More than anything else I would like the
people of Little Lake Valley as well as people all over the world, especially
in the United States, to understand that the local indigenous people are not
just protesting the destruction of artifacts or the eradication of several
ancient village sites and burial grounds of their ancestors. They are crying
over the loss of their way of life and the loss of a complete culture of
relationships enjoyed for many decades between themselves and this Earth. They
are heart-broken over the annihilation of their belief systems and the loss of
the knowledge of their ancestors who were taken from them when thousands of
fore bearers were killed or removed to boarding schools.
This isn't just about CalTrans building a
by-pass through ecologically important and sensitive wet lands, causing an
imbalance to an ecosystem developed over eons of time.
It's not just about getting around the
traffic in a small town so logging or delivery trucks and tourists can get to
their destinations faster.
This is about depleting what oil reserves
we have left by encouraging more usage of petroleum products and discouraging a
shift into mass transportation or other methods of getting from one place to
another.
This is about complete disregard for the
beauty of what has stood here and how it will have to become something else.
This valley will never be the same. The natural world here will be forever
changed in ways we cannot even yet imagine.
We have been herded, like the indigenous
people were herded into Round Valley, into believing progress, going faster,
driving independently, seeing the world through a windshield, is a better way.
Sit quietly and hear, if you can, the
sobbing of the trees who have lost several thousands of their family members,
the silence of the air because the birds have less places to land. See the
number of dead bushes who could not find nourishment because the water table dropped
faster than their roots could find it. Billions of gallons of water were used
in the construction of the by-pass and will not be replaced with one winter of
El Nino, in fact, the water may only run off into gullies and streams.
This summer you could breathe the dust
created by it being disturbed and rearranged. If your eyes were stinging, it
was from the fine debris loosened into the air by heavy machinery. Water in town,
even filtered, has a bite. We have been warned not to drink it out of the tap,
and I concur. It is unpalatable even when I filter it again. A daily shower of
water feels like tiny pangs of pain.
What effects we will see to our town and
valley and the entire ecosystem of this area are not known. Few have been able
to guess at the overall changes this by-pass will bring. Proportionately few in
the world are aware of our individual and collective impact on our Earth. Many
do not want to slow down, get the earphones out of their ears, to remove the IPhone
from in front of their faces.
Recently, the Dalai Lama suggested we each
take daily responsibility to care for our environment in response to global
warming. I pray we are not too late to listen to his words.
We need to understand the impact we have
made on the flourishing of our world, globally, nationally, and locally. It is
truly possible we have crippled our area, are depleting our natural resources,
and will want to cry, just like those who weep for their lost villages. In the
end, I believe, we may be able to do nothing but join them with their tears.
