News
Page 10
Street Roots • June 5-11,2015
BONNIE McKINLAY
Fighting for the planet
BY ALICE HARDESTY ■
C O N TR IBU TIN G W R fTÈR
onnie McKinlay arrives at my house
a little out of breath, greets my dog,
and apologizes for being late. She’s
wearing a Norwegian wool sweater and a
huge backpack full of materials. Although
she almost always rides her bike, this time
she has driven
because she’s
taking people
with her to
testify at a
hearing in
makes me
,
Longview, Wash.
I’m a little
surprised to
learn that she
actually has a
car.
than discovering
Despite her
another human being to admire.
64 years, she
has few gray
-------------- ALICE W ALKER ------------—
hairs and a great
deal of youthful
energy. Although soft spoken, it’s clear that
she can be vigorously persuasive.
We settle in at my dining room table
with a simple lunch of salad, cornbread and
tea. Before we’ve taken more than a few
bites, the conversation gets right down to
P HO TO COURTESY BO NNIE M c K IN L A Y
basic essentials and I reach for my notepad.
B onnie M cKinlay holds a sign in fro n t o f the White H ouse in Washington, D.C., durin g a July 2011 rally against the
“We are in crisis,” she declares. “When
Keystone X L Pipeline ju s t after she was released from jail. She a nd other protesters were arrested fo r standing too long
will people wake up to that?” Bonnie
in an area near the White House.
assumes that everyone knows about the
consequences of climate change, that those
who deny them are either bought and sold
raffles and games to raise money. Right
she was too young. Instead, she sold hand
after the Haitian earthquake they raised
or just ill informed by the media, that the
made potholders in the neighborhood and
$8,000 for Doctors Without Borders. Later,
secrecy surrounding the Trans-Pacific
donated the money to the Southern
with the organization 350.org, they raised
Partnership and its implications for climate
Christian Leadership Conference.
$3,000 for relief efforts in the Philippines
are malevolent, and that the consequences
At 18 she moved to Portland, where her
after Typhoon Yolanda. She and friends
for future generations are catastrophic -
brother had gone to Reed College. Here she
went on to use this method fundraising for
unless we do something to change the
earned her teaching credential at Portland
several other causes.
course right now.
State University, got a master’s degree in
Then in the summer of 2011 there was a
“Our planet’s climate is allergic to carbon. media studies, and went to work as an
call-out from Bill McKibben, the well-known
We know that. If your child were allergic to
elementary school teacher and librarian.
author and co-founder of 350.org, to come
carrots, for example, you wouldn’t keep
She enjoyed working with children, helping
feeding her carrots, would you? Why are we
them understand subjects experientially, not to Washington, D.C. It was just after the
famous statement by former NASA scientist
doing this? What is more important than
just from books. She remained drawn to
James Hansen that the Keystone XL
the civilization that would be lost?” She’s
issues of political and social justice.
pipeline would be “game over” for the
referring to the loss of multiple species of
“I have always been an activist,” she
planet because of global warming. “Jim and
animals and plants, people’s homes and
explains. “There is a human tendency to
I looked at each other and said, let’s go!”
families through mass migration, cultures,
shove things under the rug, and I find
They took the train because they had
literature, music, lives, all the consequence
myself fighting against that.” During the
sworn off flying, and when they got to
of unmitigated climate disruption.
Vietnam War, as Bonnie protested, her
Bonnie grew up on Long Island until age
Washington they took the civil disobedience
brother refused the draft and somehow
12, when her family moved to Southern
training from 350.org. They stood in an area
managed to carry it off, and her husband,
California. Her parents always encouraged
near the White House where people are
Jim, was a conscientious objector.
her and her brother to speak out, to raise
Bonnie is a natural organizer. Over a
allowed to stay for only 20 minutes, and
their voices whenever they felt that people
period of several years, she and her friends
they stayed rooted there. The police warned
were being treated unfairly or when moral
and family put on meal fundraisers. They
them three times that if they didn’t leave
issues arose. During the civil rights
would empty their house of furniture, bring
they would be arrested. And so, of course,
movement Bonnie longed to go to
in lots of tables and chairs, invite the
Washington, D.C. and join the marches, but
community, and serve a big meal. They held
See MCKINLAY, page 11
B
NOTHING
HOPEFUL
The NOTHING MORE H O PE FU L series originates from a workshop taught by M artha Gies. “Last fall, as I tired o f hearing the IS IL Hour,
interrupted only occasionally by a warning about E bola’s im m inent arrival in Europe or the U.S., it occurred to me that the media was dea f to good
news,” Gies says. “I remembered my frien d Sr. Rosarii Metzgar once telling me she believed all the terrible news with which we are daily battered
m ust surely be offset by sm all a n d unseen acts o f good. ” Gies resolved to enlist some writers who would h u n t down a nd write th o s e stories.