La Palma: Not even enough to Awaken?

Tags

Bushcraft Bear, Enbridge, Line 3, Line 93, MEP, MNDNR, MPCA

Presentation on Enbridge’s Aquifer Breach and other Impacts of Line 93 (New Line 3) Construction

Well, after re-watching the presentation by folks regarding the aquifer breach, and knowing that Enbridge is still being allowed to move forward on their work… it seems nothing will stop the insanity we’re seeing as the State of Minnesota continues to seemingly collude in assuring Enbridge a new Line 93 to smoosh tar sands sludge through Northern Minnesota watersheds… risking everything from the Red River Valley to the Mississippi Headwaters to Lake Superior.

Enbridge’s latest status update, as evidenced by lies and coverups revealed in the video above, reveals a meaningless “Environmental Updates to Note Since the Last Report: The Project work activities continue to be monitored daily by Enbridge Inspection staff, Third-Party State Agency Monitors and Third-Party Tribal Monitors.”

I say meaningless as these are the SAME PEOPLE who have been monitoring FROM THE BEGINNING… and now we have multiple violations of permits without action by Minnesota agencies, frac-outs all along the Enbridge Corridor of Death, and an unremediated aquifer breach.

Latest Quakes in La Palma (VolcanoDiscovery.com)

It seems to me that perhaps even the ongoing concerns in La Palma may not be enough to awaken folks though perhaps we’ll see? Some like to say pipelines are safe… as some insist this island is… though, time always tells.

On Day 22, Bushcraft Bear reports eruptions in La Palma continue to concern. The north side of the cone has collapsed and huge chunks of lava continue to flow. This video shows a cut-off portion of the island and, if the island does fall apart, as some predict… (that red line about 1:45 into that video is where volcanos are currently erupting) there will be about 7-8 hours to evacuate the east coast of the United States for possible tsunami impacts.

Realistically, as all the data to date hasn’t worked to awaken folks… my guess is that NOTHING… perhaps not even a La Palma generated tsunami wiping out the east coast… ever will.

Though there is someone who may change your mind… Friend, David Huckfelt wrote an amazing piece for the Duluth Reader this past week and he makes good points:

With the potential to raise global temperatures .4 degrees Celsius, Line 3 is a glaring example of spiritual bankruptcy and greed, the alcoholic’s equivalent of just one more drink. 

An interview I did with Duluth TV station WDIO generated more than two hundred comments on Facebook, a litany of vitriol and misinformed insults from people who apparently love oil as if they drank it for breakfast.”

In a climate emergency, every pipeline leaks David Huckfelt in the Duluth Reader

I’ve always said, we all need a 12-Step Program.

Good luck, Everybody! Hopefully we all get to keep coming back! 😀

Family, State, Nation, World – Divided

Tags

arab spring, climate change, COVID-19, drought, Farm, Line 3, Racism, Vaccine

They’re destroying the world, our living spaceship… and the source of all life.

The only thing we can hope is that they stop in time.

Thanks to http://www.flowingdata.com (I updated Minnesota…)

The powers that be have trained us to oppress each other via division. We’ve seen too much of that in recent years. The result is that the status quo continues to support the elites, those with power and money, and those who cannot see the oppression of the majority, for whatever reason.

While the vaccine program, rushed and heavily promoted as the ONLY ANSWER, divides families and communities, it seems a failure similar to the ways that Racism and Climate Change have failed… where mostly white elites continue to find no way forward to a new way of life that supports all people and allows for egalitarian access and opportunity.

We see youth, angry and frustrated with the lack of recognition of the urgency with which we need to act.

We have watched as crowds have grown, standing in opposition to Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Ag. From Minnesota to India, half a world away, we see suppression of the voices of the people most connected to the land.

We see farmers in Minnesota who are left in the dust, literally, as Enbridge dewaters their landscape, draining shallow aquifers and removing water access for the people. [Unfortunately, with Republicans urging a firing of Commissioner Malcolm, a technique they’ve used repeatedly through the pandemic to combat the Walz administration, there may be no September session meaning farmers (and nurses, who were also on the agenda to be helped) may get no relief.]

