Category: Articles

[Ed. note: As we go to press, a court decision is imminent regarding whether the State will allow University of California [UC] to destroy the Memorial Oak Grove on Piedmont Ave, just north of Bancroft Street in Berkeley, which has been occupied by a treesit for over 500 days. UC has stated that it will attempt to forcably remove the treesitters soon after the ruling. Come to support the trees during this critcial time!]

Before the seedling of empire was exported to North America to flower into today’s nightmare, Great Nature and the people who lived here coexisted harmoniously. Amongst those people were the Ohlone, who buried some of their dead beneath the soil on a certain hillside in what is now called “Berkeley”. The trees we are defending are rooted in this very hillside.

On April 13, 2008, the Berkeley treesit celebrated the 500th day of occupation. It is the longest urban treesit in ‘U.S.’ history and has wide range community support from a diverse group of people, from houseless peoples to students to forest defenders to old grannies and wealthy Berkeleyites. The treesit has gained national and international media recognition, both of which bring visitors from all over the world to see the trees and experience the magic that is the sacred Oak Grove. Through five hundred days of resistance, we are saving the Memorial Oak Grove and calling attention to countless other issues surrounding those specific trees, like the fact that the UC has developed every nuclear bomb that the United States has and UC Berkeley’s storage of Native remains for science experiments.

For UC it’s ‘business as usual:’ cut down the grove of locally endangered trees, tear up the hill, and build a high-tech sports facility.

Perhaps one day the forest that lived here will return. Perhaps we’re too hopeful and all is lost, but reversing the trend of cutting down trees and tearing up hills seems to be an important first step, especially for UC — whether it’s in their economic interest or not.

Cutting these trees would desecrate a Native American burial ground and WWI Memorial, violate state environmental law and local tree ordinances, and wipe out a wildlife corridor and one of the last intact groves of Coast Live Oak trees in the Berkeley lowlands. We need to honor and preserve established groves of trees, not destroy and fragment the few that remain.

We can’t recount every moment, but here are some highlights from the last few months.

After 8 or 9 months of a beautiful and dynamic ground encampment in the Oak Grove, and after several hundred people climbed and sat in the trees, UC made its move: Two barbed wire chain link fences, 24-hour security guards, and loud generator powered flood lights pointed into the trees. Sound intimidating? I bet they thought it sounded intimidating, too. For us, it was an opportunity to display our adaptability and determination. The network of occupied trees in our web expanded outside of the fence BEFORE it was even completed.

After having spent a fortune on an ineffective “solution” to the treesitter “problem”, UC’s next move was to arrest supporters for sending up supplies, for receiving things that we sent down, for alerting us to the presence of law enforcement — they even attempted to intimidate supporters from speaking to us, citing emotional support as another form of “aiding and abetting” Berkeley’s “criminals” in the trees. This was done on authority of a flimsy court order that came out of a SLAPP suit [Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation]. Ground supporters have heroically tolerated the brunt of the repression – and resisted it.

In response to the mounting repression, re-supplies are now every Sunday at 2:00pm, spearheaded by Grandmothers for the Oaks. And it works!

We have also inspired two other treesits: one on the UC campus in Santa Cruz, defending redwood trees and challenging destructive development plans for 150 acres; and the other, a 19-day treesit in the middle of UC Berkeley campus, bringing attention to UC’s oppressive power structure, its involvement in nuclear weapons production, its holding captive 13,000 Native American remains, and other fucked up things it does.

In mid Febuary, UC invaded the Oak Grove with an early morning raid using a “professional” climber, who drove his spiked boots into four unoccupied trees. As word spread and people began to mass at the outer fence, several supporters sprang into action, free climbing various outer-perimeter trees- with cops on their heels- to gain access to the canopy network. By this time the UC-hired climber had already severed several key traverse lines, which we use to go from tree to tree in the air. He cut the lines, and failed to remove them completely. So from the other end the lines appeared to still be intact, causing one treesitter to cross to the other end of the line, only to find the severed end of the line draped over a branch and weighed down by a 5-gallon water jug. As the UC-hired climber made his way to the other end of the grove, treesitters were already busy resetting the lines that had been cut. The climber then delivered what would be the ‘money’ shot to the media. TV reports about this entire showdown were summarized by a shit bucket plunging 20 feet and exploding in a dazzling display upon the paved walkway below. The shit would then flow back into the bucket and the bucket would tumble back into the tree, only to have the climber kick it over and have it explode again — this time in slow motion.

Perhaps by now, UC has figured out that repression only makes us stronger. Each action by UC results in a resurgence of support and vitality for this campaign.

Spring is a time for ACTION! We are NOT going down without a fight! For a celebration of self-determination and resistance to empire, come live with us in the trees, participate in a community re-supply, or visit any time! We’re the tallest squat in the Bay.

For more info: 510-938-2109 saveoaks.com

The reassuring aspect of fighting a bureaucratic monster like the University of California is that they often make decisions that are blindly dangerous to their goals to operate smoothly and without public scrutiny or contestment. I offer up as evidence the decision to hold a meeting in San Francisco of the governing board of Regents on the anniversary of the war and invasion of Iraq. The streets that day promised to be full of protesters. But perhaps reality is one part social engineering mixed with one part crap shoot. By controlling the communication lines and economic outlets, one can hedge one’s luck with insurmountable odds. The Regents’ meeting at UCSF on March 19 saw a mere 12 protesters blocking the doors, hardly enough resistance to even make the meeting start late, and business went on as normal. But the potential was there – thousands of people dissatisfied with the war, corporate culture, and poverty, could have overwhelmed and disrupted the monster’s course of devouring all.

Are You Angry Yet ?

The Regents are a small group of wealthy, smug people who manage the ten public universities in California. The system of schools helps the state be one of the seven biggest economies in the world. The economy is strengthened by agriculture, entertainment, high-tech and bio-tech, war and weapon industry, and rich natural minerals. Much of these resources are largely brokered through corporations who would like nothing but the populace at large to ignore their operations. The Regents likewise are not popularly elected, 18 of the 26 are put into power by their partner in the State’s governor seat. The Regents incidentally seem most interested in the pursuit of land acquisition and development, and forming partnerships with mega-corporations. Tuition continues to rise, doubling every couple years, along with the salaries for those with Regents’ seats. One could see a parallel going on with higher education and the society at large. The access to information is restricted as the middle ground between extreme wealth and poverty is being clear-cut, but if more people got a glimpse into the complete picture, there would be a dramatic increase in the number of lock-downs before administrative meetings.

