World's First Tree-sitting Weblog 486
An anonymous reader writes "Amit Asaravala over at Wired News has an interesting article up about the tree-sitters in Humboldt County. Apparently a bunch of tech activists from the Indymedia Center are setting the tree-sitters up with an 802.11b network so that they can blog about all the logging going on up there. Seems like a pretty interesting way to use technology to help the environment, which isn't something you see everyday."
I finally read the article... (Score:1, Interesting)
"Headwaters has been the scene of numerous clashes between Earth First environmentalists and Pacific Lumber."
Good, I hope someone gets a paddlin' by some loggers.
http://www.montanaforum.com/rednews/2002/08/29/
http://www.cdfe.org/ecoterror1.htm
ALF, Hezbollah, Earth First, Earth Liberation Front, Hamas, Violent Right to Life, WCC...
Terrorism is terrorism.
Bravo to San Fran Indymedia for doing this (Score:4, Interesting)
anyway, serious bravo to folks at San Fran IMC for doing this. Technology is not necessarily paradoxical to environmental activism -- and if anything, the high tech world needs a serious dose of environmental awareness, power consumption and chip production being the two main things that I'm sure we could come up with very creative solutions to.
Briefly more on IMC: I can only speak for my local Indymedia, but we've been doing a lot of reporting on things that the Big Media(tm) have ignored. There've been a number of controversial things happening in Madison over the past few years. While we are fortunate to have more than one daily newspaper, we're as affected by radio, TV, and cable conglomeration as the rest of the United States. That means that in the major press outlets, many of these controversial issues have gone on without more than the Official Word(tm) being spoken about it. While we're still small, we're growing, and with it a sense that fair and accurate reporting needs to happen by everyone -- corporate media and volunteer/activist media alike. I'm proud to be working with what must now be the thousands of other media activists in the 100+ IMCs that exist around the world. let's keep it up!
Falling out (Score:2, Interesting)
Truth is I support some of their argument, but this is not how to do it....plus the laptop up there is throwing doubt on my joy of eliminating the dead weight!
Re:Bravo to San Fran Indymedia for doing this (Score:2, Interesting)
Ah, the chant of the faithful.
Or was that the cry of the loon?
if anything, the high tech world needs a serious dose of environmental awareness, power consumption and chip production being the two main things that I'm sure we could come up with very creative solutions to.
Um, we already are, and quite nicely without the help of yahoos like you. The wireless market is the main driver there. Battery technology still sucks white hot chunks, so we need to work with less and less current. The FPGAs I use are down to 1.5V. The I/O voltages are commonly down to 2.5V or less. They'll be powered by quantum foam in a decade or so the way things are going. ;-)
Re:did I miss a memo? (Score:5, Interesting)
2. Yes, there are natural forest fires. Nature moves on. But when nature has to absorb the stress of natural deforestation AND man-made deforestation, it can't handle it.
3. The logging companies themselves have no problem clearcutting forests, and then moving on. Suppose you live in a small town of 1,000 people, and Boise Cascade decides to set up shop. They spend 5 years clearcutting all the trees around you, then move on, leaving their abandoned mills, and nothing but dry arid stumpy land. This happens quite a bit. I supposed you don't mind the sight thousands of acres of stumps and dried up land, but many millions of americans enjoy nature.
4. Before you rant about 'everything is made of wood', that's not the point. Some logging companies use sustainable tree farms. This is costly, but eco-groovy. However, we all know it is easier to clear cut old growth than manage your own. Bush lifting national protections is just a field day for loggers to tear through wildlife and destroy at will. Tree sitters are trying to protect the most endangered flora on earth, eg. 1000+ year old forests. If that means nothing to you, then I guess I'm wasting my breath.
5. Next time you're in Arcadia, california, drop by the Sequoia National Park. It looks beautiful on rte 1 while driving, until you hike in a half a mile and witness the stumps as far as the eye can see.
6. When does the greed end? They may not log an entire forest, but ridge-logging effectively destroys everything. Should we just let logging companies blow off sustainability to make an extra buck? Or should we actually do something to protect the shrinking environment?
The issue here is sustainability, and not giving loggers a free pass to clear cut ancient forests.
Again, if you see no value in nature, I'm wasting my breath.
Re:Not everyone (Score:3, Interesting)
I spent six months up and down a tree sit in australia. Oh, I also work as a sys admin. We ran wires & wireless stuff all around that forrest. We kept up to date websites. And we locked on when they tried to log a bilby breeding ground.
It's a case of science. It's worth pointing down that over half the people at the blockades where uni trained biologists who felt that since the politicians chose to ignore science, something drastic needs to be done. We where joined by a 80yo+ founding member of the liberal party (the conservative party in government) , a catholic nun. We where supported by the farming community and the members of the federal opposition (and a few from government on the quiet) regularly visited.
And not a hair was hurt on anyones head.
Chose your stereotypes wisely my friend