We see farmers in India standing against the policies that are preventing them from earning a wage or even growing enough food for their own families.

And we know that the Arab Spring was started by a farmer in Tunisia, Tarek el-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi (Arabic: طارق الطيب محمد البوعزيزي‎), who set himself afire in the market as he realized he had no other options… “His self-immolation was in response to the confiscation of his wares and the harassment and humiliation inflicted on him by a municipal official and her aides.”

So what is to come? I fear the only response remaining is Revolution. People in the streets.

As we watch the eviction moratoriums expire, and we see today – HAPPY LABOR DAY! – the elimination of the unemployment supplement that has kept many hanging on during the pandemic, my guess is, the streets will have plenty of people with little to do except shout for justice.

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Meanwhile… I’m with her. And RISE Coalition. And Taysha…

“When we take to the frontlines, please remember why we are here. We are not here to fight the police. We are not here to intimidate workers. We are here for that water. We are here for each other. We are here for future generations.”

Taysha Martineau, Camp Migizi

Let’s stand with and for Nibi.

‘Cause if we don’t, we’re all dead.

HARN Update ~ August 2021

Tags

climate change, Court of Appeals, Hurricane, Ida, Line 3, Minnesota, MPCA

Just turn back now if you’re already running low on spoons… Or have not enough bandwidth to process more (possibly) mostly bad… and very little good news in today’s blog.

Or if you’re just overwhelmed, I’m gonna say, go get yourself a warm/cool beverage, put your feet up and relax with a bit of meditation… or cool jazz, hip hop, thrash metal, christian contemporary, whatever your jam… and chill.

But…

If you wanna hear some of the recent ramblings from here at the HARN… Read on.

On Line 3 and Minnesota Environmental Protections:

While the Appeals Court dissent on the PUC case seemed the grounds for the MN Supreme Court taking up a case that considers the very future of, not just Minnesota, but our entire planet [Just my opinion], nevertheless, the Minnesota Supreme Court decided not to take up the case.

Today the ruling on the MPCA case comes. Will this be another arbitrary and capricious decision? Or will justice for Mother Earth be served? Will the Water… and thus the People, be Protected?

We’ve seen a big uptick in rain here of late… which is good for Enbridge as, if we were still in drought, the farmers themselves might bring pitchforks to protest their water usage for cleaning the mud from the roads. One could argue that they shouldn’t be mucking around in the mud anyway… as it is harder on the equipment and more dangerous for the operators, not to mention, it just being a huge mess.

But a billion dollar Canadian Corp with access to 5B gallons of our Minnesota water, thanks to the state’s Department of Natural Resource… just does what it wants. They’re in a hurry installing this pipeline as they’ve been delayed for many years by Water Protectors in courts and on the land standing to prevent this project from bringing ruin. The industry is on the brink of bankruptcy so, if Enbridge is to recoup it’s many recent losses, it REALLY NEEDS THIS WIN. [Though based on a lack of investment in the tar sands, I’m wondering what the loss of all our trees and invasions to our land will really bring Minnesota in any taxes… especially as Enbridge’s recent wins in tax court (mostly as Minnesota failed to show up for the work) means they will pay less and less for their more and more unwanted infrastructure.

Not much doubt for most of us locals about Enbridge being a factor in the proceedings around the rivers running dry. This graph depicts the drops in water levels in St. Cloud… which seem to coincide with the Enbridge dewatering, approved June 4th:

Enbridge Induced Drought… so it seems.

As reported in St. Cloud on August 17th: “The city of St. Cloud announced Monday that it was shutting down the second unit of the hydroelectric dam after water flows dropped to just 700 cubic feet per second.  The city says this is the first time it has had to completely shut down the dam since the drought year of 1988.“

We have failed over and over to convince the Minnesota Governors, DOC, PUC, DNR, PCA, and even the USACE to join us in holding water more sacred than oil. While it’s cold comfort, we’re surely being proven right now, as we watch unfolding climate devastation on never before seen levels.

