Dear HCN,
I’m a bit puzzled by your
article on “Earth First! The Next Generation” (HCN, 9/2/96). It’s
not the first of its kind I’ve read this year but I continue to
wonder what all the fuss is about. Could it be the unexpected
appearance of consistency among a group of people generally
portrayed as flakes, hippies, eco-rednecks or one-trick
ponies?
I do not call myself an Earth First!er,
but I have been closely associated with EF! on both the Redwood
Summer and Cove-Mallard campaigns. Holders of the Earth First!
philosophy have consistently turned up at the actions and for the
issues that are dear to my heart, not only in the forests but at
the weapons-testing sites, the nuclear-waste generation and dump
sites and beside the homeless and the hungry, wherever the struggle
for survival intensifies.
The human equivalent of
the snail darter, whether an abandoned mother forced onto welfare
or an “illegal” immigrant, is a vital component of a healthy
planet. Even the most unsophisticated defender of the wild knows
that healthy habitat requires those beings with roots, those with
legs, with feathers, with fur and with gills; growing things,
living and dead; clean air and clean water. Because, you see,
everything’s connected. So, too, is the social order connected to
the natural.
It takes a healthy, balanced,
nonviolent human population to protect and defend our non-human
family and our shared home planet. This is the single issue:
respect and concern for all that dwell upon the
earth.
Sarah Seeds
Moscow,
Idaho
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline One issue unites us.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
