Author: postMigrator

Published on Saturday, October 4, 2008 by CommonDreams.org
The Impact of the ‘Battle In Seattle’

by Mark Engler

Nine years after the World Trade Organization came to Seattle, a new feature film sets out to dramatize the historic protests that theinstitution’s meetings provoked. The issue that Battle in Seattle filmmaker Stuart Townsend seeks to raise, as he recently stated, is “[what it takes] to create real and meaningful change.”

The question is notoriously difficult. In the film, characters like Martin Henderson’s Jay, a veteran environmental campaigner driven by a tragedy experienced on a past logging campaign, and Michelle Rodriguez’s Lou, a hard-bitten animal rights activist, debate the effectiveness of protest. Even as they take to Seattle’s streets, staring down armor-clad cops (Woody Harrelson, Channing Tatum) commanded by a tormented and indecisive mayor (Ray Liotta), they wonder whether their actions can have an impact.

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Join The Caravan of Support To Big Mountain Resistance Communities of
Black Mesa, AZ. November 22-29, 2008!

Greetings from Black Mesa Indigenous Support,

We are excited to inform you that we are currently putting together
efforts to bring a caravan of work crews that will be converging from
across the country to support residents of the Big Mountain regions
of Black Mesa who, on behalf of their peoples, their sacred ancestral
lands, and future generations, continue to carry out their staunch
resistance to the efforts of the US Government, which is acting in
the interests of the Peabody Coal Company to devastate whole
communities & ecosystems, and greatly de-stabilize our planet’s
climate for the profit of an elite few.

At this moment the decision makers in Washington D.C. are planning
ways to expand their occupation of tribal lands to extract mineral &
other resources. The coal companies have a long history of and
continue to fund both the Republican and Democratic parties because
they have huge interests at stake. Peabody Coal, the world’s largest
coal company,  is currently pushing through plans to massively expand
dirty coal strip-mining operations which has destroyed land and water
aquifers, completely dug up burials, sacred areas, and shrines
designated specifically for offerings, preventing religious practices.

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“Implications of Climate Change for Conservation, Restoration and
Management of National Forest Lands”

I am very pleased to pass along notice of a noteworthy new summary
study on the current state of research on climate change and national
forests in the US.  An excerpt from the executive summary is below.

Web page:

http://www.defenders.org/programs_and_policy/habitat_conservation/habitat_conservation_basics/forestlands/clim
ate_change_and_national_forests.php

Report download:

http://www.defenders.org/resources/publications/programs_and_policy/biodiversity_partners/implications_of_climat
e_change_for_conservation,_restoration_and_management_of_national_forest_lands.pdf

The principal author is Rick Brown, and the report is published by
Defenders of Wildlife and the National Forest Restoration Collaborative.

“Before joining Defenders of Wildlife, Rick worked on national forest
management issues for the National Wildlife Federation.  Prior to
that, he was a biologist on the Mount Hood National Forest in
Oregon, and started his conservation career with the Oregon Rare
and Endangered Plant Project.”

http://www.defenders.org/about_us/staff/rick_brown.php
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