Deep Green Resistance

On Environmental News around the Country:

We’re now watching Hurricane Ida… last year we got to Zeta. How much worse are the storms going to get? We’re in early days of the season, eh? And it ain’t looking good at all for Louisiana thus far. Not good at all. New Orleans has lost power. Yes. The. Entire. City.

What about the fires burning? Are they going to be worsening as the drought continues in many areas?

US drought map 8/24/21 data – didn’t need moisture where they’re now getting loads!

Standing Rock Protectors – Pipeline Resistance

And NOW it’s getting VERY SERIOUS!!!

“Asked how he will fill his new firetruck if the state’s worsening drought continues to drain local water sources, Manning took a long pause and said: “That’s the big question, isn’t it?”

Local grower also Fire Chief in Drought, wildfires create new challenges for California cannabis growers 8/29/21

Interesting piece… though not for the faint of heart [Man, it’s so depressing, I don’t even feel like I can make a pot joke anymore. Is that one of the signs of the apocalypse???]

So… On Cars and… Cats:

If you’re into street racing, you might want to check out my Bro’s YouTube channel with his buddies: Dayton Small/Tire Mafia.

As I write up this blog, Gaazhii finds himself in the woods, escaped from his leash… again. We’ll see how he does… and I’m hopeful he comes back to the porch soon. I can hear the wolves howling nearby.

Y’all have a good week now, y’hear?

Enough is Enough!

Tags

Antarctic, drought, Esther Stanford-Xosei, fire, flood, Greenland, LaVar Burton, Line 3, NTHE, Russell Brand, UK, XR

Seems people are getting less and less consideration by governments and corporations around the world. We are feeling more each day that we’re reaching a breaking point.

From a day of rain in Greenland… and possibly even worse for the Antarctic – so THAT’S NEW – to add to Fires, Floods, and Droughts all around.

Robert F. Kennedy on including the cost of cleaning up after yourself… and how polluters pass this on to us. 28 minutes

RFK tells some great stories about the Hudson River… and by great… I mean horrible. My old employer, GE (though I was at Aircraft Engines), polluted and privatized the commons… not cleaning up their mess.

We see the ever-growing Sock-Puppet Agencies, the Compromising of the Press, the Local Sovereignty Elimination, and the End of Transparency. People are saying, “Enough is Enough!”

I mean, we’re supposedly working to stay below 1.5 degrees Celcius… and we’re already at 1.23?

Last week in Minnesota, we saw:

Standing with Indigenous groups, Physicians call on Biden to revoke Enbridge’s permit.

Enbridge has said the upgrade is needed for safety reasons, to reduce maintenance needs, and to “create fewer disruptions to landowners and the environment.” But opponents from the medical community disagree. According to Health Professionals for a Healthy Climate, or HPHC — the advocacy group that organized Tuesday’s nationwide protests — the project poses both immediate and long-term threats to Minnesota communities and Indigenous peoples, whether from an oil spill or from the pipeline’s contribution to climate change.

Vishnu Laalitha Surapaneni, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota who helped organize the rally in St. Paul, told Grist she is particularly worried about the pipeline’s potential impact on water quality. “We’re in the Land of 10,000 Lakes,” she explained, using Minnesota’s unofficial nickname. “This is not something that is compatible with healthy water.”

Health care workers join the fight to stop the Line 3 pipeline* Code Red event

* This article may be one of the best I’ve seen on why there is an urgent need to #StopLine3.

That’s what I’m talking about!! Time to focus on CARE… instead of consumption… which is consuming ;civilization’.

Meanwhile, this week in the UK:

Protests starting next week aim to highlight the billions poured into fossil fuels by financial sector

The protests will start with a rally in Trafalgar Square on Monday morning, 23 August. This is the anniversary of the Haitian slave rebellion of 1791 and the international day for the remembrance of the slave trade and its abolition. XR said its events were also intended to show solidarity with people in the global south who are worst affected by climate breakdown.

