Filed under: Uncategorized
Friday, June 19th. 7pm.
at Meg Perry Center in Portland.
bring donations for these folks. all money going towards their project.
Visit http://www.gilbertshoes.info/
Coming from North Philadelphia: a duo of activists presenting the story of their community space, Gilbert’s Shoes. They will be talking about the history of the project, its goals, the struggles they face since a police raid last year, as well as gentrification, police brutality, displacement & budget cuts. Please come & hear how such projects can exist in our own hometowns.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Support Swamp Defender Brittany! On May 29th, one of the Barley Barber 17, Brittany, was sentenced to 30 days in Martin County Jail. She plead no-contest to three charges. Back in January, Brittany bravely defied law enforcement officers as well as Florida Power & Light security guards by crossing into Barley Barber Swamp through a water way that is both waters of the State and waters of the U.S. Brittany carried out a swamp occupation attempting to protect and call attention to the old growth cypress swamp with 1000 year old cypress trees. Barley Barber is a gem, a primeval landscape, and one of the only old-growth cypress forests left in the Southeast Coast. FPL's Martin Power Plant, the largest fossil fuel power plant in the U.S. is pulling water from below the forest causing soil subsidence and the eventual collapse of the entire regional ecosystem (not too mention the air pollution and climate change). Please support Barley Barber Swamp, Brittany, and eco-defense by writing to her at the following address. She could also use lots of books! Also, consider donating to Everglades Earth First! to help with legal funds! Check out our paypal link on the home page. Martin County Jail Brittany Pottle 800 SE Monterey Rd. Stuart, Florida 34994 Martin County Jail Regulations on published materials: "Inmates may receive Newspapers, magazines, books and periodicals sent directly from the publisher or approved vendor such as a retail book seller, internet distributor or book club via the US Postal Service or private delivery service. Inmates may receive educational, and reference books through the U.S. mail system, provided they are mailed directly from the publisher or bookstore. There are no limitations on religious material. All reading material must be in paperback form." For more details: http://www.evergladesearthfirst.org/legal.htm
Filed under: Uncategorized
The Earth First! Roadshow is headed our way next week! They are on a cross country tour to revitalize the Earth First! movement & share skills. They’ll be making a few stops in a few different towns here in Maine:
April 16th
1-5PM Direct Action/Media Training
Falmouth @ The Bike Barn 547 Blackstrap Rd.
7PM Presentation
Portland @ The Zero Station 222 Anderson St.
Both are FREE but donations much appreciated
April 17th
Unity College More info TBA
April 18th
Turner, ME
Maine Youth Activist Gathering, Turner Grange Hall
12-6 PM Workshops: Direct action 101, and Intro to blockades training
6 PM Dinner, entertainment, EF! Roadshow presentation
April 19th
Farmington @ University of Maine Farmington 1-5PM
Here’s what the roadshow has to say:
Earth First! Roadshow: A cross-county tour aimed at renewing the Earth First! movement, from Spring to Summer 2009
From the Earth First! Organizers’ Conference & Winter Rendezvous in the Sonoran desert this February to the Round River Rendezvous in Cascadia this summer, a band of eco-rebels will be crossing the US Empire to renew a fighting movement that can stop this industrial nightmare from choking the life out of the earth.
The need for resistance in solidarity with the wild has never been louder or clearer than it is today; the roadshow is a great tool for cultivating resistance. There are countless examples to draw from in the story of radical movements before us: militant labor organizing tours, anti-fascist resistance recruitment and international speaking tours to build cross-border solidarity. The origin of Earth First! is credited to a few roadshows that kicked it all off in the early 1980s. We are building on this tradition; akin to a fellowship crossing Middle Earth to amass insurgents to face Mordor head-on.
List-serves and websites aren’t enough
This Roadshow’s primary intention is to strengthen our radical grassroots ecological network. For almost 30 years, we have been an organized voice bridging conservation biology with grassroots community organizing, road blockading and eco-sabotage. In the past 5 years we have seen numbers and experience-level in the EF! movement decline drastically. Yet, our place has never been more urgent. New groups are popping up across the country, but they are detached from many of the groups, history, and skills that preceded them. We can¹t afford to stumble and repeat the same mistakes.
We are at the tail end of a decade where corporate globalization rooted itself in the US and spread across the planet like a plague. And now that the reality of climate change is finally sinking into the mainstream consciousness, the same superpowers that pushed so-called ‘free trade’ policies to exploit wild nature more efficiently are promoting carbon trading in attempt to make a profitable industry out of the disasters they’ve created. The spineless Big Green environmental NGOs are scrambling for crumbs and cutting deals with the industry for shallow public relations victories. Earth First! must rise and recognize that it’s presence is a strong component of making the broader environmental movement truly effective. We are its spine, or as an EF! co-founder, Howie Wolke, has put it, we are the lions of a movement ‘ecosystem’. Our niche is critical, and its presence (or absence) is felt deeply by our surroundings.
