a tale of 2 cities - and Guatemala

Before commenting on life in Prince George, an interesting excerpt from Action News Detroit (ABC) today. . . sound familiar?. . .

DETROIT (WXYZ) - Neighbors in southwest Detroit are calling for an investigation claiming the air they are breathing is toxic.The area smells like heavy industry, but people in the community knew they needed more than a smell to prove the presence of toxic chemicals.So the worried neighbors decided to test their own area quality using buckets and plastic bags as part of the independent yet scientific "Bucket Test."The test showed high levels of chemicals."It's a little scary, how long has it been going on? Are there other chemicals in the air that we don't know about?" asks one concerned neighbor.Some people living in the area believe the emissions from the industrial companies are making them sick.“The toxic air is affecting the health of our community,” said Jayne Mounce, the southwest Detroit resident who collected the first air sample. “On the day I collected the sample, the chemical smell was so strong it gave me a headache. Sadly, no one wants to be held accountable for the poor air quality, but now that we’re testing our own air, we’ll be able to connect the dots and begin to take action and fight back.” They are now armed with a report from the Bucket Test company and plan to ask the Department of Environmental Quality to duplicate the test. Neighbors hope maybe then the DEQ will crack down on the problem.

Back in Prince George, we had a smelly morning this morning and the first bucket of foul air was collected in the Millar Addition & shipped off to California for testing. PACHA will be accepting donations http://www.pachapg.ca/ as the tests are rather costly. For the first time ever since starting PACHA (people's action committee for healthy air) it really feels like we are getting somewhere. All the difference rests in empowering ourselves - not waiting for industry or government to act and to tell us the way it is and what's what.

It is all in the construction of the narrative isn't it? What story will we choose to accept, to believe? And even more than that, what story we choose to create. . . From where do we gather and construct our understanding of reality? What is our frame of reference? Thinking about the construction of narrative is one of the things that led me to thinking about creating this blog. . . last letter to the editor of the Citizen I wrote last week was given the title "spewing about spills" which set a rather negative context for my words about the perils of oil spills should the construction of twin oil pipelines (Enbridge) be authorized to proceed through the Prince George area. . . more on Enbridge later!

At that point, I made a decision to turn away from sharing my thoughts in letters to the editor of the Prince George Citizen, and decided instead to create a blog so here it is (much funner & freer so far!) We need to be able to define for ourselves our own titles to our thoughts. . .

And speaking of different stories, here is something from UNBC geography professor and steadfast advocate for the rights of people in Guatemala, Dr. Catherine Nolin

Emilie Smith
Title: "Gold Lust: Canada and Mining on Sacred Land in Guatemala"
Date/Time: Friday, September 25th, 12:00 – 1:30
Location: UNBC’s Senate Chambers, Rm. 1079 in the Administrative Building at the Prince George campus

Details:
At present, a mostly unacknowledged yet world-wide conceptual struggle for the understanding of what Earth *is*, or what Earth is *for*. This struggle is essentially a theological issue, based on a conflict of deeply differing world-views. Emilie will explore this struggle though the story of one community, San Bartolomeo Sipakapa, in the department of San Marcos, Guatemala, as they faced historical forces of domination and how Canada has taken the role of the most recent dominant oppressive power in the community. How does this geographical site manifest varying constructions of what *Earth* is, and what human relationship to *Earth* should be?

Emilie Smith is an ordained priest in the Anglican Church of Canada (2004) and recently completed Master’s in Theology at the Vancouver School of Theology based on her research and solidarity connections with the sacred theology of land in Guatemala.

Emilie is a founding member of the Guatemalan-Canadian women's group Nuestra Voz based in Vancouver. Emilie's published work includes "The Granddaughters of Ixmucané: Guatemalan Women Speak" (1991) and three children's books. "Viva Zapata" was published this summer by Tradewinds.

Here's to creating a new story for our earth.