We are not powerless – you have more power than you think. We are the collective power to be the change that we need.”

Tim Crosland, of the pressure group Plan B, who was found in contempt of court for revealing early a supreme court ruling relating to Heathrow’s third runway plans, said: “We are targeting the City because these are the kind of people who are the real contributors to this crisis.”

He spoke out against recent claims by members of the Conservative party that reaching net zero emissions by 2050 – the government’s target, set out in law – would cost too much money. “It’s embarrassing to claim that it is too expensive to save young people and our country and our planet. This is extremist ideology from some parts of the Conservative party,” he said. “They believe science will have to give way to the market, but it is not going to work that way, it’s the other way round. The economy will have to adapt to the science.”

Esther Stanford-Xosei, a co-founder of XR’s International Solidarity Network The Guardian

By the time this posts, we’ll likely be hearing news from Trafalgar.

And if YOU Want To F*ck The System That’s Been F*cking You? – WATCH THIS!

Protest, Protect, and Build! A coherent movement.
Ends should be human well-being and means should be money, economy, industry.
Instead, we have a consumption-based economy that cares little for human well-being.
The means are Nature and Humans.
Remaining individualistic, we continue to suffer.

In other words:

Slavery never went away. It just got better clothes.”

Dan… as we watched the video

We cannot have social justice without environmental justice… until we behave justly to the planet upon which we live, our host system… our Mother.”

Russell Brand 10:47

Individualism is rooted in Separation. Division must be overcome. Long live difference and diversity… [as we eliminate caste?] dancing together. … We Belong to Each Other!”

Satish Kumar 13:57

Blessed be.

Doing What I can… With What I Got

Tags

Acceptance, communication, Healing, Honoring Truth, Staying Brave

Just doing a bit of healing this week… with a little re-write of an Ode from Si Kahn

What You Do With What You’ve Got

You must know someone like her
Who, what’s on her mind, can speak
With a brain that’s always thinking
And a past that has been bleak
And a heart that feels for all life
And fears that it may end
She can cry almost the whole day
In hopes for that to mend.

It’s not just what you’re born with
It’s what you choose to bear
It’s not how big your share is
It’s how much you can share
It’s not the fights you dreamed of
It’s the ones you really fought
It’s not what you’ve been given
It’s what you do with what you’ve got

What’s the use of this big love
If she only silent sits
So she writes down all her finest thoughts
Unwinding, for friends, the sticky bits
What’s the use in the words she writes
If not seen by all the rest
So she shares her words out widely
And she hopes for all the best

It’s not just what you’re born with
It’s what you choose to bear
It’s not how big your share is
It’s how much you can share
It’s not the fights you dreamed of
It’s the ones you really fought
It’s not what you’ve been given
It’s what you do with what you’ve got

Between those who stand to protect
The water that gives life
And those in constant power
who bring ongoing strife
Between those who stand together
And those who stand alone
Her hope is with the ones for peace
To save our only home

It’s not just what you’re born with
It’s what you choose to bear
It’s not how big your share is
It’s how much you can share
It’s not the fights you dreamed of
It’s the ones you really fought
It’s not what you’ve been given
It’s what you do with what you’ve got

Will you save our only home?

With Covid, its variants, and insecurities about how jails are taking care… the days of being arrested are over for now. Still proud of holding ground in Bemidji back in August-2018.

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Original:

IT’S NOT JUST WHAT YOU’RE BORN WITH
(Si Kahn)

Chorus:
It’s not just what you’re born with,
It’s what you choose to bear
It’s not how large your share is,
but how much you can share
Oh it’s not the fights you dream of
But those you really fought
It’s not just what your given
But what you do with what you’ve got

You must know someone like him,
He was tall and strong and lean, body like a greyhound,
Mind so sharp and keen
But his heart just like a laurel, grew twisted on itself,
’til almost everything he did brought pain to someone else.

