[StBernard] Looking toward the future - remembering history

[Westley Annis]

Looking toward the future - remembering history    
Katrina aftermath and beyond  

http://www.opednews.com

Looking Toward the Future - Remembering History
by Cory Richardson

I just returned from a morning walk around Berkeley with Leah. We smelled
flowers, smiled at the sound of children playing in school yards, and were
impressed by quaint houses made of reused materials. . . things lacking in
Katrinaland.

During the walk, we pondered test results just received from water samples
at Made with Love Cafe in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. The tests said, "We
found 138x the Federal Standards for mercury and 2.6x the standards for
arsenic." We showered in this water day after day since before Christmas and
used it to wash and cook our food the past month. Why didn't the parish know
about this and warn us? Obviously there are draw-backs to learning as we go.
We need more expert help. 

Made with Love Cafe sits on the spot where the Battle of New Orleans was
fought. Andrew Jackson, with a rag-tag band of pirates and diverse settlers,
beat a much larger army of British imperialists using gorilla-style tactics.
Jackson's men didn't stand in formation like the British, who wore red and
white uniforms and fired guns in unison; they hid behind trees and used
their instincts. British troops suffered over 2,000 casualties, while the
Americans sustained 13 killed, 39 wounded, and 19 missing. We could count it
as an early grassroots victory demonstrating the power of unity and
diversity.

Today, a rag-tag band stands on that land once again, toiling day after day
without pay, risking their lives waging war against invisible invaders such
as toxic pollutants and mold. We continue because each time we sit down to
share a meal with a resident, they never fail to say "thank you." It feels
great, like we are really doing something, not just protesting, or listening
to another lecture about climate change, which can be overwhelming. There we
are really in the action.

Everyday in Katrinaland is a new adventure. A few weeks ago, a lady came to
me saying there was a rattlesnake in her attic. She was worried enough that
I went to have a look. There I was, poking around in the dark with
flashlight and shovel, breathing hard through a respirator mask, feeling
very scared. The snake was still where she found it. I followed it through
the floorboards stuffed with pink insulation, which were carefully moved
away until I caught sight of it again. Then I jabbed with the shovel until
it was surely dead. I'm not keen on killing animals, but you don't feel that
kind of satisfaction in the comfort of home forwarding emails. Another lady
found an alligator in her bedroom. I'm not kidding!

We have created an amazing space for the people of St. Bernard to reconnect,
share their painful stories, dance and find a reason to smile. We have fed
thousands of volunteers from across the country, from many organizations,
who are gutting homes, offering legal and medical services, and clearing
debris. Made with Love Cafe is the action hero training camp we've been
dreaming of many years in circles at Burning Man and Rainbow Gatherings.

>From what people have said, there has never been anything quite like it in

this nation's history. It truly is a great example of what an open circle of
people can do when they put their hearts and heads together and work toward
a common goal that serves humanity.

With that said, it is interesting to note that we are in the Bay Area at
this time, seeking support for a disaster zone. Last week, a hundred years
ago, April 18, 1906, an earthquake rocked San Francisco and fires turned
this great city to rumble and ashes. Over a hundred thousand people,
including the mayor, became residents of Golden Gate Park, living in tents.
Of course they would rebuild, so this city is beautiful once again. It is
certainly one of the most progressive in the nation.

It is an honor and exciting to be at the front lines of this grassroots
movement, but what are we really creating, or supporting? Do we know what we
are doing? People at the New Waveland Cafe and Made with Love have
discouraged intentions of egalitarian community organization, saying, "We
are rebuilding Babylon. We are not political and organizing is political."
University students have left my nature trail blazing and bamboo tree house
building projects saying, "This is not what we came here for; there must be
houses we should be gutting." I explained that 80 percent of the houses in
the Parish are built on slabs and may be demolished completely because they
will cost more to
raise than rebuild new. Part of the reason why this hurricane caused such a
huge disaster, and why the people have had a hard time getting their lives
back together, is because they were not living in harmony with natural
cycles and not empowered to organize as a community.