We need to reconnect the multi-generational aspect of Earth First! that has fallen by the wayside in recent years. We need to broaden our network’s base—from radical rural grandparents to revolutionary urban youth. We must re-establish lost relationships with scholars and scientists who resonate with us. We mustre-inspire musicians and artists to contribute their passion to our battles.
When it comes down to it, solid movements are based on strong personal relationships; and real relationships don’t go very far over the internet. We need face-to-face interaction to build trust with—and support for—each other.
For the life of the Earth First! Journal
In a time where internet communication is facilitating the end of print media, including many mainstream news outlets, we are challenged to sustain our movement’s basic, primary medium of communication: the printed Earth First! Journal. Doing this means boosting the subscription/distribution base, plain and simple. And the roadshow is a chance to do that across the country.
If, or when, the lights go out, we will have the inspiration of photos and stories spanning 3 decades that we can hold in our hands and read out loud to each other by fire light, and pass on to the next generations. We shouldn’t let go of that (at least not until the lights go out!), no matter how tempting the allure of free online publishing might get.
The EF! Journal has survived where other activist publications have faded, because there is a base of community support and movement input that is rare in other print media projects. If this publication is lost, it will be a blow to all of our efforts in defense our land, our water, our neighborhoods, our animal-relations and the entire amazing wild process of life’s evolution on this planet.
Where are we going?
If you live in the US, there is a good chance that we will be coming close enough to your home for you to get involved. The roadshow will be starting at the Organizers’ Conference in Arizona and ending at the Round River Rendezvous in Cascadia. The schedule so far looks roughly like this:
March- from the Deserts into the Swamps
April- through the Foothills up to the Northwoods
May- across the Great Lakes and the Great Plains
June- around the Wild Rockies out to the Pacific Coast
Do you want to set up a quick stop at the local community center of college campus? Does your community want to plan a 3-day regional weekend gathering with direct action trainings and sessions on Earth First! history, vision and strategy? Or maybe something in between? Is there pending action plans that we could lend support to en route?
The Roadshow will be traveling with a variety of skills, topics and resources, including: forming affinity groups and planning direct action; blockading, climbing and occupations; bioregional news from campaigns and projects around the country; tools for challenging oppression; up-to-date news on resisting the Greenscare; independent and corporate media work; community organizing strategies; and more. A primary goal of the tour is to build the skill-base of our network. If you want specific areas of interests covered, let us know and we can tailor the stops to meet local/regional desires.
We also will be traveling with an array of art and culture, including musicians, puppet shows, and merchandise (stickers, books, shirts, etc.), to promote the vibrancy and visibility of radical ecological resistance.
Get involved, get more info, get in touch earthfirstroadshow@riseup.net
Filed under: Uncategorized
Hey, thanks to all who came out to the show. The turn out was great & it was a lot of fun. We have two more coming up as well: This Saturday a dance party benefit with The Scrapes & more. This will be at 176 Coyle St. in Portland. More details soon. In just a few weeks there will be an all ages benefit concert in Downtown Portland on Earth Day, April 22nd. The bands are Dylan Bredeau, A Primitive & Savage Land, Huak & Shabti. This will be at Space Gallery 538 Congress St. 7pm. $7. It is a joint benefit with The Dooryard Arts Collective.
Filed under: Plum Creek
For Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36447937@N07/
I-95 Banners Protest Plum Creek Easements.
March 17th
Augusta, ME- Early this morning, members of the rural environmental
movement, Maine Earth First displayed hand-painted banners urging
morning commuters to oppose Plum Creek’s controversial “conservation”
easement as it was proposed to the Land Use Regulatory Commission
(LURC), earlier this month. Maine Earth First hung the banners, which
read, “TELL LURC: PLUM CREEK EASEMENT IS A SHAM!” from the overpasses
of Western Avenue in Augusta, and over Western Avenue in Waterville.
The proposed easements are a part of the Plum Creek Company’s plan to
develop 400,000 acres of land around Moosehead Lake into summer
resorts. According to Plum Creek, the “conservation” easements would
offset any harm done by the proposed developments, but many Mainers
are skeptical. “As it is written now, the wording would allow septic
sludge spreading-up to 100 acres at a time, road building, cell phone
tower construction, construction of high-voltage power lines,
aggregate quarrying, herbicide spraying, and heavy logging all on the
land the easement is supposed to conserve,” said Earth First member
Liam Burnell, “We can’t let them bulldoze the North Woods and call it
conservation!”