The Empire Dreams

In the weeks preceding the Regents’ big day in SF, a group of UC Berkeley activists held a meeting to organize a rebuttal. Many of them were with the newly formed student group “Free The UC.” The group came out of a collective of progressive organizations called the Phoenix Coalition. They held a gathering a few weeks before hand which included a daily free school that was mostly ignored by the 30,000 plus people going to classes. The meeting this night was also largely ignored. Scheduled to start after a showing of a documentary on Iraq in one of the student co-ops, the group seemed small and low energy, though the film demonstrated the gravity and life damaging forces operating while we sleep.

When the meeting commenced, it was obvious that only three or four people were really cognizant of the proposal to do a direct action. The dry erase board was filled with an agenda of mundane tasks to get through that ranged from outreach to civil disobedience training. The day of action was in two weeks. During the initial introductions one potential protester obliquely asked, “What does this have to do with the Olympic torch?” referring to the contested, news savvy Tibetan crisis with China. Yes Indeed what does it have to do with the Olympic torch.

But the organizers showed considerable patience in not getting derailed. It is not a safe assumption to see everyone having the same experience and values geared for protests. Their work was not eased by the staggering work load students of today keep up with, which also keeps them out of activism. The effect of having brain melting high tuition is not only fattening the coffers of the absurdly rich, but in the people who would desire to make trouble for the rich and powerful out of the universities. Instead of going to this meeting or others like it, students are shitting anxiety with not only making it through school, but landing a good job afterwards. One cannot help but think that this is by design.

What we see now with our schools dates back to the mid sixties when Ronnie Reagan (then Governor of California) put a fee on the privilege of higher education. Part of his motivation was to cool down the momentum of people power enigmatic of those times. The activism bursted through on until the 1980’s when poor people could still get into UC Berkeley. Students were engaged in such successful campaigns as divestment in South Africa, support for Central American autonomous movements, and in nuclear disarmament. The campus could hardly keep a ROTC from burning back then, much less open. Ten years ago, the gutting of Affirmative Action helped dwindle enrollment of African Americans and impoverished people who actually live near Berkeley. Now with a year of classes having a price tag of well over $20,000, its no wonder the place is a play ground for chain stores, christians and an influx of team spirit colors.

A CLOSER LOOK

The actions and attitudes of UC Berkeley can be a localized example of the larger doings of UC Regents, and the unchecked power divining the world. The frenzy at which UC Berkeley is going for broke must be quite intoxicating for those who sit in plush board rooms making plans. Those plans may find a couple critics who cry out, but often those cries are isolated and ineffectual.

Native Americans have been making a stink wanting return of over 13,000 Ancestral remains. The University has not relented for it would damage their status of having the largest collection of Native American artifacts outside the Smithsonian.

It would seem lately that the University has no regard for undeveloped open space. A little off campus the proposal to build on the Memorial Oak Grove seems insane as buildings lie empty on nearby Telegraph Ave. The UC has already built a Nano technology building in the beautiful hills of Strawberry Canyon. They also have plans to fill those hills with several other large buildings, like a computational building and a 70 person guest house. Building plans are in the works to bring high rises in the downtown of Berkeley and to develop on the Gill Tract, a large urban garden in nearby Albany.

The most controversial proposal is in building a research lab for biofuel. This will put UC Berkeley into a financial bond with the mega-petroleum corporation BP, as well give it the distinction of making the largest known pact between corporation and University. This brings up the concern that a corporation will influence what is studied and why. But the University has a tainted and controversial history of partnerships with other giants of big money. Most easy to note are bio-tech industries, who are in the middle of their genetically modified food experiment on the public, and in developing nuclear weapons.

For every self congratulation the UC gives itself for being Green or the birth of the Free Speech Movement, there is the ugly reality. Take for example the interactions with the hotly contested People’s Park. The Stage at the park was painted over three times by the UC to cover up the simple message “Democratize the Regents”. Instead of entertaining a discussion of the notions of Free Speech the university passed a new decree– Any messages painted on the park’s stage will have to be approved by them, the self appointed owner.

The collective energies of UC Berkeley would reveal an insane élan behind their numerous atrocious acts. One can’t help but wonder if they are taking cue from the Bush Administration’s attitude of free plunder of our commons. In the sixties, activists in cities all across the U.S. uncovered a direct connection between the colleges they attended and toxic producing corporations, and the war machine. They soon learned that the research and work they did was bei
ng used in ways they found to be nefarious. There is little to suggest this funneling of resources ever stopped.

The Empire’s Nightmare

Sometimes when small breaks in our landscape of social control appear an angry and determined people get together and plan. The Anarchist book fair in S.F. on March 22 provided a space for such an event. It was days after the action at the Regents’ meeting and the largely ineffectual war protest. A discussion was held in a side room away from book sellers and speakers. The room of folks largely talked on the treesits happening in both UC Berkeley’s and UC Santa Cruz’s campuses, as well as issues of other California campuses like the growing unrest at DQ University in Davis, and problems at SF State. Toward the end of the hour people started to universally voice that it was time to expand this movement–for alliances to be made with protesters from all of the college campuses.

Treesit supporter Ayr said, “I would like to see opposition to the Regents be on the scale of what we see with the WTO, one where they can’t meet anywhere without disruption.” An idea whose time has come. The room was largely comprised of people who live on the fringes, so it will be hard to see what will come of this. What is needed is a unified opposition to unchecked power, but one that is not just comprised of students and counter culture types, but of the communities of people who live among the campuses and see their world transformed without their input.

The action to shut down the Regents’ meeting on March 19 didn’t go in the wind. The organizers kept the pressure on but sought another approach. This time, on April 13th it was a conference to bring into coalition all the progressive organizations on Berkeley campus. The list was heartening; gay/lesbian coalition, affirmative action, students for Palestine, etc. Time will show what actions they take. When The Phoenix Coalition held a similar conference, it gave birth to “Free The UC”. This then inspired a two week treesit on campus that challenged UC on multiple issues. The “Democratize the Regents” idea is catching. The force of people willing to lay aside the promise of a career or security within the system can threaten the smooth runnings of a monolith power such as UC, especially if the determination spreads exponentially throughout the general population to include youth, business people, retired folk, etc. It is such a direly needed exponent that will lay to wreck the plans of those who seek to shape our environment against our will, and gamble with our lives. This summer we could send a clear message to the next Regents’ Meetings; May 14-15 at UCLA and July 16-17 at UC Santa Barbara.

It’s all messed up! As our eyes open to the truth of these times, the depth of the problems becomes overwhelming. It’s all messed up! The economic structures, our value system, the way we interact with nature, social patterns, our water and waste systems, health care, education, transportation, food…iyiyi — how did it get like this? And what can we do about it now? It seems we need a profound change, so let’s work on profoundly re-visioning. Perhaps this is the most important work of our community — to find and plant, and learn how to grow the alternatives. Which of course we have begun.