I attended an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) meeting in Waveland,
Mississippi, at which Homeland Security told residents and volunteers that
the federal government was shutting down free food kitchens to help get the
economy rolling again. I witnessed a grassroots community meeting sabotaged
by the people who ran the Homeland Security EOC because they obviously
wanted to stay in control. Dependence on government systems is disempowering
- be it water and sewage or the whole money system, which is controlled by a
few bankers who want us to use their money to buy everything that sustains
life. With just solar panels, rainwater catchment, and water filtration
systems in place before the storm, people remaining in the disaster zone
would have been much better off.

Do we have a clear vision of the future we want to build as a community? Do
we have open unfiltered mass communication and wide support? Are we fighting
a foreign war that the rest of nation has forgotten? Isn't every big city a
toxic disaster? Does the evening news care to give 50 seconds to explain the
importance of Starhawk's bioremediation workshop at the Meg Perry Garden? Do
you know about bioremediation? Read about it here:
http://water.usgs.gov/wid/html/bioremed.html

Here is an excerpt:

"Studies by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) had shown that microorganisms
naturally present in the soils were actively consuming fuel-derived toxic
compounds and transforming them into harmless carbon dioxide. Furthermore,
these studies had shown that the rate of these biotransformations could be
greatly increased by the addition of nutrients. By "stimulating" the natural
microbial community through nutrient addition, it was theoretically possible
to increase rates of biodegradation and thereby shield the residential area
from further contamination."

Last Saturday afternoon, I found myself at Walgreens trying to get a
discount on digital prints that would hang at Michael Gosney's Digital
Be-In, an informative Earth Day party. The prints cost $56, and I wanted the
business discount of %15 off. The photo guy and assistant manager wouldn't
budge, saying there is an application process to getting the business
discount. An elderly gentleman wearing a suit overheard and approached very
concerned saying, "People here can't even image how bad it is down there.
The media is not telling us. You need to tell the media to let people know
how bad it is. I know people who have gone down, and they say there is no
way to understand the scale of destruction unless you see it yourself."

Okay. . . I'm telling you now, things are very bad all along the Gulf Coast,
from Texas to Alabama. Now what are we gonna do about it? Where do we go
from here? There is a great need for community builders, ecologists, and
green design professionals to get involved. The process of rebuilding the
Gulf Coast will take at least ten years, but unless more community
organizers and green builders don't take part soon, this could be one huge
missed opportunity.

Tonight I'll attend the Craigslist Foundation Non-profit Leaders Mixer at
111 Mina, a trendy club downtown. I've already been in contact with Darian
Heyman, the director of Craigslist Foundation, and invited him to Made with
Love. He just happens to be going to New Orleans this weekend for the Jazz
Fest, and said he'll make an effort to visit our cafe. Since the cafe is set
to close June 15th, I'm hoping Darian will support our mission to create a
permanent community center in St. Bernard, with an all-resident board of
directors. Iray has a building selected, near the community college; now we
need the resources to develop it (hopefully using the most sustainable
methods and appropriate technologies).

What else do we want?

We want a truck (preferably diesel, so it can use bio-diesel) to collect
sheet metal, glass, wood and bricks piling up in the streets, which could be
reused, instead of wasted, trashing another forest and stream. These
valuable resources will be used to create an education center at Jim and
Alberta's nature sanctuary, which will feature green building and organic
solutions, such as rainwater catchment, gray water use, and composting
toilets.

We want to promote permaculture and bioremediation education at the Art Egg
and Meg Perry Garden. I shot an interview with Charles Rieth, a Tulane
professor who teaches free permaculture classes and organized the Art Egg
garden, which I'll present at noon on May 10th, at the Thoreau Center for
Center for Sustainability, in the Presidio, San Francisco. (
www.thoreau.org/location.html)

We want bio-diesel to fuel our refrigerator trailers that run 24-7. We want
our to-go meals to have utensils and cups made of natural materials, such as
paper and corn starch, instead of plastic and Styrofoam. We want examples of
solar energy to educate residents. We want a digital projector to shed light
on the grassroots movement and the need for more help.