For what’s the use of two strong legs, if you only run away
What good is the finest voice, If you’ve nothing good to say,
What good are strength and muscles, if you only push and shove
What’s the use of two good ears, if you can’t hear those you love.

Between those who use their neighbors, and those who use a cane,
Those in constant power and those in constant pain,
Between those who run to evil and those who cannot run,
Tell me, which ones are the cripples,
And which ones touch the sun?

http://www.lyricsondemand.com/u/unknownlyrics/itsnotjustwhatyourebornwithlyrics.html

A silent spring?

Tags

Inequality, reciprocity

With all the Enbridge work in the wetlands behind our home, we’ve been concerned about how our many relatives have been affected.

We watched as the trees were clearcut with speed.

We witnessed the lumber matting thudding into place to create a road behind our home closer than the road in front of our home.

We watched as the dozers ran over the land cutting the scrub remaining from the slaughter and the grabbers snatched up the dead, piling them into giant brush piles to burn and pollute the air.

We listened to the fires crackling in the woods for hours, filling the Mississippi River Valley, and the scenic drive along County 2 from US Highway 2 to Itasca State Park, with smoke.

Now we wait. To hear the frogs return. To listen to the sandhills breeding in the water-rich land.

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More than just the Enbridge destruction of recent weeks is affecting whether or not we’ll hear sandhills return to our swamp.

This time of year, the yard is typically full of water with our little man-made pondlet overflowing into the yard. The melting of winter usually disappears our little pond into a lakelet that has remained in recent years until May or June.

This year, the small plastic pond liner is the only thing holding any water. Looks like severe drought is in order as we watch ditches, usually flowing steady, trickle by along the county road out front… another product of the changing climate, in large part brought by the fossil fuel industry that Enbridge serves.

So quiet in the swamp.

We did hear a few sandhills flying over in the last week, but the throng we typically hear has not yet populated our backyard wetlands. We’ve heard nothing of the peepers. All I can think is that the dozers crushed them all in their hibernation.

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Time will tell if we’ve gone too far to save ourselves.

Do we not realize… if the birds and insects disappear, eventually we will too?

How long can we keep up the charade of living as if reciprocity to the land is something with which we need not concern ourselves?

Have we actually bypassed all our opportunities to save the planet on which we reside… for our own long-term habitation?

What will the pandemic, and emerging drought, bring for the humans of the USA in 2021?

We watch as the rich gather up their stock market returns of 60-70%, remembering days when an 8% ROI was a good thing. We wonder how they can feel happy about money made in a system of so much corruption.

Meanwhile, homeless encampments – the only option for many who are now over year from their last paying job – are overrun with bulldozers as police remove the unwanted residents. Similar to how we eradicated the mosquitoes, mice, beaver, fox, wolf… who interfered with OUR management of the land?

How soon until that revolution I’ve been predicting for decades becomes a reality? How soon until so many feel they have no option but to process through their frustration and overwhelm with suicide? Or homicide?

As mass shootings continue… and people mindlessly travel without considering COVID risks… and many hope for the world to “go back to normal”, I believe we will never again go back to where we were before 2020.

And I wonder if we will continue to spiral down the drain to our own extinction… or if we will find many and myriad small communities gathering to help each other as we weather this largest storm we’ve ever seen coming at us.

I hope for love to win. For us to come together and feed, clothe, protect those not provided as much in our unequal system of sharing of the resources we have. For those who win most to realize this doesn’t bring happiness… when so many suffer for our winning. For all of us to find the goal of our common happiness and security as the most worthy of them all.

While it may be naive… I believe voting still matters. But the rest of this… let’s get going!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Tags

#StopLine3, Birthday, Blessing, Friends of the Headwaters, Naabek, Naabek Liberty, Ojibwemowin, World Water Day

Well, I missed my regular Monday blog post day by a couple… as it’s been a whirlwind of a week! [This is only the second miss as I recall… the first was planned, for a Tommy visit, in the early days of blogging… and I want to keep it to a minimum, so I’m counting this as an approved Birthday Delay in posting!!]