New Principles:

*We are connected with all life

This, to me, is a profound rethinking that must occur to save our (and many other) species’ butts. In so many ways our culture now demonstrates that it has lost this essential truth. Anti-biotic soap. Hello, we are biotic. The tons of products we pour into our environment to kill germs will undoubtedly affect us. Our fear of and impulse to destroy almost all other species that dare to invade our space seems an aberration of nature. Witness ant sprays — because we are uncomfortable with a line of ants cleaning up after us or the impulse to automatically kill spiders in our homes (despite their benefit to humans by eating our predators.) We use pigeon spikes to evict pigeons rather than provide acceptable nesting places. We poison rats rather than build owl boxes. In general we make very little effort to share our environment with other species even when it is beneficial. And the untouchable subject of animal testing shows how far we have been able to wall off our psyches from our connections to all life. Our fear of other critters has been created by our lack of knowledge and experience of the natural world around us and exploited by advertisers. Children are growing up in cities with very little contact with natural wilderness. They often fear it or think it “nasty”. Native peoples see other species as kin and miss their absence.

*Share

It seems Americans have been sold a value system through advertising. The Church of Capitalism preaches that more stuff is better, that new is better. That you will receive love and respect if you have more stuff. In other cultures wealth was measured by what you gave to others, not what you hoarded for yourself. Where is the big advertisement in the sky that could remind us of the values of simplifying and sharing? How can a person with a second home scurry past a person sleeping on the street and feel okay? We can feel a more vital happiness and worth through community and sharing than through the accumulation of stuff.

*Slow and Simplify

Another disaster from all our consumption is that it is killing the planet. We are filling up landfills. There is a floating pile of plastic in the middle of the ocean that is the size of Texas. Dramatically we are creating and spreading toxic cocktails all over. Humans invented ways to rearrange molecules and create substances that had never previously existed on earth. It is only in the last 80 years or so that the ecological web of life has had to figure out what to do with plastics, pesticides, fertilizers, pharmaceutical drugs, solvents, adhesives, fragrances, preservatives, polymers, artificial flavors, polyester, etc. And now genetic engineering and nano-technologies will unleash whole new clashes with the evolved ecology.

Use less stuff. The advertisers manufactured false needs. Try quitting lotions, make-up, deodorant, mouthwash, shampoo, detergent (okay maybe a little eco dish soap), sunscreen (wear a hat..), etc. Your body will re-adapt and you won’t be poisoning yourself and the rest of us.

I sigh beseechingly — slow down. Take a deep breath. Detach from the economic system of perpetual increase. What if we all just collectively slowed down? Everyone starts to work half as much. Everyone can just stay in their homes. If you have a nice one in the hills with a pool, great — be grateful. Everyone’s home is where they live and if you don’t have a home you can create one somewhere that is not being used.

And construction. It needs to be guided by wisdom, not profit.

For new products, use the “cautionary principle”. It is insane to continue to allow new substances and technological products onto the market before they are tested for toxicity, not to mention disruptive potential on the ecosystem. I just read an article in the Oakland Tribune about some UC profs who decided to do a study on how much nano-silver comes out in the wash of the new “smell free” nano socks. Excuse me? There are products already on the market with nano silver, found to be 45 times more toxic than regular silver? And it is going into the sewage, therefore water systems, and therefore sludge used for fertilizer — despite very little being know about filters that can contain nano-sized particles IF someone was even trying to. And where are the studies or social discussions about the potential disruptions to human, animal and plant life on this planet? Yipes.

*Time is all we have, really.

Remember the gift of existence and bloom as beautifully as we can, in the soil we are in, to become who we are. What you do with your time IS your life. Don’t give it away to a job that is not what you want to spend your life doing, especially if the payoff is more toys. Please people — honor life and take a week off instead of buying some new appliance. Turn off the TV and live your own life. Turn off the ipods and sing your own songs. Make your own love. Discover yourself, your community and the living world around you. Reconnect with that which sustains life and brings joy. Flow with the seasons. Spend time in nature. Spend time alone. Grow your own food. Listen to birds. Watch the stars making circles in the night. Strive.

The G8 Summit — a meeting of the leaders of the nations that monopolize two-thirds of Earth’s wealth– will take place July 7-9 at Toya Lake in Hokkaido, Japan. Although the Group of Eight does not have any legitimate right to decide planetary affairs, they have self-appointed themselves world rulers. The G8 drives neo-liberal globalization — spreading poverty, violence, hatred, segregation, and environmental destruction.

NO! G8 Action is calling for an International Day of Action on July 5 before the summit. Most of all, we would love to have you come to Japan! This is a crucial moment for Japanese social and political movements to open themselves to global coomrades to uplift all our spirits. For this your creative engagement is indispensable.

In Japan, our action days will begin on July 1. There will be a series of themed demos in Sapporo — the city nearest Toya Lake — during the succeeding four days. July 5th shall be the day of mass rally and demo in Sapporo with a simultaneous protest in different cities of the world. During the three days of the Summit we are planning mass direct action at sites near Lake Toya. People are trying to approach the site as close as possible to send their voices.

The themes for the days of action are tentatively: (1) Anti-neo-liberalism, namely, anti-poverty, homelessness; (2) farmers’ day; (3) anti-military base/anti-war; and (4) the day of natives and minorities, symbolizing the Ainu people, Hokkaido’s native habitants before Japan’s colonization in the 19th century. If you come to Japan you are encouraged to make proposals or organize your own actions in consultation with Japanese groups. Your creativity is most welcome and appreciated.

Various Projects

The Japanese activist scene needs global connections and exposure, so we ask for different types of participation. What is crucial primarily is a convergence, namely, to meet and talk person-to-person. Aside from the actions, we are planning the following events:

All the activists who have a little extra time are encouraged to meet at workshops and speak about themselves. These will take place in Tokyo, the Kyoto/Osaka area, and Sapporo, around the end of June. There will be a series of symposia featuring activist type intellectuals such as: Michael Hardt, David Graeber, Marina Sitrin, and Andrej Grubacic, who will come to Japan for solidarity.

Music concerts of Anti-G8 themes are planned in Tokyo, Sapporo, as well as at the camp near Lake Toya, the site of the G8. The participants are punks, Djs, and vanguard musicians who took part in the Sound Demonstrations against the Iraq war.

In Sapporo City, we are organizing screenings of films related to the Global Justice Movement and the Anti-G8 projects from the past. Various kinds of radical theater groups are going to take part in the anti-G8 protests — some in their own theater space, others on the street or other sites.

