Disscusion Elim / Iditarod / Uranium Mine
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DISSCUSSION LETTER
My intention was to challenge myself and the world to remember...
To remember that the Iditarod is a memorial of the legendary Serum Run, a memorial of a legendary race to save children from a diptheria epidemic.
A memorial of a race where mushers and dogs and people from all over the world worked together to save the next generation of a Bering Sea Community, to save the future of a Bering Sea Community from the onslought of disease.
A memorial of a race not for Money or Fame...
But a memorial of a race of Meaning... a race of Hope...
There was no champion.
All were winners because they saved the children, they saved the future. They worked together to accomplish a beautiful and meaningful thing. That is what the Iditarod is founded upon... Meaning.
Balto's statue is in New York. That is a famous symbol of Alaska, a famous symbol of the unbreakable human spirit... A famous symbol of man and dog working together to save lives and overcome the odds.
Our natural resources on this planet are limited, one could liken our relationship to our planet as analogous to that of a cancer (or of a disease like diptheria) spreading through the cells of a human body to an overwhelming point of breakdown, a point where the cancer - or disease - takes over and destroys and kills the host.... there are only so many cells in our bodies, only so many non-renewable resources like Uranium on our planet.
It is fair to suggest that here in Alaska as well as in our global community we need to work to explore more sustainable practices... sustainable practices consistent to that which subsistence communities have practiced all over the world prior to the industrial revolution.
Sustainable practices consistent to that which rural Alaskan and Yukon villages still practice today. Sustainable practices like that which the people of Elim practice. Ways of living that honor the land, the animals on the tundra, the salmon in the river, the plants, the birds... ways of living that honor ourselves, that honor our children. Ways of living that honor our planet and our collective future.
I am simply suggesting that the letter on the link below should matter...
http://blog.bssd.org/2007/09/20/elim-ur ... dent-blog/
I am simply suggesting that that voice should be heard and that it should be respected.
In 1925 the diptheria vaccine was transported from Anchorage to Nenana by Rail. Than Leonhard Seppala and the other mushers of the Nome Kennel Club raced the Vaccine to Nome in a record 129.5 hours. A record that will remain unbroken. They saved those children by force of will.
They saved those children because it meant something.
Lance Mackey just won the 2008 Iditarod because it meant something to him. He won it by force of will. He is an inspired musher, a musher with a deep and unrivaled motivation that we all find truly inspirational. He overcame the odds. He triumphed over adversity. He survived Cancer.
His victory is a symbol of the unbreakable Human Spirit.
Watching him win reminds us of the inspired feeling the world felt when the vaccine reached Nome and the children were saved.
We get that same feeling of profound exultation, of awe.
The challenge is for us to realize today... as we watch the last teams come up front street, and as we prepare for the excitement of the Centeniall All Alaska Sweepstakes...
That today here in Alaska we have the same oppurtunity...
Joe Reddington Sr.'s Vision of the inaugural Iditarod, his dream of the Iditarod... is of a race that honored the meaning behind the Serum Run.
A race that would work to preserve a way of life. A race that would work to preserve our Alaskan cultural use of sled dogs against the onslaught of the use of snowmobiles.
We have the same oppurtunity today to save the next generation. We have the same oppurtunity to overcome the odds, to defy the impossible, to do something meaningful... To save a bering sea community, to preserve a cultural way of life.
Today we are poised to honor the vision behind The Last Great Race.
To honor the spirit of the Serum Run, to honor Lance Mackey's spirit... his comeback from cancer and his impressive string of 1000 mile wins that culminate with the 2008 Iditarod Victory...
To honor the human spirit.
I do not think that the Iditarod, or the people who run it, are bad. I think that the Iditarod is a great celebration... a celebration of Hope.
I do not think that Triex Minerals, or the people who run it are bad.
Yes, it is true Triex Minerals legally owns the land that is to be mined.
But people have a valid concern with regard to the development of the Boulder Creek Mine. The development is likely to impact the people of Elim's health and way of life, to impact the salmon in the river, the animals on the tundra, the plants, the people, the ecosystem.
It is a violation of the Constitution of the United States of America to jeopardize the right to health and life of one person -- let alone multiple communities of people, multiple villages... It is a violation of the Constitution of the United States of America for a multi-million dollar Canadian/ lower 48 corporation to come in and develop a natural resource at the expense of a community .... without the express consent and permission of the community whose health and way of life stands to be jeopardized. It is a 'human rights' issue. It is a Human Rights Case. It is legally defensible in court to argue that the development of the mine is an infringement on the people of Elim's rights.
It seems to beg the question....
If you had cancer would you fight it and try to live? If you had been there during the race to get the vaccine to Nome would you fight to save those children? If your runner broke, or your dogs were sick, or if Jeff King was riding your tail for 400 miles with 16 dogs would you still FIGHT tooth and claw for the win?????
