Orion Magazine - March-April 2008

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Thanks to Jennifer Oladipo

(“Global Warming Is Color-blind,” November/December 2007) for calling attention to the racial gap in mainstream environmentalism. Troublingly, though, her claim that we people of color “like to go backpacking, too” betrays an assumption that most of us can a=ord hiking gear and easily access parks and trails.

Mainstream environmentalism rightly targets corporate waste and middle-class consumption, but it proposes solutions that are inappropriate and insensitive to us. Welfare households headed by immigrant women whose >rst language is not English are less concerned with energy-e;cient light bulbs than with providing food and shelter; young black and Latino men are less concerned with their old gas-guzzling cars than with racial pro>ling. And long before the hue and cry over global warming, indigenous peoples were losing their access to land and water.

In e=ect, “nature” means something di=erent to people of color. It is not a middle-class place in which to hike or bike. It is the landscape on which we are targets of genocide or from which we are forcibly removed or into which we settle in refugee camps. It is not a place where we comfortably eat locally grown fruits and vegetables but a searing >eld or orchard in which we pick them for nearly slave wages and

then cannot a=ord to buy them at our farmers’ market or food co-op. It is the place in which we su=er illness and disease because the only local employer is a nuclear facility.

There is an environmental justice movement that addresses our needs and concerns—and, by extension, the world’s needs and concerns—but mainstream environmentalism remains a white middle-class movement.

John Streamas

Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies Washington State University

Pullman, Washington

I thoroughly enjoyed Erik Reece’s piece, “Putting Art to Work” ( November/December 2007). I only hope that others with T. Allan Comp’s same wisdom can convince residents of many other small Appalachian towns that, with some imagination, they too can dig themselves out of the dark trap they >nd themselves in. These towns have rich histories, and yet so many have fallen on such hard economic times that residents can’t envision themselves ever being part of something productive again. Comp’s project is an example of hope.

As a native of western Pennsylvania, I was happy to read about Vintondale’s spirits being lifted. It is great to know that this kind

of transformation is due in part to the generosity and tenacity of people who care about our country and our history. That’s community, respect for place, and patriotism at their >nest. And I’m not surprised to see art taking on the role of the uni>er!

Bill Diskin

Charlotte, North Carolina

Matt Jenkins provides an important look into the intricacies of social change and natural resource management (“Fluid Values,” November/December 2007). Unfortunately, however, the battle in the Klamath is often oversimpli>ed as a >sh-versus-farmer controversy. For the salmon and the Klamath River tribes dependent on them, the controversy could be more accurately described as >sh-versus-power-company. Removal of dams on the Lower Klamath River would drastically improve water quality and restore hundreds of miles of historic spawning grounds. If we as the general public would fully assume our responsibility for consumption and protection of natural resources, we could turn out the lights, call Paci>c Power, and request the removal of their antiquated, >sh-killing dams. The result would be a win–win situation for everyone: improved water quality and >sh runs, restored vitality to the Klamath tribes, continued water for farmers, and a sense of pride among those power consumers willing to care, conserve, and speak out.

Lyndia Hammer

Ashland, Oregon

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Orion is published bimonthly by The Orion Society and The Myrin Institute, 187 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA 01230. Telephone: (413) 528-4422. E-mail: questions@orionsociety.org. ISSN 1058-3130. Periodical postage paid at Putney, VT. Copyright ©2008 by The Orion Society. All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced without the written con-

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