There will be an Alternative Summit (from July 6th to 8th), involving a wider range of groups including NGOs. NO! G8 Action is going to be a part of it. There will also be a summit of the natives. Meanwhile the state of Japan is planning an international conference of university presidents. Against this a coalition of students’ organizations calling for protest.

Facilities for foreign visitors

To get to Sapporo, which is the nearest city to Lake Toya and the biggest city in Hokkaido, you will have to fly either via Tokyo or Osaka. Hokkaido is connected to the mainland only via airplane or boat; there is no car traffic accessible to it. So all of you might as well stay in either city for a period of time before the summit and participate in the events.

In Tokyo, we will set up a convergence center where you can get information and participate in workshops. We will secure the cheapest accommodation (about $15 per night) and also organize a network of people who are willing to accommodate visitors for free.

In Sapporo, there will be a convergence center. There will be a camp where you can stay with your own tents and sleeping bags. There will be workshops and events. There will be an independent media center, where foreign media activists can go and set up their station.

From Sapporo, Lake Toya can be reached by train (three hours). There will be a camp and media center there as well. This is the place where the main events will take place.

Japanese Police and Immigration Issues

The most common weapons Japanese police carry are truncheons, plastic shields, and sand-stuffed gloves. They used to use tear gas and water-cannon, but not much recently. Pepper spray has not been used for some time, but some source says that they might start using it. They don’t do mass-arrests like the European and American police. They tend to do close combat by forming a line and arresting people one by one by drawing them into their side. They are not as aggressive as American and European police forces.

It is not illegal to hide your face on the street. One does not have to respond to their interrogations; one does not have to let them check your belongings. If you are Japanese, once you are arrested, you are advised to be completely silent, and likely to be held for twenty-three days — the extensions of three days, ten days, and ten days. The enormity of the custody period has been criticized by Amnesty International.

In the past, foreign political activists have rarely been arrested. The police prefer to let them go. Probably there is a policy of not making political events internationally known. Japan tends to be very nervous about their international reputation. We are hoping that this will remain the same for the anti-G8 2008.

In any case, a legal team has been formed, while politicians and civic organizations have organized a campaign to watch police behaviors toward the G8 2008.

The bad news is that beginning from the late November, Japan will begin to employ the same immigration rules as the US. It is locally called the “US Visit,” where all foreign visitors are finger-printed and photo-taken. People are organizing a wide opposition to this. We cannot tell you how severe the restriction of the immigration will be for the activists coming for the anti-G8 protests. But we can recommend the activists who have many arrest records in the past and are nervous about it, but absolutely want to come — please contact us and we shall try to make special visa application. All in all, if Japanese immigration restricts foreign visitors too severely on this occasion, this will be made into a international stir. We will prepare a campaign for this.

For info check http://a.sanpal.co.jp/no-g8

Hand sanitizers represent the exact wrong direction humans should be going. Wake up People and smell your nature. Okay I’ve seen some bad product ideas catch on; bottled water, drug advertising, antiperspirant, green machines, botox, air fresheners, blowers, car alarms, things that just don’t make life better, but hand sanitizer is topping the list.

It is becoming common practice to slather children’s hands with hand sanitizer before they eat. Great. Now picture what goes into their mouths as they eat; dirt, chemical residues, dead bacteria and toxic chemicals designed to kill life. Hand sanitizers are a horrible replacement for washing hands.

Sanitizers are not actually safer. A Purdue University study concluded that “while alcohol-based hand sanitizers may kill more germs than plain or triclosan-based soaps, they do not prevent more infections that make people sick. Instead they may kill the human body’s own beneficial bacteria by stripping the skin of its outer layer of oil.”

Rolf Halden, an environmental scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, contends that “the introduction of the hundreds of antimicrobial products has had no discernible impact on the rates of infectious disease in the United States, Not a blip on the radar screen, “he said.

Indeed studies done on hand sanitizers’ effectiveness seem to focus on their ability to kill germs, without considering other toxins that may be on our hands, or any long term toxic effects from the ingredients of the sanitizers themselves on our overall health. Of course those selling, and often testing, have a vested interest in keeping you in the dark about chemical toxins while hyping the dangers of nature.

In fact, hand sanitizers may be dangerous to our health. According to the non-profit group Beyond Pesticides, laboratory studies have found a number of different strains of mutated bacteria that are resistant to triclosan and to certain antibiotics. The organization also cites reports of triclosan converting into a carcinogenic class of chemicals known as dioxins when exposed to water and ultraviolet radiation. Besides cancer, dioxins have been linked to weakening of the human immune system, decreased fertility, altered sex hormones and birth defects.

We have been sold this product by advertising up a fear of “germs”. Well there are a whole lotta “germs” out there that we live with all the time, most harmless, some helpful. Even most of the ones that can make us sick are common and we only succumb to illness when our natural protections are down. It is a foolish path to imagine that humans will be safe by killing all life that may have the potential to harm us. It is a whole different paradigm than trying to build up our health by building the health of the ecosystem that sustains us.

Hand sanitizers endanger our children by exposing them to toxins, lessening their actual hand-washing, removing the natural oil protection of their skin and potentially creating bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics. There have also been poisonings associated with the high alcohol content in sanitizers that have been ingested by children. (I would be concerned with long term affects of the ingestion of triclosan and other ingredients as well!)

There are also dangers to the environment. What effects will sanitizer run off have on our water systems? Two of the ingredients in antibacterial soaps, triclosan and triclocarban, have been found in waste water, fish, and breast milk. The chemicals kill beneficial organisms in the soil and waterways that break down debris and are the foundations of the food web. There is very little known about long term effects on the ecosystem. As well, there is the known detriment created by millions of little plastic bottles filling landfills for a product that is worse than unnecessary.

Just say no. Stick with hand washing. Hand sanitizers endanger our health, our environment and our interpretation of the world around us. Good ole soap (and I’m beginning to wonder if bar soap creates more helpful friction and therefore cleansing) and water (nothing cleaner than plain water!) is the better choice. A panel of experts and industry representatives convened in 2005 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said “plain soap and water, when used properly, are the preferred tools to rid germs from human hands.”

I love bikes and I want everyone to experience the joy, freedom as well as ecological and health benefits of bicycles. Over the years, I’ve realized that the standard bicycle designs aren’t comfortable for me — they make biking harder than it has to be and sometimes they’ve caused me pain. So I’ve gradually customized, rebuilt and re-designed my bike to overcome these problems. Through this 15 year process, I’ve finally come up with what (at least for me) is the “perfect bicycle.” It isn’t an expensive bike — you can do this stuff with cheap or old bikes. Last summer I biked 4,000 miles across the USA on this bike — I was comfortable the whole way and finished the trip fast, in only 50 days. Of course, everyone is different so all of these suggestions might not work for you. But if you’re riding a bike that you haven’t customized, if you’re experiencing pain while biking, or if biking seems hard to you, you may want to try some of these suggestions and see if they help.

