From: nahikurain@mac.com
Subject: Peak Water and My Own Values
Date: January 24, 2011 11:02:08 AM EST
To: john.fanning@wvsenate.gov

Dear congress Person and Fellow West Virginian:

Please consider for some time the idea of Cleaning Up West Virginia--
and doing personal cleanses and preparing for a better day of healthy living while demanding less

I feel we as a people, and as a country, need to eat less and consume a lot less energy
and we need to clean up our bodies, our yards, our homes and our lives
get the toxins out-- and we need to LOOK at our values and FEEL our way to resolving our inner conflicts

If we don't start producing MORE Quality out of less material and less energy
we will not survive-- what if the Saudi Arabia decides the dollar is no longer the world currency?
gas prices, followed by the prices of EVERYTHING else would soar OVERNIGHT!!
and on that day, What will we Value?

Our kind neighbors-- who we do not fear
and our friends with whom we share and trade seeds and loving companionship
large trees, rooted like strong women, to give us courage
and you better bet we will want to drink clean WATER
out of the ground- out of the stream- out of the RIVER

Please consider the idea of UPGRADING our water Quality standards NOW

If we decided to use less now
drive less, eat more locally produced foods
work from home, be kind to each other
and drink more quality water-- then when the rest of the world grinds to a halt
it won't bother us

we can live healthier lives and demand less on the medical industry
with clean water and clean living habits-- we grow some of the best apples in the world right here
we have some of the richest, most diverse forests, we have great fishing and hunting
we have rivers flowing in every cardinal direction-- we have healthy vibrant soils and great mushrooms

but everything depends on WATER
Please Protect our Water like our lives depend on it

and you know that commercial where Joe shoots at the EPA?
He isn't the only one in this state who knows how to shoot
Why not lets shoot for Clean Water-- and everyone wins! We ALL NEED WATER

I'm sorry I'm sorry I love you I love you
I'm sorry your decisions are hard
I' sorry you lost part of your dreams along the way
I'm sorry it feels like you are trapped
I'm sorry you think jobs are more important than water
I'm sorry if you want more power, more money, more more more
I love you like water flowing through the ground
like blood flowing through the veins of our people
like the snow stuck to the branches of the trees
like snow cream and lake swimming


BY the People, For the People, One Nation, Under God
West Virginia: the Land and it's People
Preserve and Protect the Land and Water-- to which we are so closely tied
This is our LIFE BLOOD I am talking about
Clean it UP!!
here is a picture of my baby girl-- who LOVES water and who LOVES me and who believes in YOU


Please Protect our Land and Water for HER-- Eighth Generation West Virginian-- and we have been stone cutters, farmers, lawyers, nurses, roller skate rink owners... None of my family exploited or polluted this state's land or water to seek profit and then leave with the spoils, the spoiled, salted land behind...

Sincerely,

Sara Cowgill

Joe Manchin--

I'm so embarrassed-- I can not believe nevermind
wow
I love water. I am so excited that the Environmental Protection Agency has decided to come down to West Virginia and put a hand up for WATER.
I went to the EPA Public Hearing and I saw all these big guys wearing bright T-shirts about "without coal we'll all freeze to death in the dark" and outside creating a bit of a picket line with how to kill a tree-hugger violent drawings, and then these pointed comments like "trying to shut us down" and I went inside, standing there in line I was shaking all over and saying to myself-- they are going to make this about JOBS.
So I started changing my two minute speech
the EPA is not here about our political corruption, our poverty, or our lack of jobs... is that what I said?? They are not here to Shut You Down
they are here because of the Reality of the Vital Importance of WATER

You know WATER isn't going to EVER get less important
just like the cost of gas in a Post Peak Oil World isn't really ever going down
We are looking at a Peak Water World-- see Jenna Cavelle's Peakwater.org for lots of good information if you doubt for a minute that we are facing Global Water Crises. Oh I'm so non fluid right now. I'm mad because of this really scary commercial I saw of Joe Blow shooting a gun at the EPA, saying he was going to fight against the nation-- OUR Nation, Under God. this guy really creeps me out, the way he so blatantly is selling us to the wolves-- and then threatening to sue and shoot the hero who is coming to save us from those that are raping and devastating our land-- OUR land, to which we are so closely tied, OUR WATER, which is our blood and our lives.

