To The Wilderness Yonder

"To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in the undermining of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed." ---Theodore Roosevelt

And so I am off to spend 5 months in the backcountry doing trail maintanence and conservation work with the California Conservation Corps. I am bringing a sketchbook with me, so hopefully there'll be plenty to post when I get back! Take care everyone! Thanks for checking my blog.

Please check the Hills for Everyone website. There are new developments concerning the local hills here- none of it positive. I will be back to contribute more after my stint helping preserve California's wilderness up north.

My letter to Diamond Bar City Council

You can e-mail Diamond Bar City Council and the Mayor at: CityCouncil@ci.diamond-bar.ca.us

Have your voice be heard! This is what I sent to them:

"Dear Diamond Bar Mayor and City Council Members-
I am a native Southern Californian, born in Anaheim, raised in Phillips Ranch and Chino Hills, having attended Lorbeer Junior High in your city and having lived in the area for the large portion of my life. I was away for three years in New York City. Upon my return, I was shocked to see that much of the open space that I know and love in the area has been developed or is threatening to be developed. The land in question is known as "The Pretty Way" to my family. As a child, when my mom would take my brother and I to visit my father at his law office in Fullerton, she would often ask us which route we preferred to take. We always opted for Brea Canyon and would peer outside the window and marvel at the expanse of hills that fostered our imagination of what California used to be like in the "old days." Today, my gut wrenches at the possibilty that one of the last remaining natural open spaces will be lost. Though we are born in a different age than those of the "old days" when agriculture was the primary means, we have a tie to the land that we can never escape. We must recognize that we would not be here flourishing and enjoying life if it were not for the resources it has provided. It is our job as residents of the area to protect the remaining land for future generations to enjoy. It is not our job to give way to oil companies and let them become more prosperous than they already are. Though each of the small amount of open space remaining in the area can be thought in monetary and developmental terms, all land cannot be developed. The land in question is a wildlife corridor~ a biodiversity hotspot. This means that its existence is vital, not only locally, but globally as well. In this day and age, we can no longer think locally. We must think globally. Our choices that we make for our local environments shape the future of the planet. So much is being lost at an alarming rate. Even humans, well adapted to living in man-made environments cannot do without the land. We would be more prosperous to live and have natural space available than to live and have all spaces developed. By developing the proposed piece of land, the wildlife in that area would be threatened and surely will lose all chances of survival. Are they not entitled to their homes as well? We have taken so much and given so little. It is for the future that we must be always steering our decisions towards. What kind of future would you like your children to live in? What kind of future would you like all children to live in? If children of the future have no opportunity to appreciate the natural qualities of their birthland, then chances are they will not feel any strong ties to it. I believe one must have such ties~ it is an integral part of a healthy human being and citizen. I urge you to reconsider the path that you as mayor and council are taking. Though the benefits may sound appealing, the negatives far outweigh them. It is your duty as public servants to shape a bright future for all those that live now and will live. Follow in the politics of Lincoln: honesty and truth should be your only creed. Save what little is left for the future.

Sincerely,
Erin Hicks"

Puente-Chino Hills Wildlife Corridor threatened by Big Oil and Diamond Bar City Council

Many might not be aware that the hills the 57 freeway cuts through towards the 60 freeway, bordered by Brea Canyon and Tonner Canyon, are currently threatened to be developed by an oil company of all things. Aera Energy, owned by Shell and ExxonMobil has approached Diamond Bar City Council with a plan to plow over the hills and replace one of the last large vital natural open spaces in the area with 3,600 houses, an 18-hole golf course, local community commercial uses, and park space. The oil company owns the land and has had oil wells on it for years. They have come to realize that the land would be much more profitable if developed, rather than letting it sit there. If one recalls, oil companies have posted record earnings in the most recent past towering the earnings of most other industries. This is illustrated from an article in The Washington Post dated April 29, 2005: "As consumers struggle with record high gasoline prices, Exxon Mobil Corp. announced Thursday that its revenue totaled more than $82 billion in the first three months of the year.