1. Raise your handle bars

Most of the bikes sold in stores are designed for racing even though most people use their bikes for pleasure riding or just getting around town. That means that the handle bars on most bikes are so low that the rider is crouched over when touching the handle bars. This is supposedly good because the rider has less wind-resistance this way. The problem is, this posture is ridiculously uncomfortable and unnatural if you’re just trying to get around on your bike. When you’re bent over like this, your head is looking at the ground unless you twist your neck backwards to look ahead. Your lungs are crunched up so they can’t expand fully so you can’t breathe easily. A lot of weight rests on your wrists and arms and hands which can cause strain. Your back is bent funny which can hurt your back.

So you see a lot of riders with low handles bars trying to avoid these problems by sitting straight up and either not touching the handle bars at all or just touching them lightly with one finger. I wondered what would happen if I just put tall handle bars on the bike so I could easily hold onto the handle bars while at the same time sitting up straight.

My first bike tour with tall handlebars — 700 miles from Eugene, Oregon to San Francisco — was in 1995. Since then I’ve happily biked with tall handlebars almost every day, including many thousands of miles touring and around town biking. I’ve never felt like I wanted to be more aerodynamic — after all, you can always crouch down if you need to once you have tall handlebars. What you find out is that you never feel the need to do so.

It is easy to make this transition. You can buy tall handlebars at most bike stores. If they don’t have any, ask them to order them — my favorite brand for steel bars is Wald. Sometimes they’re called “ape hangers” — they look like bars for a chopper motorcycle. You want the bars to be tall enough so that you can sit straight up in the seat — that means about 6-10 inches on most bikes. You can achieve some rise by installing a really tall stem on your bike, but it is easier and cheaper to just buy funny bars.

Once you put on the new bars, you’ll have to lengthen the brake and gear cables that were attached to your older handle bars, and you may have to buy new brake levers and shifters if you had “drop” handlebars. Many bike stores sell used brake levers and shifters for $5-$10. I usually save the longer cables from the back brake and derailer and use them for the front brake and derailer — that means you have to buy two new cables and maybe 10 feet of brake and derailer housing. The whole transition takes about an hour and will cost $30 or so if you do the work yourself.

2. Get a noseless seat

The problem with regular bicycle seats — even fancy ones with holes cut out of them — is that much of your body’s weight rests on a part of the body that doesn’t carry weight in any other human activity, and is thus not evolved to carry weight. This area between your genitals and your anus is called the perineum. In theory, when you ride you’re supposed to put your weight on your “sit-bones” and avoid putting pressure on this area. In reality, it is hard to avoid putting any pressure on the perineum — if you don’t pay attention, you quickly slide on the seat and put pressure there.

For years, I would get sore and sometimes numb in my genitals if I biked a lot. I tried lots of different seats to try to make this better — I figured some discomfort was normal and just a necessary part of biking as much as I do. But getting a sore butt doesn’t have to be part of biking if you get a noseless seat. The one I rode on my 4,000 miles cross-USA trip was a $30 Easyseat from Hobson seats. Not only didn’t I have even the slightest bit of pain on that long bike ride, but I was able to bike without thinking about my ass at all.

It turns out that humans have a major blood vessel and nerves that run along the perineum. That there is some evidence that when regular bike seats compress this area, men can experience loss of erectile function. This area is also sensitive for women. Some bicyclists deny that bike seats can cause sexual dysfunction and claim that people who have problems are just sitting wrong or that the benefits of exercises and increased heart health cancel out any problems caused by damage to the perineum.

By using a nose-less seat, you don’t have to choose — you can keep the heart health, avoid numbness and (possible) damage, and in any case avoid pain. I can’t say for certain that I lost sexual function because of injuries caused by regular bike seats. I can say that for whatever reason, I noticed an improvement in function after I switched to the Easyseat. And in any case, avoiding pain and numbness are rewards enough.

A noseless seat takes getting used to and doesn’t seem to work well if you’re crouched over because you have low handlebars. So if you want to try an Easyseat, you have to raise your handlebars first. When you put on the noseless seat, you’ll feel a bit less stable for the first 2-4 weeks — sort of a sensation of always sliding forward off the seat — and then suddenly you’ll feel just fine and notice no loss of stability or control. With an Easyseat, you’re holding more of your weight on your legs — which eventually feels very natural since you’re used to holding up your weight on your legs when you’re walking. For stability, you balance with your hands. At first I was worried I would strain my wrists because of this feeling, but since you’re using your hands for balance, not to support your weight, it doesn’t seem to be a problem after you get used to it.

When you first install the seat, you have to experiment with how far it is tilted forward — too much and you slide off, too little and the backs of your legs hit the seat when you peddle. But when you get it right, it is an amazing feeling of freedom and comfort. It makes you wonder what the world would look like if kids started out riding on a noseless seat — they would get used to it when they learned to ride a bike so it would never feel strange. It is unfortunate that you can’t currently buy a bike with an Easyseat pre-installed.

3. Adjust your seat height

The main thing to look out for is whether your seat height is correct — your knee should be just slightly bent on the down stroke. Riding with the seat too low means you lose power and you’ll hurt your knee. Even though this is an easy thing to get right — for many bikes you don’t even need a tool to adjust your seat height — this is the most common problem I see when I’m out biking around. I want to tackle people I see riding by with absurdly low seats and adjust it correctly.

4. Get some gears & learn to use ’em

If you were driving a car, would you start out from a stop sign in fifth gear? Would you try to go down the freeway in first gear? Would you buy a car that o
nly had one gear? Would you treat your only set of knees worse than you treat a disposable car?

Gears for bikes make biking easier — you can go up hills without working too hard or go fast on a flat stretch of road. You don’t need fancy gears although it is great to have a “granny” gear — a very small third chain ring on the front derailer that can make going up even the steepest hill easy. The goal with gears is to keep the number of times you turn over the peddles per minute — your cadence — about even at all times. That means you start in a low gear and shift up as you speed up. If you hit a hill, you shift down.

I mention this not just because people don’t use gears they have, but because fixed gear bikes are getting so popular. If riding a fixie is fun for you, then go for it. But for the average cyclist, for moving groceries and riding over a lifetime protecting your knees, gears are pretty reasonable.