Okay so I feel pretty strongly about this and I find myself upset and disturbed, so I start closing up and my hands start to hurt-- my bones ache from the hatefulness I feel for this guy and the weaknesses he embodies-- as Caroline Myss would say, or I imagine she would say, his behavior evokes the harlot energy that is available to any of us, and says he chooses to SELL what is sacred, priceless and precious for pennies-- and it hurts us all, it hurts all of us??
Maybe not. What if I can forgive him? what if I can say I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry to him for what he has wasted, what he has thrown away, what he has tossed to the wind-- his soul- his integrity-- how can he not miss this part of himself?
I'm sorry
and I love the human part of him as I love the spirit of the Mountains, the streams, the people everywhere. I don't want us to suffer from our mistakes.

You know I have other facets too-- and I'm a pretty good shot myself. I won a 28 pound turkey for my dorm in Alaska by winning the Turkey Shoot-- and there was no winner for the boys and a winner for the girls-- it was ME. I was the Winner. I also Won the Keim marksmanship Award later that year-- shooting. I enjoyed that very much; Maybe Joe ought to hold a Match and see if people who love WATER and who support the EPA and the USA can shoot better than he can!! Haha I don't think he would enjoy being beaten by a GIRL!! Haha

so am I in conflict? How can I love WAter and not love people who are alive because of Water-- who are essentially Water? the soul itself might even be in the magic of Water. Phillipe Cousteau wrote the book, Our Watery Planet, which was my Second Bible growing up-- Water is the Reason for all seasons- for life on this living breathing planet.

Okay I know I should proofread- I might get concise-- might tone down or build up or edit here and there, tear the whole thing apart and put it carefully back into some smoother order-- but not tonight. I'm just venting. I'm upset and I'm thirsty for some truth, some integrity and some good CLEAN MOUNTAIN FRESH SPRING WATER right out of the ground and I can also tell you that this super cold, very viscous water is absolutely the BEST STUFF on earth. I think GOD lives in it. oha baby, How sweet it is! Where did that come from?? ha ha

What does it take to get your food?

How many miles has your food traveled to get to you? What if the price of gas doubled next week? I think the price of gas can double-- I am not sure-- maybe there are laws on that, but I think it can and I think it will and I think that it will suprise many people to find that they didn't really have an awareness of the origin their food. There is nothing more empowering than growing your own food, building your own shelter and collecting your own power, but your food-- it is second to WATER. What if you needed to find water? Locate the nearest water sources to your home and work, and all those along the way between your home and your kin, or your friends... streams, rivers, springs... seeps? hose bibs that are available, even, for "tap water". Keep some clean water in your home and in your car, helicopter, boat, whatever...
Now how would you get water if there was no power? Can you still pump water? Do you have rain water catchment? Do you have a well? Do you have a spring? Are mining companies destroying your water? where is the NEXT source of water?
Do you realize that sometimes when the power goes off, the sewage treatment plant can not pump sewage and they waste goes straight into the river? Please do not flush the toilet during a power outage-- do you have an alternate toilet facility? Is there an old outhouse on your place? where else could you defecate? Do you have a composting toilet? Does one of your neighbors? where would you empty a chamber pot now, if you could not flush it, or if you knew that flushing would put it into your river?
Now, start looking out for food-- who has a garden? what are they growing? where can you buy local food? where could you plant food? what edible plants grow wild near you? what edible food grows on your land, or near your roadways? what edible pants are you even familiar with that grow locally? What can you use to make tea? or medicine? or to increase vitality in the sick, young, old or weak? what native edible plants could you plant along your street? what could you plant in your yard? What can you grow inside your house? trailer? submarine? flying saucer? tree-sitter pod? what food can you get even if the power is down-- what food would you be able to keep without power? If the stores were empty and the power was off, there was no gas for less than $14/ gallon, what could you collect in an hour to feed your kids?
Where can you fish? where can you hunt? Do you know the places to find the animals you like to eat? Do you have the tools to catch the game? to catch the fish? Are you watching the prices of these items? Do you see the price of even a good knife? ammunition? Do you have a place to keep ammunition? Do you know how to keep and store any meat? or fish?