So many blessings… and World Water Day coinciding with my birthday! Surprising Serendipity!!

• Cards from many and over 100 FB wishes as I recall. {Big thanks for the money, Momma!}
• Many donations to my Friends of the Headwaters fundraiser. In case you missed it… you can still donate here.
• A beautiful soft shawl to add to my Melodee Collection! [I’m wearing it in the webinar photo below.]
• Helpful neighbors and friends bring success in getting a mile+ of No Parking signs at the Mississippi River Valley removed so I can continue to pray at the River without feeling unsafe. And so tourists too can stop and take a photo with the Mighty Mississippi where she’s still narrow and quick! Hurry, before Enbridge rushes to drill under her… more on that at the end. 😉
• A Gathering of Spirits, A Festival of Friends at the Mississippi River Valley a week before… [SO GOOD to see some LOVELY FRIENDS! ~35-50 folks showed up!]
• Puppets!! Ma’iigan for Dawn… Mukwa and a Jingle Dress dancer too! What a fun blessing.
• And… another gathering on my birthday as well! [EVEN MORE FRIENDS!! I’d guess ~200 – with about 75 remaining to sing me Happy Birthday!! WOW – what an overwhelming surprise… The love of this movement never ceases to amaze me.]
• And… a Drum Song and Circle Dance for my birthday!!! {Oh, the love… and the lessons in humility. Big thanks to Angel Stevens for capturing the song for me!! :D}
• An Honor Treaties Webinar with Dale Greene, Jr., Bob Shimek, and Martin Case speaking. A powerful learning, once again, this time on Kinship with the Land and Honoring Treaty Responsibilities.
• A successful tamale casserole recipe made an easy dinner. [Basically, a can of meat (optional), can of pinto beans, can of diced tomatoes with chilis, then smooth cornbread mix (with an extra egg & can of cream corn added) over the top, bake, and enjoy!]

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Some fun images for the annual celebration of another successful trip around the sun… and hopes for some fun and love on the next one…

And the fun continues… so thrilled to get a fun shout out from Smart Mark Agee of The Evening Skews (with Trae Crowder). [Love those guys.]

And thrilled to hear what seems like some judges who had done their homework on the Line 3 Challenges in the MN Court of Appeals. [The key is reading the dissent from PUC Commissioner Matt Scheurger, as he laid it out pretty succinctly (Pages D1-11). Here’s a lovely video from seekjoy on the last big public hearing at the PUC… with love going to Commissioner Matt (2:20 of the 2-2:30 coverage marking his courage)] The submitted briefs appear to have been well read as good questions ensued indicating Enbridge had perhaps NOT provided a Demand forecast for their project (as required by law)… and instead gave only a fantasy SUPPLY forecast for the PUC to consider. Sure hoping we see a reversal of the PUC’s Line 3 Certificate of Need order – as it was given capriciously and without proper consideration of Minnesota law. (IMHO)

Hoping you all have a blessed year as well.

Chi-Miigwech Miinawaa, Indinawemaa Odinawemaaganan!
{I’m learning… and believe this translates to… Big Thanks, again, to All my Relatives!
Chi-Miigwech to Naabek who is teaching me.
You can join us… every Wednesday… That’s TONIGHT! 7PM Passcode: 054633
Bring your emikwaanensan! :D}

What’s Happening in Pennington County?

Tags

#StopLine3, Enbridge, Line 3, Minnesota Department of Health, MPR

Enbridge Corridor of Death ~ March 8th Update

For those who may not be aware, I do a daily FB update on the Covid situation here in northern Minnesota along the Enbridge Tar Sands pipeline project proposed corridor.

In case you missed it… February had a closure of the Thief River Fall’s Walmart for Valentine’s Day weekend because they couldn’t staff the store… even with support from other locations.