5. Put on a bike rack and take off your backpack

Bikes are ideal to carry around loads — from groceries to books to kids. Let the bike — not your spine — carry the load. You can cheaply install a bike rack and use removable panniers (cloth bike bags) or you can install a basket or a milk crate and put your backpack in there. Carrying a backpack on your back while you’re biking, rather than putting the bag on the bike makes biking harder and can hurt you. When you carry a backpack, the weight is carried on your spine, your ass, your legs and arms, straining all of them. Your skin under the backpack can’t breathe and gets sweaty. Yuck. The bike doesn’t notice when you put weight on it, so let it carry that stuff for you.

In my next article for “advanced” bike maniacs, I’ll discuss bike trailers for hauling cement, lumber, manure, sound systems, etc.

6. Pump up your tires!

Riding on under-inflated tires increases friction, making biking slower and more difficult, and means you’ll get more flat tires. It is so easy to properly inflate your tires and it makes a massive difference.

7. Decorate & add noise makers

Okay, this won’t make it physically easier to bike, but it will make it feel easier because you’ll be surrounded by a joyful, great looking ride. A bell or horn isn’t just for using when a driver cuts you off — its primary use is for spontaneous ringing because you feel fantastic. You can also greet other cyclists this way and spread the joy. They’ll wonder “do I know her . . .?” You can decorate your bike with stickers, paint, fake fur, flags, plastic or real flowers, shiny stuff, toys, stuffed animals, lights, etc. etc.

Let a thousand bicycles bloom!

In my experiments of trying different bike designs, bike stores have been pretty unhelpful and dismissive, telling me things I was trying wouldn’t work or would be uncomfortable — when they had never actually tried them. Experimenting with different bike designs like a mad scientist is a great metaphor for playing with different ways to live our lives in general. Not everyone needs a racing bike or a mountain bike — and not everyone needs to live in the suburbs or to be a train hopping punk kid, either. We shouldn’t have to conform our lives to the few sizes and shapes manufactured in a factory — we can build own lives — and our own bikes — to fit our own unique shape, size and uses.

April first was fossil fools day around the world — thousands of people participated in de-centralized direct actions and protests for a sustainable world and against foolish emissions of green house gas from burning fossil fuels. Such emissions are causing global climate change with potentially disastrous consequences to natural ecosystems and human cultures alike. There were creative and humorous protests against coal mines, coal fired power plants, banks that invest in the fossil fuel industry, government offices, gas stations and a wide variety of other targets across the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. A few of us threw together a protest in Berkeley.

Fossil fools day pointed out the absurdity of trying to address the massive dependence on non-sustainable fossil fuels by asking people to merely screw in a few new lightbulbs and otherwise continue shopping as usual. The massive threat of global climate change has to be met with a massive response. Governments and corporations won’t address the problem in time because to do so would threaten short-term profits. Mobilization, direct action, and grassroots revolt against all the fossil fools is crucial.

Anatomy of an action: the Berkeley incident

Last issue in Slingshot we published a call to action for fossil fools day. Would we, ourselves, heed the call? Less than a week before April 1, someone sent out an email wondering if we shouldn’t get together with some friends and protest at a gas station. A little discussion followed and a call went out to the Berkeley critical mass email list calling people to meet at 5 on fossil fools day to bicycle around and visit local fossil fool industries.

It was all chaotic, improvised, unplanned and yet focused — sometimes funny and light-hearted and sometimes intense. We rode on major streets tangling rush hour traffic holding signs like “cars kill polar bears” and “burning fossil fuels is not a joke.” A few of us were dressed like soldiers, some others held Viking swords — black flags were duct taped to bicycles.

We went to a number of gas stations and lightly fucked shit up, applying stickers to gas pumps, duct taping gas nozzles to the pumps and re-arranging the price signs so that gas that cost $3.49 before we arrived cost $9.43 when we left. At three car dealerships, bikes rode through the showrooms scattering shoppers and glitter. We rode through downtown slowing traffic and calling out on a bullhorn “don’t worry, you can keep driving and shopping — there’s no problem – April fools!”

In pulling together micro-actions like the Berkeley ride, the key is maximizing impact and disruption while minimizing bureaucratic, organizational deadweight — keeping the time and energy spent on meetings and preparation very low. The Berkeley action tied up traffic and disrupted business as usual at numerous targets for two hours. It required almost no time, money or structure to pull off.

What did we hope to accomplish? Actions like ours help raise the cost of fossil fuel addiction. Under the logic of capitalist economics — which structure corporate, government and individual decisions — fossil fuels are extremely cheap and easy solutions to many problems because the cost of using fossil fuels doesn’t include the cost of so-called “externalities” — the term economists give to costs not captured by the market. (This is true even as gas pushes $4 a gallon.) So when you buy a gallon of gasoline or throw your clothes in the dryer on a sunny day — or when the whole civilization is built on fossil fueled transport, agriculture and electricity — the cost doesn’t include the cost of global warming. Thus, using fossil fuels seems “rational”, efficient, easy, labor-saving and cheap — as long as you only look at the short-term, which is all the current economy can comprehend.

But the Earth is finite and long-term — we can’t simply find a new planet if we ruin the climate on this one. Frequently, fossil fools accuse bicyclists or environmental activists of being unrealistic or even utopian when we suggest a quick transition to a fossil free, zero emissions world. In fact, it is utopian to suggest that humans can continue to burn fossil fuels without threatening our very survival.

On April 1, it wasn’t faster or easier to jump in a car to get around. Our goal can’t be to impose guilt against drivers — a lot of us drive from time to time and guilt doesn’t work — it only raises defensiveness to change. And yet disruption — subtracting the ease, raising the costs, increasing uncertainty — can be part of internalizing the real costs of fossil fuels.

Social change doesn’t come from above — well-funded campaigns, Hollywood movies, cautious government programs. Social change comes from below — riots, strikes, mass movements — when the status quo can no longer continue. The world is in the early stage of a historic transition away from fossil fuels and regular people and our actions are part of this change. Our actions can provide models for a different, more joyful, engaged, sustainable world. May we can ride with a smile on our face, a smile in our heart and each year more folks on bikes surrounding us.

Fossil fools day around the world

By world standards, the Berkeley action was tiny. If you’re taking action to move away from fossil foolery, you are not alone! Here’s a tiny sample of actions:

• In Edinburgh, Scotland, a group of clowns invaded two supermarkets to try to locate the elusive Scottish banana. They urged other shoppers to see if they could find any produce in the store from Scotland to point out the absurdity of using fossil fuels to fly food to Scotland in the middle of winter.

• At the Cliffside coal plant in North Carolina, 8 people locked themselves to bulldozers at a Duke Energy Corp coal-fired power plant to stop construction of a new 800-megawatt plant, resulting in their arrest.