I am not talking about hoarding toilet paper, or building a stockade against the government; I'm just wondering about eating close to home, without using fossil fuels for every meal, without using fossil fuels to take a shit, have a glass of water, eat one thing--- What if you had to walk to get water? How far is it? What about Food? How far is it? Do they need power to "ring you up?"
How much of what you do every HOUR consumes coal? or gas? or both??

Getting Big Coal to quit eating our mountains, means we have to quit eating with coal in one hand and gas in the other-- no chemicals either
OH MY! I saw a tanker with a warning sign on it with a dead tree and a Fish, belly up-- it made my skin crawl phenalyalamides or something like that-- is that like benzene?? anyway-- thins that kill trees, kill me and that is another story for another day.

Monsanto??

I have recently rekindled a mad passion to raise honeybees, and I also want to mention that my button on my mouse is no longer taking me to my dictionary and weather boxes and I am peeved about that.
Well is it any surprise that MTR is no good for honeybees? let's just look at it for one moment-- what could bombing be good for? bombers seem to enjoy it-- especially if they are getting paid and told "great job!" and "just make sure to run some tree huggers off the road on your way home-- and your quota today is ten". Who else-- oh the companies who make nitroglycerin and some other nasties they are pumping into the earth to crack and smash and turn it to dust. and the trains that haul it and the guy who pushes the button to release the coal into the train car. Then there is also the tug boat driver who pushes the barges down the river where they get sent to Korea-- didn't we bomb them too?
okay, but as for the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees and the moon up above-- what the moon got to do with it? Competition-- for the lunar landscape, and actually the Moon might not like being compared to a bombsite-- although is has been one for so long. Maybe the Moon is upset because we had all this rich life and we threw it away, we gave it to them, traded our whole lives for some copper, for a few pieces of gold?
This is not the prosperity that God wants for us-- I don't believe that it could be. It isn't the progress that our forefathers wanted for us-- I just refuse to think that. I think it is the lazy ass fat dumb American who thinks nothing of shitting in the drinking water-- or says uuuuu grosss at the thought of a composting toilet, or worse yet, says, "I'm not going in there" and doesn't know how to do dishes with less than seven gallons of water, who doesn't eat "rabbit food" and dies of very expensive health care routines and procedures after many years of disability.

they have to have the electricity or they don't know what to do with themselves-- they use my mountains for entertainment and they don't even think of it as wasting-- they keep saying they are using resources-- they deserve to. it's basically an entitlement issue.

I feel entitled to mountains, forests, bees, bears, fish, streams, mist, foliage--- and they feel entitled to a city that never sleeps, and amusement parks and dishwashers and AC and they would die without their MTV. okay enough. I'm tired of trying to talk.

I am still here... I have been spending much of my online time on Facebook and ranting there and not really getting a hold of my thoughts and building complete sentences for awhile, so long that I think I'm going retarded. And there, my character limit is maxed and my thought runs idle.
Everywere I am someone is trying to control some aspect of it.
I can't hear myself think for all the white noise, but when I move back to the land, I won't have my computer--- yet.. I am thinking ATT might have some connection device for me that I could run off my phone service; maybe even a unit with a solar recharger-- if they don't that is a niche.

They are still bombing, Maria has got a line on the Mooney Property and is getting tax deductible funding to buy a prime mining stop in Boone County, Denise is sitting in on all kinds of meetings, Danny has effectively introduced our congress to Water Protection measures, although they are only just sensing we are here...

in th meantime, this Shale issue and the FRACK fluids are big news, as it is basically another way to destroy our water while getting "cheap" "clean" energy out of our state and leaving it a deserted wasteland--- I love these beautiful trees and mountains.

