Re: GBlist: Whose Globalization?

["chalice" <chalice@wco.com>]

We have an action called "We'd Rather Wear Nothing Than Wear Gap!" where we
completely strip for redwoods (the Gap Fishers are destroying redwood
forestland) and workers rights (Gap uses sweatshop labor to produce its
goods) in front of Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy stores in urban
centers. This action has an incredible effect on the people doing it and the
people watching it: It's very joyful and innocent--and everyone loves it!

There's something about taking off all your clothes in the heart of the
city--asserting the natural self in a human-made place. In the abstract, it
seems daunting, but a tribal connection takes over the people doing it, fear
is vanquished, and people who weren't planning to, spontaneously join in. It
is stunning to the people watching, who usually break into smiles and
grins--their eyes begin to shine... A MYTHICAL CHORD HAS BEEN STRUCK. I call
the phenomenon "Paradise Regained."
_____________________

In the city, clever creatures that we are, we live almost exclusively in our
HEADS--without ever really knowing it. We live to the RHYTHM OF MACHINES.
Concrete and commerce surround us on all sides. We spend most of our time
working and watching TV.

Designing an ecological toilet is good--but it does not connect you with
your natural self in the sense I mean. Nor does walking on a trail for an
hour or two.

I conclude more than ever that connecting with our natural selves by
spending significant time in nature, such as in a temperate rainforest, IS
the closest thing we'll come to a panacea for our personal neuroses, and, by
extension, for the ills of our society.

It makes one whole and good.

Cheers!

Mary Bull
Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap Campaign
252 Frederick Street, San Francisco, CA 94117
chalice@wco.com 415-731-7924 www.gapsucks.org



-----Original Message-----
From: John Salmen <terrain@cow-net.com>
To: chalice <chalice@wco.com>
Cc: Greenbuilding <greenbuilding@crest.org>
Date: Friday, May 26, 2000 3:12 PM
Subject: Re: GBlist: Whose Globalization?