At that time, MPR reported: “There’s been an uptick in cases in northwestern Minnesota recently, though it’s unclear why just yet. All other regions of the state have been seeing cases decline.” [2/16/21]

You can see how their coverage changed over time… with little concern or investigation…

• On February 16th, warning of “Something worth watching”
• Letting us know again on the 17th there’s an uptick…
• And then apparently changing their minds by the 18th and removing the graphic entirely.
• While the graphic did re-appear in their coverage, no further news until the 27th, when it was noted Dan Huff of Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) sharing “concern”.
• Two day’s later, concerns disappear and then, as MPR again dropped any level of concern for NW MN from their reporting yesterday… On the same day…MDH noted the area as a COVID-19 hotspot!

• 

  2-16-21 MPR Something to Watch

• 

  2-17-21 MPR Uptick in NW MN “Unclear”

• 

  2-18-21 MPR Graphic gone… nothing to see!

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  2-27-21 MPR Huff from MDH notes concern.

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  3-1-21 MPR Two days later, concerns disappear.

• 

  3-7-21 MDH Pennington COVID-19 Hotspot

~ MPR Misses the boat on investigating what would become our current COVID-19 hotspot 2/16/21 to 3/7/21 Timeline

For days, this MPR notice went uninvestigated. In my daily COVID updates, I noted the unmasked Enbridge workers throughout the project corridor, the WalMart closure, the upticks in cases… and Pennington County went unaddressed. Tagging the MDH got me nowhere. Emailing the MDH got no direct meaningful response, and certainly not engagement.

While Pipeliners for the Enbridge Line 3 project camp in big numbers in Thief River Falls, rates of infections have been on the rise in the county. We certainly know that pipeliners are circulating in our communities as we saw a couple recently busted for trying to solicit sex, with one carrying an unregistered firearm.

Seven Charged In Itasca County Sex Sting Operation – Youtube – InewzTV

Now, a few weeks later, we see an even more critical sounding situation and I continue to wonder…

Pennington County – 5X the rate of Minnesota at large, 6X the rate of Hennepin County – JHU CRC

Will SOMEONE in the Minnesota State Government POSSIBLY CONSIDER that it might be a result of Enbridge Pipeliners from all over the country? Will ANYONE???

You know, those guys who swing home for a quick weekend if they can get an extra day off to see the kids… and bring back to Minnesota whatever is going on in Texas, or Oklahoma, or North Dakota, Covid-wise? Maybe?

Maybe that holiday trip is what caused this spike for the last month?

Enbridge Coviding our Communities?

Will anything be done? As Enbridge races across our state in hopes to install a pipeline before the Courts can determine that, in fact, there is NO NEED FOR A TAR SANDS PIPELINE.

Let’s suppose, for sake of argument, that it isn’t pipeliners spreading COVID-19. With Tar Sands being described – even in industry news – on a DAILY NOW, as “stranded assets”, we see Shell and Exxon divesting these assets from their books. Climate science dictates these oil sands resources cannot be extracted… at least, not if we want to keep humanity living on this third rock from the sun. This alone is reason enough to halt construction – at least until the court cases can be heard.

The Line 3 Relocation and Expansion Tar Sands Pipeline is NOT an ESSENTIAL project during a Pandemic!

While Covid feels to many to be less of a concern every day as we hear of increasing vaccination levels, there is still so much we do not yet know.

• What level of protection is offered by each vaccine? {We know none are boasting 100% protection.}
• How long does the immunity from each vaccine last? {When will one need a booster shot to re-immunize?}
• How much of that immunity applies to scary new strains like the UK’s B.1.1.7? {Which reportedly is doubling in the U.S. every 10 days.}
• How will complacency among the vaccinated affect community spread?

OK, so you can see there are still lots of questions…

As we’re already seeing upticks in many counties along Enbridge’s proposed Line 3 corridor.

Counties like Norman and Polk saw early but seemingly controlled spikes. Of late, larger spikes in places where typically very few cases are seen is bringing more concern. Counties like Roseau, Red Lake, and Marshall have also seen jumps. Becker and Beltrami have seen spikes. And Clearwater County already had National Guard in late last year, when staffing was unable to keep up at the Cornerstone Rehabilitation and Nursing Home in Bagley.

