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.