Shouldn't the little kid and the puppy on the river bank matter?
Shouldn't we have hope???
Shouldn't we fight for a degree of fairness? For Justice?
Shouldn't we all cooperatively try to recreate that spirit? To honor the dream and vision behind the Last Great Race? To honor the serum run? To honor Lance Mackey? To Honor Elim? To honor each other and our world.... to honor Alaska???
Any ideas????
PRIOR LETTER
I will cash my Permanent Fund Dividend Check. I am an Alaskan.
I will pay my taxes. I am an American.
I will pay the taxes that support our sons and daughters fighting to protect the freedom of the people of Iraq.
I will pay the taxes that support our people fighting to protect Iraqi people from the effects of Uranium exposure.
I will pay the taxes that support our people fighting to protect the freedoms of indigneous people in Africa, of indigneous people in South America. (What about us here in Alaska? What about Elim?)
I will pay the taxes that support and protect the corporations and the special interest groups that control our government in Washington D.C.. That control our politics in Washington D.C..
I will pay the taxes that support and protect the corporations and the special interest groups that control our politics in ALASKA.
I have no choice.
But I will not sit by when Canadian / Lower 48 based Corporations come into our villages and endanger our communities, endanger the fabric of our subsistence lifestyles for the purpose of developing a Uranium resource. For the purpose of developing Uranium that will do nothing but damage the world, not just the community of Elim... but travel from Elim and damage the World.
I will not sit by and look the other way when corruption is visited upon that which I care for.
Would you?
Of course I will cash my check. Of course I will pay my taxes.
Govenor Palin is a strong voice against the corruption here in Alaska, but she is one voice...
She needs our support, all of our support. Elim needs our support, all of our support.
This is about the spirit of the Last Frontier, the spirit behind the Last Great Race.
It is about the spirit of Alaska.
It is about the people of Elim taking in the first Iditarod Mushers and feeding them thirty plus years ago. It is about the people of Elim manning the checkpoint through the storm. It is about the drive of the dogs in harness. It is about our great landscape. It is about the sound of a dogteam passing in the dark. It is about the taste of wild Salmon from our river. It is about our childrens future. It is about a little kid playing with a puppy on a riverbank in the grass of spring...
It is not about Uranium. Or Money. Or Greed. Or Cancer activity on a screen in a hospitol, not about the smell of a hospitol.
It is about the smell of the grass of spring. A puppies breath. A childs laughter.
It is about Elim, about hope.
It is about us.
Just listen.
My intention was to challenge myself and the world to remember...
To remember that the Iditarod is a memorial of the legendary Serum Run, a memorial of a legendary race to save children from a diptheria epidemic.
A memorial of a race where mushers and dogs and people from all over the world worked together to save the next generation of a Bering Sea Community, to save the future of a Bering Sea Community from the onslought of disease.
A memorial of a race not for Money or Fame...
But a memorial of a race of Meaning... a race of Hope...
There was no champion.
All were winners because they saved the children, they saved the future. They worked together to accomplish a beautiful and meaningful thing. That is what the Iditarod is founded upon... Meaning.
Balto's statue is in New York. That is a famous symbol of Alaska, a famous symbol of the unbreakable human spirit... A famous symbol of man and dog working together to save lives and overcome the odds.
Our natural resources on this planet are limited, one could liken our relationship to our planet as analogous to that of a cancer (or of a disease like diptheria) spreading through the cells of a human body to an overwhelming point of breakdown, a point where the cancer - or disease - takes over and destroys and kills the host.... there are only so many cells in our bodies, only so many non-renewable resources like Uranium on our planet.
It is fair to suggest that here in Alaska as well as in our global community we need to work to explore more sustainable practices... sustainable practices consistent to that which subsistence communities have practiced all over the world prior to the industrial revolution.
Sustainable practices consistent to that which rural Alaskan and Yukon villages still practice today. Sustainable practices like that which the people of Elim practice. Ways of living that honor the land, the animals on the tundra, the salmon in the river, the plants, the birds... ways of living that honor ourselves, that honor our children. Ways of living that honor our planet and our collective future.
I am simply suggesting that the letter on the link below should matter...
http://blog.bssd.org/2007/09/20/elim-ur ... dent-blog/
I am simply suggesting that that voice should be heard and that it should be respected.
In 1925 the diptheria vaccine was transported from Anchorage to Nenana by Rail. Than Leonhard Seppala and the other mushers of the Nome Kennel Club raced the Vaccine to Nome in a record 129.5 hours. A record that will remain unbroken. They saved those children by force of will.
They saved those children because it meant something.
Lance Mackey just won the 2008 Iditarod because it meant something to him. He won it by force of will. He is an inspired musher, a musher with a deep and unrivaled motivation that we all find truly inspirational. He overcame the odds. He triumphed over adversity. He survived Cancer.