In 2006, Plum Creek received the largest fine in Maine history under
the Maine Forest Practices Act for major destruction of deer wintering
yards and damage to bodies of water in the Moosehead region. In fall
2008, Plum Creek cuts resulted in massive erosion and a mud-slide in
Kibby Township. Only months later, after local people brought their
concerns to the media, Plum Creek admitted to cutting more deer
wintering yards in Indian Stream Township, land which could be part of
the conservation easement. The chair of the Sustainable Forestry
Initiative certification program, or SFI, is Plum Creek President Rick
Holley. It may not be a surprise then that all of Plum Creek’s
forestry practices, including the illegal dear yard cuts are certified
as sustainable by SFI Inc.
Plum Creek’s proposed conservation easement has also gotten a green
stamp of approval from the Nature Conservancy who plans to purchase
the easement if it passes. The Nature Conservancy is the wealthiest
environmental group in the nation, and a huge recipient of Plum Creek
donations. On March 4th Earth Firsters hung a banner in the Nature
Conservancy offices in Brunswick in an attempt to highlight the
financial connections between the two organizations, and criticize the
Nature Conservancy for their role in deceiving the public about Plum
Creek’s development plans. “The Nature Conservancy is helping to
write, and then paying an enormous sum of money for what? A
conservation easement that allows Plum Creek to keep clearcutting,
building roads, and spraying poisons in the alleged conservation area
of the North Woods,” commented Noah Dillard, a local activist, “We
need to let LURC know that the conservation easement is nothing but a
sham that will allow Plum Creek to continue destroying the North Woods!”
The full wording of the proposed conservation easements is available
for the public to read on the web at:
http://www.maine.gov/doc/lurc/review/PlumCreek/LURC_ConceptPlanDraft_2009-03-02/
LURC will be accepting public comments about the proposal until April
4th. Comments can be sent to: Land Use Regulation Commission, 22
State House Station, Augusta 04333-0022. Comments also may be e-mailed
to LURC@maine.gov.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Sunday, March 29th.
at 176 Coyle St. in Portland
5pm. $5. all ages. VEGAN POTLUCK!
AURYN (Pittsburgh; members from RAMBO/HYPATIA/FROM THE DEPTHS)
ELD (epic punk from Portland)
A PRIMITIVE & SAVAGE LAND (Fore River hardcore punk)
Filed under: Plum Creek
AUGUSTA — Paying for the locksmith may be the unkindest cut of all.
Three women who chained themselves together in a state office building last fall to protest a development in northern Maine were found guilty Tuesday of committing criminal trespass and were ordered to pay the $328 bill for cutting the locks off.
The women, Emily A. Paine, 23, of Portland; Kyla A. Hersey-Wilson, of Thorndike, 27; and Megan E. Gilmartin, 25, of Searsmont, were participating in an Earth First! protest on Sept. 28, 2008, when they were arrested after refusing to leave the Land Use Regulation Commission Office building in Augusta.
A fourth female, a juvenile, was arrested, but her case was handled through the juvenile justice system, District Attorney Evert Fowle said.
The three women entered pleas of no contest to the charges and were automatically found guilty by Justice Joseph Jabar in Kennebec County Superior Court.
Charges of disorderly conduct from the same incident were dismissed.
The protesters entered the commission office building, locked themselves together with large U-shaped locks generally used to secure bicycles, and refused to leave as part of a protest against the agency’s favorable review of Plum Creek’s development plan for the Moosehead Lake region.
The judge sentenced each woman to 60 hours of community service and ordered them to split the $328 cost of getting a locksmith from Burt’s Security Center to cut the locks. Capital Security officers wanted the locks removed before the women were brought to jail.
Fowle said the three objected in court to paying that cost, telling the judge they didn’t ask to have it done.
“After they entered the commission, they locked themselves to each other at the neck with locks and they didn’t have the foresight to bring the key with them,” he said.
Fowle said the public or community service work “has to be for a nonprofit agency that does not advocate civil disobedience as one of their goals.”
From the Kennebec Journal
Filed under: Plum Creek
March 4, 2009
Brunswick ME- At 10:30 Wednesday morning, members of the rural grassroots environmental movement, Maine Earth First!, were detained outside the offices of the Nature Conservancy after a peaceful dialogue. The group confronted The Nature Conservancy the day after they and Plum Creek Timber LLC submitted the latest version of their controversial Moosehead Conservation Framework to the Land Use Regulatory Commission. The group presented an ad hoc performance in the office, symbolically gagging characters in animal masks representing the local wildlife that will be adversely affected by the plan. During the skit, other members displayed banners that read, “The Nature Conservancy: Putting the “CON” in Conservation!” and “The Nature Conservancy: Masking Plum Creek’s Destruction”. The action was done in protest of The Nature Conservancy’s endorsement of Plum Creek’s logging practices.