Most of all, we need to learn how to co-operate as a community. As the
saying goes, "We may not have it all together, but together we have it all."
There is an exciting opportunity create something new, and collectively we
have the power and skills to do it like never before. What does the future
we want to live in look like, and how are we going to create it?

My two main areas of focused are:

Cultural exchange community centers where locals and volunteers can to meet
face to face to communicate, educate, organize and gather resources.

Organic solutions sanctuaries to explore and discover how to live simply in
harmony with nature.

Leah and I have the opportunity to connect with many people over the next
few weeks. We are a channel for many organizations in the grassroots
community building movement to have a voice and gather support. We are
seeking concise paragraphs from Gulf Coast activists and residents who wish
to get their message out. What do you want people to know? What do you want
to see? What do you need? We'll find ears to hear and eyes to read. Email:
solomax at gmail.com

This is our schedule:

28th-29th April - New Living Expo, San Francisco

29th April, 9pm - CellSpace, San Francisco... Action Hero Network fundraiser
with Caroline Casey. Arrive before 9pm... my video montage of the Gulf Coast
grassroots community building movement is 9pm to 9:30pm. See:
http://www.pmagevents.com/flyer.html

30th April, 1pm - Gualala, CA... (not yet sure the name of the center)

May 1st, Horicon Elementary School, Annapolis, CA.

May 2nd, -- College of the Redwoods, Eureka

May 3rd, 7pm -- Arcata, Peace and Justice Center

May 5th, 7pm -- The Warehouse, Eureka, CA

May 8th, 7pm - Fort Bragg, Mendocino, The college of the Redwoods library --
Organized with Vets for Peace

May 10th, 12:30pm-1:30pm - The Thoreau Center for Sustainability, The
Presidio, See: www.thoreau.org/location.html

May 12th/13th - Whole Earth Festival, Davis, CA.

May 14th, 2:40pm - Speakers panel at Sustainable World Symposium & Festival,
San Francisco -www.swcoalition.org

ActionHeroNetwork.net will soon be updated to feature the movers and shakers
who have been rocking the Gulf Coast relief and rebuilding scene. You can
support their efforts by forwarding a link to your network.

Thousands of stickers are being printed to share this portal into the Action
Hero world, so millions of people will become informed, inspired and
activated. If you'd like a bunch or a few, please make a contribution
through this link http://www.ihcenter.org/groups/actionheronetwork.html and
I'll send them in the mail.

The Action Hero Network is a 501(c)3 social profit project of the
International Humanities Center. We are a channel for individuals and
organizations to recognize heroic efforts and share projects.

The City Repair Project in Portland, Oregon, is hosting The Village Building
Convergence again soon, May 19th - 28th. I attended last year, and it was
amazing! Visit their site:
http://www.cityrepair.org/wiki.php/projects/vbc/

I found these quotes hanging on banners in the gymnasium of Sunnyside
School, where the Village Building Convergence was based, and I have carried
them to remind me of their message ever since.

"I don't know what your destiny will be, but the one thing I know; the only
ones among you who will be happy are those who have sought and found how to
serve." - Albert Schweitzer

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting
to improve the world." -Anne Frank

Looking forward to circle with you,

Cor
Space Creator
504-481-9956
www.actionheronetwork.net

See Heroes in action: http://actionhero.smugmug.com
Post messages to Action Hero Tribe: http://actionhero.tribe.net
Join Action Hero's Cor Circle:
http://groups.google.com/group/action-hero-network
Make a financial contribution:
http://www.ihcenter.org/groups/actionheronetwork.html



Action Hero Network is a project of IHCenter

Views expressed in submissions to this email list are those of the submitter
and do not necessarily reflect those of the forwarding organization.
And, we are a planet of many views, beliefs, illusions, and allegiances, all
of which deserve their time, place, and space to be heard and considered on
their individual merit. 
Those taking issue with statements made herein are welcome to rebut by
submitting comments to announcements at IHCenter.org.