His victory is a symbol of the unbreakable Human Spirit.
Watching him win reminds us of the inspired feeling the world felt when the vaccine reached Nome and the children were saved.
We get that same feeling of profound exultation, of awe.
The challenge is for us to realize today... as we watch the last teams come up front street, and as we prepare for the excitement of the Centeniall All Alaska Sweepstakes...
That today here in Alaska we have the same oppurtunity...
Joe Reddington Sr.'s Vision of the inaugural Iditarod, his dream of the Iditarod... is of a race that honored the meaning behind the Serum Run.
A race that would work to preserve a way of life. A race that would work to preserve our Alaskan cultural use of sled dogs against the onslaught of the use of snowmobiles.
We have the same oppurtunity today to save the next generation. We have the same oppurtunity to overcome the odds, to defy the impossible, to do something meaningful... To save a bering sea community, to preserve a cultural way of life.
Today we are poised to honor the vision behind The Last Great Race.
To honor the spirit of the Serum Run, to honor Lance Mackey's spirit... his comeback from cancer and his impressive string of 1000 mile wins that culminate with the 2008 Iditarod Victory...
To honor the human spirit.
I do not think that the Iditarod, or the people who run it, are bad. I think that the Iditarod is a great celebration... a celebration of Hope.
I do not think that Triex Minerals, or the people who run it are bad.
Yes, it is true Triex Minerals legally owns the land that is to be mined.
But people have a valid concern with regard to the development of the Boulder Creek Mine. The development is likely to impact the people of Elim's health and way of life, to impact the salmon in the river, the animals on the tundra, the plants, the people, the ecosystem.
It is a violation of the Constitution of the United States of America to jeopardize the right to health and life of one person -- let alone multiple communities of people, multiple villages... It is a violation of the Constitution of the United States of America for a multi-million dollar Canadian/ lower 48 corporation to come in and develop a natural resource at the expense of a community .... without the express consent and permission of the community whose health and way of life stands to be jeopardized. It is a 'human rights' issue. It is a Human Rights Case. It is legally defensible in court to argue that the development of the mine is an infringement on the people of Elim's rights.
It seems to beg the question....
If you had cancer would you fight it and try to live? If you had been there during the race to get the vaccine to Nome would you fight to save those children? If your runner broke, or your dogs were sick, or if Jeff King was riding your tail for 400 miles with 16 dogs would you still FIGHT tooth and claw for the win?????
Shouldn't the little kid and the puppy on the river bank matter?
Shouldn't we have hope???
Shouldn't we fight for a degree of fairness? For Justice?
Shouldn't we all cooperatively try to recreate that spirit? To honor the dream and vision behind the Last Great Race? To honor the serum run? To honor Lance Mackey? To Honor Elim? To honor each other and our world.... to honor Alaska???
Any ideas????
PRIOR LETTER
I will cash my Permanent Fund Dividend Check. I am an Alaskan.
I will pay my taxes. I am an American.
I will pay the taxes that support our sons and daughters fighting to protect the freedom of the people of Iraq.
I will pay the taxes that support our people fighting to protect Iraqi people from the effects of Uranium exposure.
I will pay the taxes that support our people fighting to protect the freedoms of indigneous people in Africa, of indigneous people in South America. (What about us here in Alaska? What about Elim?)
I will pay the taxes that support and protect the corporations and the special interest groups that control our government in Washington D.C.. That control our politics in Washington D.C..
I will pay the taxes that support and protect the corporations and the special interest groups that control our politics in ALASKA.
I have no choice.
But I will not sit by when Canadian / Lower 48 based Corporations come into our villages and endanger our communities, endanger the fabric of our subsistence lifestyles for the purpose of developing a Uranium resource. For the purpose of developing Uranium that will do nothing but damage the world, not just the community of Elim... but travel from Elim and damage the World.
I will not sit by and look the other way when corruption is visited upon that which I care for.
Would you?
Of course I will cash my check. Of course I will pay my taxes.
Govenor Palin is a strong voice against the corruption here in Alaska, but she is one voice...
She needs our support, all of our support. Elim needs our support, all of our support.
This is about the spirit of the Last Frontier, the spirit behind the Last Great Race.
It is about the spirit of Alaska.
It is about the people of Elim taking in the first Iditarod Mushers and feeding them thirty plus years ago. It is about the people of Elim manning the checkpoint through the storm. It is about the drive of the dogs in harness. It is about our great landscape. It is about the sound of a dogteam passing in the dark. It is about the taste of wild Salmon from our river. It is about our childrens future. It is about a little kid playing with a puppy on a riverbank in the grass of spring...
It is not about Uranium. Or Money. Or Greed. Or Cancer activity on a screen in a hospitol, not about the smell of a hospitol.
It is about the smell of the grass of spring. A puppies breath. A childs laughter.
It is about Elim, about hope.
It is about us.
Just listen.
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