• In Madison, Wisconsin, the above-ground fossil fools celebration was a critical mass bike ride and demonstration in front of the local Hummer dealership. In a more controversial middle-of-the-night action, persons unknown indiscriminately let the air out of the tires of all the cars on three university-area streets — hitting several dozen cars including many economy-sized cars in the bike-friendly neighborhood. They left notes that read, “Happy fossil fools day.”

• In Durban, South Africa, residents protested the Engen refinery with flower wreaths.

• In Leamington Spa, England, about 50 people demonstration against a proposed Shopping center. “There were fairy outfits, a polar bear, 3 jesters, 2 people dressed as death with oil drips, and more face painting. We had 4 banners, several placards and we handed out 4 different kinds of leaflets. There were two musicians playing a fossil fool’s song written specially for the event. There were 4 people on bikes, and one bike and trailer with kids in. There were decorated umbrellas, and helium balloons with fossil Fool’s day written on. Nothing like this ever happens in Leamington. We passed a flower stall and the owner was so supportive he gave us 5 or 6 free bunches of flowers.”

• In Portland, Oregon, the Greenwash Guerrillas went after Portland’s Climate Trust, one of the new breed of climate off-set companies that allows people to “offset” their actual greenhouse gas emissions by paying the Climate Trust money to supposedly avoid emissions by someone else. This sneaky idea is increasingly popular with privileged people who want to continue their polluting life-styles unchanged, but not feel so bad about it. In Portland, the Greenwash Guerrillas took to the street to sell infidelity off-set credits. These Cheat Neutral credits allow people in monogamous relationships to cheat on their partners, but then offset the cheating by paying single people not to have sex. Just like carbon credits — no more guilt! April
fools!

Portland activists also dropped a four-story banner off the downtown Burnside Bridge protesting a proposed Liquefied Natural Gas project. (See Slingshot Issue #95 about LNG.)

• In Boston, four activists were arrested after locking down to a Bank of America to protest coal financing. In New York City, the Billionaires for Dirty Energy blockaded Citibank on similar grounds, leading to two arrests.

• A number of actions involved curious apologies from corporations or public figures. In Norwich, UK, a Norwich Union (insurance) company official announced that “The company has realized that investing £6.1 billion worth of insurance premiums in BP, Shell and other major oil, coal and car companies is unsustainable in the current climate. I’m sure our shareholders will agree with me that protecting our common future is certainly more important than protecting our bottom line.” The company distributed 50 Norwich Union ‘Apology Sandbags’ in view of recent climate change-related floods in England.

• Protesters blockaded access roads to the Aberthaw power station (UK) which emitted 7.4 million tons of carbon dioxide last year.

• In Hastings, UK, The Jesters of Hastings challenged Ronald McDonald to a Showdown! The Jesters won after McDonalds forfeited!

• In Bacton in Norfolk, UK 19 people were arrested after blocking for 4 hours the main access road to the UK’s largest off-shore gas terminal, which handles 40% of the UK’s gas supply.

For more info or for the 2009 action, check fossilfoolsday.org.

I biked in Critical Mass a couple of months ago here in Berkeley, child on my back pumping my legs to Judas Priest and Iron Maiden as 35-40 of us paraded our alternative transport model around town. I was having an excellent time that within moments developed into an angry assault and an a reactionary extravaganza.

We were blocking an intersection in the heart of the Telegraph strip when an irate motorist drove head-on into three stopped bicyclists. I was witness to a driver react with rage in a physically violent manner that could have seriously injured 3 or more people who were directly impacted.

Following that I watched as a slew of people reacted violently, trying to chase down and kick the car. The group then moved on, fueled by adrenaline and anger and behaved in ways that isolated many other people who were hoping for a bike ride not a battle. In the end rather than raising awareness in the community we alienated ourselves and distorted our message.

This chain of events epitomized the lack of empathy and the disconnect between effective communication skills and political engagement. It crystallized anger as an issue of vital importance for me personally, but also as a significant issue for the larger radical community and society at large.

We should all be angry and outraged at the injustice and violence that is killing our kin as well as the ecosystem. From that anger we need to grow something useful, we need to use it as an energy source for anti-capitalist struggle. If we don’t try to bring about change from a place of compassion we are only going to replicate the same dynamics as those used by our oppressors. Learning to know ourselves and to deal with our difficult emotions of despair and anger in healthy ways in combination with learning to communicate with others in emotionally responsible ways is a necessary step in creating a cohesive and positive social change movement.

This is not to say that I have always interacted in non-violent ways in my activism, nor that I am advocating non-violence as the only effective means of change. When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I identified as militant and fought in front lines like we were going to have a new society tomorrow goddammit! My words were volatile, my spirit was screaming and my actions reflected this. I have no regrets. What I remember more precisely is the quality of the feeling inside of me: despair, rage, destruction, adrenaline, and idealism all mixed up in this maelstrom totally lacking self-discipline and internal balance. Coming from a place of anger fueled positive action but in many ways I blew my load everywhere, too early without much forethought. Speaking of blowing my load, let’s consider gender as it stands in relation to anger.

Everyone gets angry but there are often differences in how men and women experience and manage anger. Our culture plays a major role in shaping our behaviors. An angry woman, a loud woman, an assertive woman can easily be invalidated as a crazy bitch or emotionally unstable, but a man with these same qualities is often seen as a powerful champion of an important cause. It is in line with our cultural norms for men to exhibit toughness, violent words and actions, and to seek revenge. Anger in men is often viewed as “masculine”. Women often learn to internalize their anger, creating an unhealthy stew of pressure-cooked emotion that eats away at mental health and self-esteem.

In social situations such as critical mass, demonstrations, meetings, and the like it is common for men to externalize aggression while women draw back. While this is not true for every person it tends to be a common manifestation in group behavior. In ten years of activism I have seen woman after woman driven away by overbearing male figures in the movement (including myself). I have been thanked many times by women quieter than myself for being an assertive and fiery voice in situations where they felt uncomfortable or silenced.

It seems that the majority of events and actions in our radical communities that are direct action oriented are often treated as parties or opportunities for reactionary explosions. They are not strategic or thought out attempts to communicate a message or challenge the system, but the expression of feelings and ideas that have not been very well processed or articulated. If we are to educate or inspire or even dream of making a substantial dent in the system we need to start considering what that takes.

