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    Doug Peacock on Saving Grizzly Bears and the Need to Act

    Doug Peacock writes about the need to save bears and wild places. He coauthored a letter to delay the hunting of grizzly bears. He shot a brief film about a young bear playing with ice on a spring pond, pushing the ice chunks down, then watching them pop back up. He is pushing to get the Monkey Wrench GAng made as a spur to get people to do something to protect wild creatures and places. http://www.wyodaily.com/story/2017/12/16/news/haydukes-final-fist-in-the-wilderness/6085.html

    I AM A MAN

    Protestors and Dreamers Needed for Justice for People and for Nature

    It says that those who challenge to racism, colonialism, sexism, elitism, militarism, classism, exceptionalism, chauvinism, triumphalism, nationalism, religionism, .... are marginalized in historical accounts, yet their protests and "impossible" dreams are vital for change and justice.
    About changing what is considered doable: ( A friend said that Bernie Sanders is bringing up the possibility of not being allied with the dictatorial Saudi regime, though it is a major weapons purchaser and ally. The friend said that this is an example of the "Overton Window".)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window
    We can bring up the rights of nature, of trees, of rivers, of wetlands, of coral reefs, of animals, of wildlife, of wolves, of bears, of dolphins, of whales, of birds, of endangered species, of ecosystems, and of animals. We can also bring up the right to clean water and clean air. Here are links about the rights of nature. https://therightsofnature.org/articles ,
    http://www.e-elgar.com/shop/should-trees-have-standing,
    http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/39637-on-the-rights-of-nature,
    https://www.pachamama.org/advocacy/rights-of-natur,
    http://boulderrightsofnature.org/

    How to Be an Activist-from Umbra at Grist

    Here is neat set of ways to act on your beliefs about the environment and politics, : http://grist.org/guides/umbra-apathy-detox/. It includes things like: making a plan, finding friends to protest with, moving your money from bad banks, cutting back on online time, focusing on one issue, donating money, creating a calendar of actions, subscribe to local newspapers, learn how to protest, ..... There are great links to sites with information about how to do these things.

    smash tv

    Avoid News Designed to Make You Afraid - Do Activism With Friends

    Jonathan Lindgren wrote on FB about avoiding TV because it makes us upset and full of cortisol, "Someone else's comment, and part of why I don't watch TV: On April 18, 1930 the BBC Evening News reported, "There is no news today," and shifted to piano music. By the late 1950s, Douglas Edwards and John Cameron Swayze were reporting the day's news in a 15 minute broadcast. Even at the height of the Cold War, that was usually sufficient to cover the day's important events. Then came the shift to 30 minute network broadcasts, and later the advent of cable news and social media, with the 24/7 news cycle. Generally speaking, while the importance of the day's events has receded in consequence (the Great Depression, World War 2, or the Cold War compared to, say, the takeover of Ukraine, police brutality, or the Paris Accords) the time spent in "news" coverage has grown exponentially. The result is a population awash in alarmism, fluff, and advocacy disguised as fact. It takes a toll psychologically."

    This made me write the following, in part because I just rewatched the Redford movie "All the President's Men" about impeaching Nixon because he was using all of the government intelligence agencies plus special"dirty tricks" ex-intelligence operatives to spy on, harass, burglarize, and destabilize his opponents: Muskie, Democrats, Ellsberg, Black Panthers, anti-war protesters, and African-American, Native American and Latino community organizers. In the case of minority groups. the government intelligence services and police even murdered their opponents.
    Sometimes even some newspaper stuff is alarmist. -"When it bleeds , it leads" is a phrase applied to the media, so media devotes more coverage to violence. Also, powerful institutions try to make us become afraid, so that we will support militarism, racism, classism, more prisons, more police, more spying, more military contracts, more oil development, etc. The media, the FBI, the intelligence agencies all hype or manufacture instances of "terrorism" in order to get more money and power. Also district attorneys, prosecutors, and attorney generals hype and pursue cases to get publicity so they can run for higher office. Or they prosecute their political opponents, such as the native americans at Standing Rock, the Stop Keystone XL protestors, etc. Here is an article about how we need to decrease the power of prosecutors and increase the power of public defenders in order to reduce the number of poor people imprisoned. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/04/10/how-we-misunderstand-mass-incarceration. Way too often prosecutors, judges, and police convict some powerless innocent person in order to look good for election to higher office and to get more money for their departments. Solutions- . A recent letter to the editor by Rishi Raj says that Tolstoy gave advice: to talk in person with people with other views and to doing things with your hands such as gardening, sewing, or a craft. Link: www.dailycamera.com/letters/ci_31111403/rishi-raj-make-connection Also- protect civil rights and the Bill of Rights by supporting the relevant groups: Center for Constitutional Rights, the ACLU, and some newspapers and magazines protect our Bill of Rights (https://ccrjustice.org, aclu.org) our Bill of Rights; , https://www.innocenceproject.org/ wins freedom for those wrongly convicted, AFSC fights for less military spending and more funding for justice.(https://www.afsc.org), The Center for Environment, Health, and Justice works to protect lower income neighborhoods from toxic pollution (chej.org), Orion magazine talks about revering the spirit of nature and the local knowledge of place, and Yes magazine (www.yesmagazine.org) writes about organizing, natives, the rights of nature, the new economy, social justice, and peace.

    Bioneers Boulder Today-Great Talks On Nature & Eco-Social Solutions

    Today Feb. 4, near Colorado and 47th. Last night they talked about ways that we can get off the couch and try different approaches to helping, building community, saving the earth, risking being uncomfortable,..... there are many ways. We can try many paths and there are many people who will support us. Also, we get comfortable setting boundaries. There are 198 different ways in addition to marching, and non-violent civil disobedience says Gene Sharp. Details.