So this weekend my Environmental Ed class went down to the South Fork of the American River for a pretty fabulous trip. On our first day there we explored "Pioneer Town" and heard one of the guides there talking about the history associated with the Gold Rush. I never really understood the process of gold mining before this weekend, but now that I have a better understanding I don't understand the things people go through to get their hands on certain... things. I don't understand how we prioritize and put value to objects or services. Gold basically forms in tiny open spaces between granite and quartz... so its almost like this cruddy but shiny substance. The whole process can be pretty degrading to the landscape as well as people's health. One of the ways of separating gold from other material involved using mercury. People value gold, which can literally make them sick, more than preserving a landscape that in the end could provide health to the people who take care of it...
How does this relate to a ski resort in Arizona? In terms of value. First of all it doesn't even sound like this place could naturally sustain a business in the first place. Since the environment doesn't produce enough snow to actually run a resort, the business wants to use reclaimed water to make snow. This water has chemicals in it from the process, which then will seep into the environment, potentially (and most likely) effecting people's long term heath. Not just the Native People's health, but possibly even tourist's and costumer's health....
Why are people so stupid?! ahhhh
Once again we see people putting more value on something that doesn't make any sense than on their own health.
And of course the health (physical, mental, spiritual) are much more immediate and eminent to the people who are Native to the land. I think things happened kind of similarly to those indigenous to the land around the American River.
People need to get their priorities strait. Stop doing things that don't make any sense, and start thinking about things that do make sense. Spraying poo water on a sacred mountain to make it snow where it doesn't snow doesn't make sense. Digging for something shiny that makes you sick doesn't make sense either.
Working with the land and natural patterns to create healthy and respectful human beings, things like permaculture, that makes sense.
Get real world. Please. Thanks.
Oh, I noticed an ordering in a sentence that made me think: "Leading the way is the Save the Peaks Coalition, along with the Sierra Club, Flagstaff Activists Network, Center for Biological Diversity, Grand Canyon Trust, as well as numerous Native American tribes opposed to the expansion plan." It kind of bothered me for a second that the Native American tribes were last in that sentence, but then I realized the order was probably written in terms of impact each group had, which is really sad. The people who are being effected the most have the least power in fighting, which makes them last in the sentence. I want them to be able to be first in that sentence, but the reason they are not is why we have this whole conflict in the first place. Yea, kind of redundant. Thats how my brain works, lots of circles.
aiight. im done. peace.
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