What would a less reactionary, more compassionate movement look like and what would it entail? In my vision of a more cohesive and effective movement I see people who have spent a lot of time learning to be emotionally responsible, how to communicate in non-abusive ways and how to manage conflict and stress. I see strong community support for people invested in this type of work. There would be a communal validation of our human experience as scary and confusing in a world that seems to be on the verge of collapse. It would entail individuals working very hard in support groups or with mentors to address issues of privilege, socialization and communication. It is not enough to advocate for issues that are a symptom of capitalism — it is integral to address the deterioration of community engagement and that is directly related to the erosion of trust for one another.

What does that mean for me right now? I think a great deal about anger, my actions, thoughts and their implications. I try not to allow my anger to propel me forth into action without thought. Most importantly I aim to act out of compassion. Sometimes it’s the only thing I can do to create positive change and break the cycle of violence that is consuming our lives, our society and our planet.

Calling all Bike Tribe Family far and wide! Madison, Wisconsin will be host at the end of the summer to two exciting Democratic National Convention (DNC) and Republican National Convention (RNC) resistance events: the People’s Networking Convention August 15-17 and then a bike caravan from Madison to the site of the RNC in St. Paul — a Gathering of the Streams to Form a Giant River of Bikes to the RNC. Streams flowing into a river are known as “tributaries” — you can be a “contributary” to this river!

You know who you are! The ones who would hop trains, build boats, learn bike mechanics, collect wild herbs, eat garbage and fly with abandon down by the sea. And you know that we can change the world. You know it because you’ve felt it and lived it. Real life is better than fiction — this land of make believe the Empire Builders would have us believe is real. We know it’s a lie and it’s up to us together to free Ourselves, Earth, Water and Sky. We can.

People’s Networking Convention

From August 15th-17th, join radicals and concerned people from around the country to participate in skill shares, workshops, games, speeches and performance at the People’s Networking Convention. The PNC is our answer to what the Democrats, Republicans and mainstream media try to sell us as real democracy. We are countering their conventions by claiming our own space to organize democratically outside of the electoral political system.

Madison is the perfect place to do this because of our long history of activism and cooperative organizing. We believe real change comes from the grassroots and that politicians are never going to be able to fix what ails us. You can find our registration form in our pamphlet at: www.infopnc.org. We are asking people to fill it out by August 1st so we can find housing for everyone and get an idea of what kinds of workshops and events we will be offering.

GrassRoutes Bike Caravan

After the PNC, the GrassRoutes Caravan will leave Madison on August 18th and travel 300 miles for twelve days by bicycle to St. Paul for the RNC protests. Our mobile village will stop and stay in communities along the way in Wisconsin and Minnesota. We will plug into local struggles offering our people power to help out with 2007 flood relief, community gardens, and by doing volunteer projects that locals tell us they need help with. The organizers of the ride are contacting communities along the route to set up camp sites, water access, bathrooms, volunteer service and performance venues ahead of time so you don’t need to worry about where all of us will stay each night. We are also seeking performers for the ride who can delight local audiences as well as other members of the village with puppet shows, music, dance and creative expression.

If you are interested in attending the PNC and/or riding on the GrassRoutes Caravan, you must register ahead of time. The Caravan only has space for fifty riders. The organizers of the ride are emphasizing self-sufficiency which means that the ride is only going to be awesome if everyone gets their shit together before we take off. That’s why we have set an early registration deadline of July 4th. The PNC and the GrassRoutes Caravan will be non-violent and legal spaces so you cannot bring weapons or drugs to these events. We will be putting a list of the things you should bring, like a tent and sleeping bag as well as food preparation kits and utensils, on our website to be found at: www.pnc2rnc.org. Also, it will be good to practice ahead of time attaching and carrying everything you need to your bike to avoid having to deal with annoying details once in Madison.

It may also mean preparing some performance or short skit or learning how to video record or making sure you have a good camera or a million other things that will occur to you if you just start imagining NOW, months before the political conventions. Imagine yourself the most beautiful you can see yourself being in your mind’s eye and then begin to create that You in time for the bike ride. If everyone does that, just think about how amazing we will be.

You get extra-super-major points if you ride all the way to Madison, from wherever you are reading this from, be it Maine, Austin, Boston or Mexico City. ALL are welcome. You do not have to be a US citizen to enjoy the free breeze on your cheeks and the joy of participating in community-building on bikes.

The time is now for us to come together and demonstrate our people power in the face of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Register by July 4th for the GrassRoutes Caravan and by August 1st for the PNC and we will see you in Madison this August!

Or just show up, lackadaisically, like you always do, cool and smooth at the last minute. Fashionably late and disheveled. I will always think we were better than that. I miss you. I love you. I really want to know you.

Jensen’s graphic novel As the World Burns propels the reader into thinking about what would it take for us to get off our lazy asses and salvage the planet. The story centers around the invasion of Earth by aliens who want to eat everything. All the beings who oppose ecological destruction must find a way to counter this affront, and Jensen makes it clear that neither letter-writing nor meditating for peace are effective strategies.

The readers are encouraged by a young radical who convinces her friend that seeing the reality of corporate destruction isn’t reason to despair — it’s the only way to fight back. There’s the non-profit worker who realizes that fundraising doesn’t save trees, and the boy who listens to his friend, a crow, in order to find a sustainable way of living. The animals of the (former) forests rally their domesticated counterparts to help in the battle.

Leading the dark side, a slick, greedy, politicking idiot trades the US for a few bars of gold. He comes into trouble when his corporate bosses realize they’ve been double-crossed and the resources they’ve exploited are now in someone else’s coal train. Corporations don’t like competition, and the aliens drive a hard bargain.

Jensen takes the complexity of anti-civilization philosophy and distills it down to one important message. If we can’t stop destroying everything, soon we’ll have destroyed everything. The only way to ensure the survival of biodiversity as we know it (including humans) and to prevent total ecological devastation is to end civilization now.

The subtitle, a play on the book 50 Things You Can Do to Save the Earth, highlights that green consumerism is like using a fire extinguisher in a volcano. Nice try; no dice. The protagonists have several conversations about how personal action (including reducing your ‘footprint’) is necessary, but that the larger havoc is wreaked by our collective, corporate, and industrial activities. Mining, agriculture, forestry, fishing, urban sprawl, and of course, oil cause the majority of environmental carnage.

The piece also calls attention to the ineffectual nature of reform politics. Asking the powers-that-be to end the slaughter is like asking a predator not to hunt. Civilization and its institutions are agents of destruction that must be dismantled, because they cannot be mitigated or reasoned with. There is nothing polite about saving the world, nor does there have to be. No one will get re-elected, make a profit, or win a Nobel Prize for their efforts.

So, if you’re looking for a wholesome introduction to anti-civ ideas, or need a break from his longer tomes, Jensen’s graphic novel is a great addition to the genre.