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) claims that the purpose of the conservation framework is to ensure that 266,000 acres of land remain permanently protected from development with another 400,000 acres preserved for sustainable forestry. The term sustainable forestry, however, is controversial to many Mainer’s. In the current wording of the conservation easement it allows for major clear cuts, pesticide and herbicide spraying, genetically modified tree plantations, cell phone towers, high voltage power lines, gravel mining, as well as septic sludge spreading. Noah Dillard, a member of Maine Earth First! is concerned after reading their easement language, “what the Nature Conservancy is calling a conservation easement will end up allowing Plum Creek to continue destroying our Maine heritage. We’ve already seen what Plum Creek considers to be sustainable forestry. It’s not about conservation, and it’s not about the public benefit!”
Plum Creek is a member of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, SFI. In 2006, they received the largest fine in Maine history under the Maine Forest Practices Act for major destruction of deer wintering yards and damage to water bodies in the Moosehead region. Then, in fall 2008, Plum Creek cuts resulted in massive erosion and a mudslide in Kibby Township. Only months later, after local people brought their concerns to the media, Plum Creek admitted to “mistakenly” cutting more deer wintering yards in Indian Stream Township, land which could be part of the Conservation Easement. Ironically, all of these practices are allowable under the so-called Sustainable Forestry Initiative, and in the current wording of the Moosehead Conservation Framework. “We want the Maine people to know that this is what conservation looks like according to Plum Creek and the Nature Conservancy,” said Dillard.
The Nature Conservancy is one of the wealthiest nonprofit environmental organization in the world. Plum Creek is the largest private landowner in the country, a major donor to The Nature Conservancy, and a member of TNC’s International Leadership Council. “Plum Creek’s public image, and their ability to continue deforesting the North Woods is only aided by The Nature Conservancy’s endorsement of their practices,” said Dillard, ”their corporate partnership is a clear conflict of interests to say the least.”
After the skit and banner displays, Executive Director Mike Tetreault offered to meet with the group at a later date to discuss their concerns in more detail
Will Neils, another member of Maine Earth First appreciated the gesture but felt that the real damage had already been done. He and others will meet with TNC but called on them to “distance themselves from this phony conservation process, and stop acting as Plum Creek’s apologists. We’re asking them take sides with future generations of Mainers and to truly protect Maine’s forests and wildlife, and we intend to hold them accountable.”
Filed under: Plum Creek
Taken from here
Facts About the Conservation Easement Partnership Between
Plum Creek and The Nature Conservancy
——————————————————————————————–
Plum Creek is the largest private landowner in the country.
The Nature Conservancy is the richest environmental nonprofit organization in the world.
Plum Creek is a major donor to The Nature Conservancy, and is a member of the TNC’s International Leadership Council.
Learn more at http://www.nature.org/joinanddonate/corporatepartnerships/leadership/
These two Goliaths are partnering promote a Conservation Easement and one of the biggest land development plans in Maine history.
———————————————————————————————————————————————-
In its current form, the Conservation Easement would allow the following activities:
* Septic Sludge Spreading – Up to 100 acres at a time in active use.
* Road Building
* Cell Phone Tower Construction
* Construction of High Voltage Power Lines and Power Generators.
* Rock, Sand, and Gravel Mining
* Unsustainable forestry practices in the form of major clearcuts, pesticide and herbicide spraying, and the possible use of genetically modified trees.
All of these forestry practices are allowed by SFI Inc, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative certification program that certifies Plum Creek’s forestry practices as sustainable. SFI was created by major corporations involved with forestry.
The Chair of SFI is Plum Creek President Rick Holley.
There is no effective Public oversight of SFI and it is unheard of for a company to lose its certification as a result of violations and unsustainable forestry practices.
The Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) will be accepting Public Comment
on the plan through Friday, April 3 at 4pm.
Members of the Public are encouraged to contact LURC at: LURC@maine.gov
or LURC, 22 State House Station, Augusta, Maine, 04333.
More information is available online at www.maine.gov/doc/lurc
Contact The Nature Conservancy
People can also contact The Nature Conservancy to remind them that the
need for environmental justice and the health of local communities is
being threatened by Plum Creek.
As the richest environmental nonprofit organization in the world, The
Nature Conservancy has the ability to take needed action to ensure that
environmental justice and community health are protected.
The Nature Conservancy is risking its reputation if it promotes
unsustainable forestry, mining, road building, septic sludge spreading,
and habitat destruction as Conservation.
People can contact the Maine chapter of The Nature Conservancy by writing
them at 14 Maine Street, Suite 401, Brunswick, Maine 04011, emailing
naturemaine@tnc.org , calling 207-729-5181 or faxing 207-729-4118
More info at
http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/maine/council/
Filed under: Uncategorized
Here is another radio article related to Plum Creek’s bad logging practices.