With few still comprehending the dangers of this steadily mutating virus, let’s hope we see a stop to this fossil fool madness… and soon. #StopLine3

In these Revealing Times…

Tags

climate change, Climate Chaos, Coronavirus, Covid, COVID-19, Human Extinction, Line 3, Tar Sands

As humans race with track-hoes to pretend they can keep doing what they’ve always done…
And the world floods and burns and withers from drought.

As engines beep in movement all around me, building a pipeline for the dirtiest of crude – Tar Sands…
it’s hard to pretend we have any notion of saving ourselves.

As we cut down the very beings that provide us oxygen to breathe.

As many grow excited for schools to open… ready to go back to a “normal” economy…
[Normal? Are we psychopaths? Apparently so.]
… we see the numbers in cases and infections beginning to surge again.

We watch millions focus on dollars and economics… giving not a thought to the water, trees, plants, and bees that make everyday life possible.  Will we soon realize how dependent we have become on systems that do not support life but instead bring death?

The fossil fuel industry is taking itself out… as the climate chaos we saw in Texas – and throughout the middle of the country – was a result of the burning we’ve done for centuries now.

And for decades now – longer for those selling the fossil fuels – while we knew exactly what they were delivering… we did nearly nothing?  Simply burning fossil fuels faster and faster?

How will our children forgive us? Or rather, will they?

In addition to the fuels and plastics, the oil industry brings death and extinction for life of all kinds. 
And now – are we realizing… that “life” is ours?

As loads of freight remain in place, unmovable with no electricity to fill tanks with gas, ratios of loads to drivers go to astronomical figures… Indy shoots from 7 loads per driver to 37… while in Cincy reefer trucks, normally around the mid-30s, report their status as not available… with over 200 loads and zero drivers to move them.  Watch those store shelves as we “catch up” from the backlog caused by the polar vortex we created?

Or will we get to watch as production lines slow… because there is no shipment of already done freight…
and before you can make more, you need to move out what you have?

And will we again have loads of milks and potatoes dumped and buried as we have no way to move food in the massive system we’ve created… so un-localized and heavily reliant on fuels?

Can many of us foresee how much worse 2021 will be in comparison to 2020? Even with the vaccinations… and the talk of environmental justice… and green paths going forward… from the all-hands-on-deck portrayed administration that is calming and encouraging so many?

The new managers don’t calm us.  Not those of us who’ve seen that already [!!!] we’re headed for 5-6° warming…
with 1.5° being a dream scenario that we lost in decades past.

It’s been 875 days since the IPCC 1.5° report was issued giving us a dozen years.
And I heard this past week that the UN is now giving us 10 months to get it together?
Anyone noticed the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) slowing?
Faster than many can predict? [Well, than many are realizing…
The scientists always have someone quietly saying, “You might want to consider this…”]

As we watch a Tar Sands pipeline project proceed across the state of Minnesota…
just outside the living room window.

As if we can all just…
Go back to “normal”.

---

The worst of the 1918 Spanish Flu were the deaths in the Spring of 1920. Does this still await?

While some caw about vaccines, we also watch as these quick-whip cures kill with cytokine storm jump starts via injection.  I see why some aren’t ready… even if they aren’t on the list… of those who can get the magic elixers.

Every day, we watch… as it seems we lose ground…
sacrificing the trees and wetlands of Northern Minnesota…
to a Canadian corporation treating this place like it’s their colony.

Bought and paid for agencies beholden to their regulatory captors got us into this mess. 
Will they have the courage to save us?
If not, will the courts? 

If not, we will simply keep trudging toward extinction…
like the elephants seeking water in African deserts…
or polar bears seeking another ice island on which to take a breather?

Or will we be running from the flood as it wipes our house away?

Or from the flames that race to devour us?

As the world burns…

Water Protectors – Speaking up with so few listening. Perhaps they’ll listen now?

If only…

I could just disappear.