>well we can live to disagree and grow older meantime. I know certainly in
my
>lifetime the eco trails in the Walbran and Carmanah will not heal over -
>rather they are becoming roads - the roads that extend from our doors are
>getting mighty long and the doorstep gets neglected.
>
>The 'thought' that Nature can deal with our waste is akin to what you think
>of the Sumerians 'justifying' their fears and superstitions. It does not
>afford nature or the Sumerians any respect. What are your fears and
>superstitions of the built world that gives you justification to step
>outside it?
>
>I have become more a part of nature in designing a compost toilet within a
>watershed because to do so I had to understand what that puddle you would
>leave on the ground leaves nature to contend with - what effect nitrates
has
>in soil and water, etc.  -to me that is a greenbuilders role within
nature -
>not a resistance I hope. Designing that toilet also made me understand how
>little we know about something so basic. Nature will perhaps help me to
>understand how to deal with it but if I let nature deal with it alone -
that
>definitely leaves me out.
>
>There are many roles within a community - I don't disparage yours but I
>cannot view it well as a prescription or 'global' panacea.
>
>john
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: chalice <chalice@wco.com>
>To: John Salmen <terrain@cow-net.com>
>Cc: Greenbuilding <greenbuilding@crest.org>
>Sent: Friday, May 26, 2000 2:14 PM
>Subject: Re: GBlist: Whose Globalization?
>
>
>> John,
>>
>> Your and the other greenbuilders' resistance to the idea of being part of
>> nature--one with the forest--is troubling to me. (Aside to Karlene:
please
>> just delete the emails with this subject if the conversation does not
>> interest you.)
>>
>> I'm an activist, so I don't have much time for reading. But, yes, it
looks
>> like that was the Sumerians' prescription for preservation--or their
>> justification for their fears and superstitions: The gods' fearsome
>> protector of the forest will eat you up should you enter...
>>
>> As I said before, I think we can enter the forest with some consciousness
>> (since we've lost touch with our natural selves--I think we MUST enter it
>> gingerly, carefully, until we're back in tune). I think Nature can
>transform
>> and use our natural waste as it does all living forest creatures' waste.
I
>> think nature can incorporate our natural "impacts."
>>
>> I think we can be an integral part of the ecosystem. But, evidently, this
>> notion is appalling to many of the Greenbuilders--for whatever reasons,
>many
>> of you argue to keep humans apart.
>>
>> I'm sorry I've offended you with the term "re-con." What's happening to
>our
>> forests right now has many parallels to war--a clearcut looks like a bomb
>> site. The logging tools are monstrous machines of destruction. These are
>the
>> forces I'm fighting on many fronts: from the bought politicians to the
>lying
>> timber companies, to their greedy investors, to the unaware consumers.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Mary Bull
>> Save the Redwoods/Boycott the Gap Campaign
>> 252 Frederick Street, San Francisco, CA 94117
>> chalice@wco.com 415-731-7924 www.gapsucks.org
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: John Salmen <terrain@cow-net.com>
>> To: chalice <chalice@wco.com>; Sarah Kopp <kopp@kinneret.kinneret.co.il>
>> Cc: Greenbuilding <greenbuilding@crest.org>
>> Date: Friday, May 26, 2000 1:09 PM
>> Subject: Re: GBlist: Whose Globalization?
>>
>>
>> >
>> >
>> >If we are nature, we are not going to destroy
>> >> ourselves. And a park or patch of native grass in the middle of the
>> >concrete
>> >> jungle or the suburban sprawl won't get us there (in touch with our
>> >natural
>> >> selves). Please, walk up a wild creek in the spring--take a couple of
>> >weeks
>> >> to foray into a watershed (if there are any left where you are: I'm
>> >reading
>> >> a book on deforestation--so much of the Near East that's desert now
was
>> >> densely forested: Gilgamesh started the trend in Sumeria...), and
>you'll
>> >> begin to feel something in your veins you're not used to, but that you
>> >> somehow know and love and are thrilled by--and you'll understand what
>I'm
>> >> talking about.
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >This is getting troubling.  The book you make reference to I think is
>> Forest
>> >Journery by John Perlin. If books are an inspiration I would also
>> recommend;
>> >Forest Primeval and the Redesigned Forest by Chris Maser and Sacred
Trees
>> by
>> >Nathaniel Altman. What you might have recognized in Perlin's book is the
>> >mechanisms of protection for many ancient forests was that cultures
>> regarded
>> >them as off-limits or places not to be entered casually.
>> >
>> >I live in a forest and very close to a number of ancient forests. I
think
>> >know the inspiration you talk about but I don't think we need to go
>> anywhere
>> >to discover and especially to sustain such feelings. Over the last
decade
>I
>> >have  grown very uncomfortable going into the ancient stands. I'm not
>very
>> >comfortable with militaristic terms like 're-con' applied to such
>ventures.
>> >The paths into and out of these areas are very disruptive and I'm not
>just
>> >talking about the roads in and the footpaths through.
>> >
>> >There is a wonderful exercise where you trace your foot on a piece of
>paper
>> >and cut out the inside portion. Place it on the ground and get your nose
>to
>> >the ground and very carefully explore the layers and layers of life
>> >contained within that footprint. The analogy I hope is clear that every
>> step
>> >we take has an impact - good, bad, whatever. Knowing what is beneath our
>> >feet makes us carry that knowledge with every step.
>> >
>> >When you walk along that stream - where do you urinate, defecate,
consume
>> >food. What things get changed, moved, broken, crushed, frightened away
>and
>> >for what effect. If we could manage such things within our own built
>> >environments and/or if we treated our own environments as sacred places.
>> >
>> >John Salmen
>> >TERRAIN E.D.S.
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
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This greenbuilding dialogue is sponsored by CREST <www.crest.org>
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For  instructions send  e-mail to  greenbuilding-request@crest.org.
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