Larry Glass, NEC Board President
Caroline Griffith, NEC Executive Director
Nordic Aquafarms
The long-awaited draft EIR for the proposed fish farm on the Samoa Peninsula has finally been released. Our early takeaways from review of the document (which is 1,700+ pages long) is that they assume that the effluent that will be discharged into the ocean will have “no significant impact” on biological resources. We’ll be carefully scrutinizing this assessment, as well as greenhouse gas emissions and impacts of water intake from the Bay, as we prepare to comment. Comments on the draft EIR are due on February 18. The document can be found on the Humboldt County website.
Rolling Meadows Lawsuit
At the last minute, the judge assigned to our case recused herself and a new judge was randomly appointed by a judicial commission. This judge (not local) seemed to have a very difficult time recognizing that true harm could happen to the environment and seemed to think that harm could only be measured in dollars, which makes the deck stacked against us. So our request for a preliminary injunction fell on deaf ears as we couldn’t show financial harm, even though real harm to the environment is taking place. We are considering whether or not to appeal this decision. In the meantime, we felt it necessary to bring a second action against the County for its failure to enforce the rules required under the Conditional Use Permits issued to large cannabis developments. It’s become obvious to us there are dual standards being applied in the enforcement of Conditional Use Permits, with many large projects allowed to wholesale change the nature of their whole project, while smaller projects are being strictly held to what their Conditional Use Permit says.
Another Salvage Attempt
The Mcfarland Fire salvage project area in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest is 3,000 acres, and according to the maps of the project area, it appears that about 50% of the area burned hot while the rest of it either didn’t burn or burned at low intensity. The concern we have so far is the Forest Service wants to log throughout the entire 3,000 acres. The areas that burned hot are generally old clear-cut blocks, while most of the rest of the area is Late Successional Reserve (LSR) that is home to a mating pair of northern spotted owls. We believe the Forest Service should be protecting this LSR through fuels reduction, not reducing the canopy cover to 40 percent. We will be joining in with Kimberly Baker of EPIC and submitting comments on this poorly conceived project which appears to be more about green tree mining than actual salvage.
Don’t Look Up
Don’t Look Up is a movie that captures, in a satirically humorous way, the real insanity that we are faced with in the new post-factual world that we find ourselves in. If you haven’t seen it, Larry recommends you take the time to check it out, although he cautions that it uses dark humor and it is a grim look at our world, so if you are already having a hard time finding hope, maybe it’s not for you.
bell hooks
Gloria Jean Watkins, better known by her pen name bell hooks, was an American author, professor, feminist, and social activist who passed away in December of 2021. The name “bell hooks” is borrowed from her maternal great-grandmother, Bell Blair Hooks. hooks was an inspiration to us because of her ability to point out that everyone was a victim of patriarchy, including men. She could highlight the flaws in our systems, from patriarchy to capitalism, while showing compassion for all of us who are forced to take part in it and hope for the future. Her focus on intersectionality was an inspiration for our Nexus column and we are sad to mark her passing. We highly recommend that you seek out her work because, as she said, “Hope is essential to any political struggle for radical change when the overall social climate promotes disillusionment and despair.” And we are in need of radical change. You can find her essay Understanding Patriarchy at imaginenoborders.org/pdf/zines/UnderstandingPatriarchy.pdf
Teaching (and Learning From) the Next Generation of Climate Activists
One way that we are finding hope is through working with youth and students to deepen their activism and organizing skills. As the decision-makers of the future, young people should be at the forefront of the climate movement and it is our duty as their elders to help prepare them to step into these roles. We are excited to start offering workshops designed to share the skills we have learned advocating for the planet with the next generation. With a focus on campaign organizing and civic engagement, these workshops will begin in March, so stay tuned or follow us on social media for more information.
HSU Social Justice Summit
Speaking of workshops, HSU is hosting its 28th annual Social Justice Summit from February 28 – March 5. This year’s theme is Climate Justice and Intersectionality. NEC staff are excited to be teaching a workshop called “Sustain Your Activism” on Monday, February 28 at 1pm. Find out more at sjei.humboldt.edu/SJS