We are having huge flooding right now-- thousands of miles of streams are missing, and all the trees along them are missing, thousands of acres of thirsty forests are missing, and the rivers are maxing out at the banks--- but who is standing up and taking respeonsibility?? Not massey, no way, and people are dying in this-- "natural act of GOD" .
It has been raining forever, but it only started Flooding.

I better get some sleep, but I want to know we are keeping our eyes open to what is going on and letting them know we want our water protected-- WHAT IF we said, "at all costs"???

Open letter to Big Coal

open letter to Don Blankenship, Bill Raney, CEO's of Consol, Peabody, etc.. Big Coal, Friends of Coal... etc

May all your wives, lovers, prostitutes, boy-toys, hobby friendships and any family who still freely associates with you go raw vegan gourmet and suddenly find your scent repulsive and your ruddy utterances distasteful.

May the first born of all of you and your employees, down to the mail clerks, housekeepers and refuge workers, all turn Non Profit, grow an intense love for ancient growth forests, medicinal plants and mushrooms and an overall diversity of wildlife. May all other members of your close and extended family and friends start collecting starving, injured and abandoned cats.

May all the people who inadvertently share your name denounce your affiliation.

May all the cartoons depicting your image be hilarious and poignant, and although you can not quite understand them, may you be surprised to find they are traveling the metropolitan museum circuit.

May all the tomatoes that come your way be organic and vine ripened.

May all the politicians and housewives and teachers who share your views, who refuse to stand against you despite their lack of support or those who do support you in any way share your fate.

May a flower grow on the grave of a buried stream every time you speak the truth, and may you live until every stream has a flower, or is exhumed.

May every MTR engineer quit beer and TV and start buying land with mineral rights intact, stocks in wind and night classes for green technologies. May everyone of them be physically, mentally and financially prepared to close the site and start on Appalachian Restoration, and the New Green Advance.

May your life be remembered for your works.

May every West Virginian find their identity in the beauty and bounty of the mountains and not in the generations of exploitation, humiliation and degradation of Coal companies who have stolen our land, murdered our leaders, cheated us, lied to us and told us coal mining was the only thing we were smart enough to do.

May you have a clear view of what you have done with your life and all the repercussions of your actions for at least thirty years before you lie on your death bed. May you review your contributions to Our People and Our Land on a nightly basis.

May you be visited by the spirits of the people and the land you have touched, the places you have visited your footprint and the very soul of the Mountains and Hollers you have worked.

May you and your families drink the ground water of the mountain springs where you have tread, rest in the shade of the trees of that land, eat the plenty that you have created, swim in the mountain lakes you have damned, and breathe the air of your processes.

I want for you the full scope of the heritage you have left for the rest of us. Please accept this gracious gift ; may it keep the light in your eyes.

this call for clean energy in ten years

Listen, just to let you know-- my idea of clean energy has absolutely NOTHING to do with Coal. It isn't liquidified coal, it isn't natural gas made from coal,, it isn't about exploiting chemical and nuclear means of procuring energy from material.
For me, Clean means different Architecture, different building materials, different lifestyles... all this plastic and crap is just a nightmare to people like me...
Clean means clean clear sweet spring water-- out of the GROUND!
it means soil that you can smell, touch, enjoy, and not poisoned so much that you can not walk barefoot. It's about streams that run with fish to the sea, about amber waves of grain, but not gmo chemi-processed everything and dead pollinators and super- processing machines that kill all the birds come harvest time; it's not about over fishing, it's not about over eating or eating cheap or eating chicken wings for dinner with every light on in the house coated with, or built with off-gasing materials with worse pollution outside, tv's in every room with disinformation on every channel-- no, it's really about eating less, having something nice and being kind and reverent to the earth.
Let us humble ourselves in the presence of the Great Mother of All, the earth created in a picture of perfection, to marvel at the incredible beauty, to hold the sophistication of the processes in awe-- yeah, that's where You can find me, close to the ground.