It's hard to know what to do in the current political and environmental environment. Scanned a piece today on Climate and Capitalism website. This piece was a reaction to a favorable review of Derrick Jensen's book Deep Green Resistance that ran on Canadian Dimension. Jensen seems to catch a lot of reactionary ink to his proposals to create change. I am pretty busy working the create change in many ways, so don't have lots of time to read Jensen (or to blog these days) but I get the impression that Jensen embraces a Luddite sensibility at times. Maybe also a monkey wrench mentality that is attractive, but may be a dead end politically. There is something about the monkey wrench mentality that I find both sexist and adolescent, which is not to say that I don't also find it attractive.

What better place than Olympia to gather if the economy has put you on the street? Come to Olympia to assemble and petition for redress of grievance. Come and sit on the streets of Olympia as a demonstration and act of free speech. Come to Olympia and greet the legislators and the policy makers who will have to step over you, or walk around you, as they move around in their daily lives. The City of Olympia is criminalizing poverty in the downtown area, but the First Amendment comes in... uh... First! We have the right to sit, recline, sing, grieve, and beg for good public policy in Washington State. Come to Olympia. If you get hassled by the Olympia Police Department for exercising your free speech rights, email the particulars: Where, when, police officer name to olympiacopwatch@gmail.com and we will challenge the City and the Police Department to justify the violation of your first amendment rights. I know that some folks get scared when they have to be close to houseless people. I encourage those folks to come down to the Artesian Well during daylight and introduce themselves to the people who move through that setting. There are lots of tattoos, piercings, and a fair amount of cursing, but there is also a lot of openness, music, support, and community.

Currently resting at the Port of Olympia is a shipment of windmill blades. They arrived on the Industrial Cape and the Industrial Eagle and have been here since early May. They'll probably remain for most of the summer, according to Jim Knight, the Port's Business Development Manager.

The windblades are on a journey from Santos, Brazil to sites in Wyoming and Washington. The Wyoming shipment has already left the Port.

The rest will be shipped to Vantage, near Ellensburg, as construction sites become ready for their installation. Knight said their customer is General Electric. If my internet research is correct, they’ll be part of the Vantage Wind Energy Project, under development by Invenergy Wind North America, LLC. When completed it will be capable of generating 103 megawatts, and Puget Sound Energy may buy power from the project.

See attached flyer and please join an interesting presentation and discussion with the Global Exchange Speaking Tour experts, hosted by the Alliance for Democracy, on April 2 from 7-9:00 pm at Traditions.