The world’s largest publicly traded oil company boosted its profit by 44 percent, to $7.86 billion, from the same quarter a year ago. That left Exxon with a cash hoard of $30 billion."

What need they have for more revenue is beyond me. They have had far too much play in the way we live our lives. They have no ties to the area and its future. They do not care if our children's children will grow up to not know of the natural beauty that once existed in the area. They do not care if the wildlife corrior, a hotspot of biodiversity, will be ruined, ensuring no chance of survival for species who already have very little space to live.

The city of Diamond Bar is playing a big part in enabling Aera Energy to achieve their goals. It will surely mean more money for the city as well. But, may I ask you, is the city suffering so that it should be willing to sacrifice part of the future for its ends? If you've driven through Diamond Bar, you know that it does not face such suffering. In fact, more cities in the area face what one might define as "prosperity." There is a fine line, however, that one must draw. A city is healthily prosperous when all positive entities are in balance. What happens when you overbuild, so that the city becomes congested, it's inhabitants unhappy, it's natural heritage witheld from it's children? Is that then a greater prosperity?

Please visit the link posted for a more information on what you can do. http://www.hillsforeveryone.org/get-involved/you-can-help.htm

For the whole story, visit: http://www.hillsforeveryone.org/lands-at-risk/shell-aera.htm

Be sure to inform your neighbors and be a voice in your community. For the future's sake, we cannot allow this to happen.

Welcome

Greetings friends and neighbors. This here represents the beginnings of an idea that has floated around in my head for a little while. I intend on making a full website sometime in the future promoting the greater causes of our natural environment and the planet. The website would not only feature information on how one can make a difference in one's own life, it would be a visual grassroots effort enabling artists to create appealing public service announcements that would promote awareness and education of the cause for the environment. Any individual would be able to download these images and flyers, print them out and and distribute them in their own manner, making a difference in their own way. It's primary goal would be to make "environmentalism" cool to both the younger and young adult audience, but also to everyone. Throughout the years, I have noticed that of all the causes out there that have effective public service announcements and advertising, there is very little that achieves effectiveness on the environment's behalf. Instead, we have the likes of coal and oil companies providing misleading advertising, promoting themselves and their ways as "green." This is much akin to the cigarette companies, for example, providing materials against smoking. There must be a catch.

Each generation has a major struggle presented to them. For Abraham Lincoln, it was the preservation of the Union and slavery. For Martin Luther King Jr, it was civil rights. For us, the environment is the cause of our times. If you are not convinced, try to think of it in these terms: We would not have war nor would we have peace; we would have terrorism nor would we have global cooperation; we would not have partisanship nor would we have bipartisanship; we would not have international relations nor would we have our own nation; we would not have stagnancy, nor would we have great scientific progress; we would not have work nor would we have vacations; we would not have the past to learn from, we would not have the future to look forward to; we would not have your favorite sports nor would we have arts and entertainment; we would not have all of these things and everything imaginiable that comprises this world if we did not have this world which to live on. This is our only home and it is worth saving. If the health of the Earth suffers, then our health and prosperity suffers as well as the health of all creatures whom we share our home with. If we continue on "business as usual," promoting archaic ideas of prosperity and progress (rooted in the Industrial Revolution), the lives of future generations will be deprived and rattled by unneccessary hardship. We can not live without the basic elements, and these basic elements (air, water, land, and energy) we are successfully destorying. Our home is hurting and we are now witnessing her cries. You cannot say that you truly love your children and conduct your life in a manner that ruins their future. It is our time to make these changes- to truly think about the future and act as if we mean it when we say "our children are the future." I have learned that the world does not have to remain the same as when we were born in it. Things do not have to stay the same. We have the power to make great change.

For now, I would like to primarily focus on local causes as my heart lies with my home and the natural land that is being destroyed at an alarming rate. Please visit the links, and read the posts that follow for more information.

Many thanks and pass this link on to all you know.

*Erin

P.S. Please feel free to leave comments and use this as a forum. You do not have to have a Blogger account to do so.