITY- AND STOP POISONING THINGS TO DO IT.
SCIENCE IS SO WONDERFUL! SOUND ENGINEERING SCIENTISTS HAVE EVEN MADE MADONNA SING IN KEY!!! ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! I LOVE "RAY OF LIGHT"! IT MAKES ME DANCE IN MY UNDERWEAR!!!! THINK OF HOW HARD YOU'D DANCE IN YOUR UNDERWEAR IF WE FOUND A WAY TO STOP RELYING ON EXPENSIVE, DESTRUCTIVE OIL!! EVERYONE COULD SLEEP A LITTLE BETTER AT NIGHT. (AND NOT JUST IN THE UNITED STATES).
I REALLY LOVE OUR COUNTRY AND NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, I CAN'T HELP BUT HAVE FAITH THAT THINGS WILL GET BETTER AND MAYBE SOON WE CAN START USING OUR COLLECTIVE EFFORTS TOWARD GOOD, CONSTRUCTIVE PROGRESS, NOT JUST FOR OURSELVES, BUT FOR THE WORLD. EVEN IF THAT MEANS SOMETHING AS SMALL AS SENDING AN EMAIL TO TELL OUR GOVERNMENT THAT WE WANT TO KEEP OUR FORESTS JUST THE WAY THEY ARE.
HERE IS THE LINK TO THE WEBSITE THAT TALKS ABOUT THIS ISSUE - http://www.ourforests.org. I'M NOT QUALIFIED, BUT THEY CAN EXPLAIN IT BETTER AND HELP YOU OUT. PLEASE ACT SOON (WE ONLY HAVE UNTIL SEPT. 14TH!) AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS. YOU'LL BE GLAD YOU DID, AND SO WILL SPOTTED OWLS AND TIMBERWOLVES AND BLACKBEARS. YOUR KIDS WILL BE GLAD TOO.
I HATE TO HARP, BUT DON'T FORGET TO VOTE!!! IT IS SO IMPORTANT. EVEN IF YOU ARE GOING TO VOTE FOR GEORGE BUSH, MY HAT IS OFF TO YOU WITH MY MOST SINCERE RESPECT. JUST VOTE.
THANK YOU SO MUCH.
LOVE NEKO
P.S. HEY, I FORGOT TO ADD IN MY DEAL THAT I DID THE THING ON THE 'OUR FORESTS' WEBSITE AND IT WAS SUPER EASY, IT TOOK TWO MINUTES. LOVE N
I agree, Neko, we cannot continue to take our environment for granted.
Feel free to pass this on.
Posted by david on September 11, 2004I agree we should protect the environment, and I dislike the Bush administration as much as anyone, but the fact is Logging Companies are not evil, unlike in the tropic's rainforest (which is the big problem with logging in the world). You all should watch Penn and Teller's Bullshit show on environmentalist groups. They interviewed the former head of greenpeace who quit because of all the false political rhetoric. He said that loging industries in the usa for every tree they cut down, they plant a new one. If they cut all the trees down and dont plant anymore, loggers would go out of business obviously. Another FACT is that many of the large fires in nationally protected forests in the country are because environmentalist groups right now throw an up roar if you cut down one tree. The fact is YOU NEED to cut down some trees in order to prevent fires and overgrowth. On the issue of overgrowth etc, the fact of the matter is the usa is covered with more trees now than EVER in recorded history. Another FACT is that very very very very few of the fires you see on the news every summer are in privatized loging forests, not because they are just cutting them all down, but because forests need to be taken care of very very well, and privatized loging groups do exactly this. The greenpeace guy said the big problem is in the tropics...where people dont know how to forest and just cut down trees to clear for farming and never plant anymore...not in the usa where for each tree that is cut down a new one is planted. This is not coming from some conservative hippie, him or me. For me this is something very personal, cause I am from Colorado and I know alot of people who lost homes in the fires here in nationally protected forests. And personally, if a loging company can better protect a forest from burning down, while protecting the environment by being huge tree GROWERS, then I am all for it. And remember I dont like bush...Im just trying to cut throught alot of the rhetoric in environmentalist groups these days which is entirely untrue...thanks
Posted by: Devon on September 12, 2004 12:05 PMOne doesn't have to go as far as the 'rainforest' in some third world country- there are several areas very close to home that are critically endangered by the current administration and big business. Yes, people need wood, but there is a limit to our earth's resources. Period.
It simply is not good enough to plant a tree to replace one you have just cut down. That is a very simplistic way of looking at a forest- especially ones that are thousands of years old, have evolved into very specialised ecosystems that are found nowhere else on earth and support an amazing array of specialised plants and animals. They are beautiful places inherently valuable and trucks and operations and pollution and maybe even people don't belong there.
In the southeastern United States, paper companies are pushing to clearcut an ancient woodland on the Cumberland Plateau that boasts the largest concentration of endangered species in North America.
In Canada, proposed hydropower projects in the Heart of the Boreal Forest threaten the nesting grounds of migrating songbirds. And new oil and gas leases in Alaska's Western Arctic Reserve could bring industrial development to the unspoiled home of polar bears, beluga whales, and a caribou herd 430,000 strong.
The Bush administration is finalizing a gas-drilling plan that would send roads and drill pads slicing through southern Colorado's HD Mountains, the only remaining stretch of the San Juan Basin untouched by energy development. Covering 40,000 acres, the old-growth ponderosa pine forests of the HD range provide habitat for elk, black bears, northern goshawks and mule deer. Rich archeological sites in the area date back 1,000 years.
The administration's coalbed methane plan calls for drilling 79 wells and constructing compressor plants and 36 miles of roads in this unspoiled lowland forest in violation of the "roadless rule," which is designed to protect the wildest areas of our national forests from development. For only a tiny amount of gas, the project would decimate nearly 90 percent of the HD Mountains' old-growth stands, leave mountain streams cloudy with sediment, disturb archeological sites and uproot wildlife.
Unfortunately there are more examples. Go to www.nrdc.org and check it out. And maybe drop them $25- not much more than a new cd. It will make you feel good!