TO THE EDITOR
own soldiers and countless Iraqi civilians, not
to mention the draining of our federal treas-
ury! The war must end, and the sooner we
leave, the sooner the terrorists, who feed off
of hatred, will lose their main argument for
recruiting: U.S. occupation. It seems clear to
me from reading their own accounts that our
soldiers have felt beaten down by an unend-
ing deployment into a meaningless war.
Let us hope the debate continues to rage in
the halls of Congress on this vitally important
issue. Justice can never be served by silence;
indeed, democracy can only flourish where
there is thoughtful discussion and vigorous
dissent.
John Jordan-Cascade
Eugene
BOORISH AUDIENCE
My wife and I attended the Neko
Case/Eric Bachmann concert recently (at the
McDonald). We love her music, her vocals,
songwriting and the excellent band backing
her up. I also thoroughly enjoyed the music of
Eric Bachmann. Due to no seating on the
main floor, we sat upstairs in the balcony, but
the obnoxious drunks in the crowd made it
the most disappointing, worst concert experi-
ence we ever had. During Bachmann’s set,
people partied as though there was no per-
former onstage. I was ashamed to be part of
such a rude audience.
Finally Case’s set started, and we looked
forward to the audience paying attention to
the music. Alas, the general chaos was re-
placed by some particularly obnoxious be-
havior by several boorish people who liter-
Cultivating Corridors
for the People
EDITOR’S NOTE: UO Law student Zach Welcker received a standing
ovation for his introduction of PIELC keynote speakers March 1.
We’ve reprinted most of his speech with his permission. He thanks
Becki Kammerling for speaking with him.
On behalf of the students of Land Air Water, I’d like to thank
you all for coming to Eugene to help us celebrate the 25th Annual
Public Interest Environmental Law Conference. We are honored to
have Vandana Shiva and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. here. We are privi-
leged to have many former co-directors in attendance. Because of
their vision and dedication, this conference has grown from an ini-
tial gathering of 15 speakers and 75 attendees into the world’s
most important environmental law conference. The global reach of
our 24 previous meetings has been staggering.
Despite our successes, we still have a great deal of work ahead
of us. Powerful governments and businesses continue to exploit
our natural systems for short-term economic gain. Neighbors con-
tinue to turn against neighbors while corporations steal the farm
and dance stealthily away. The world cooks like never before while
the chef in the big white house is just beginning to admit that we
have turned on the oven. Subdivisions named after ecosystems
they destroy continue to hoist street signs bearing names of
threatened species. The politics of fear continue to shift our atten-
tion toward the personal losses we might sustain rather than col-
lective losses we are all enduring.
ally bellowed at the top of their lungs be-
tween every song “We love you Neko” and
the like. Case herself made a few references
to the drunks in the crowd, as had Gillian
Welch at one of her concerts at the
McDonald. There seems to be a pattern here,
one which makes us loath to try again despite
the appeal of many of the acts booked.
Several people left before the show was
over, and had I not spent $52 for the tickets,
we would have left also. Perhaps the venue
needs to have a bar in order to meet expenses.
If that is the case, why can’t some staff be ap-
pointed to patrol and monitor the upstairs and
require loud people to quiet down? Let’s get
with it, folks!
P.R. Lanz
Eugene
As we look to meet these types of challenges in the next 25
years, we must respond to them systemically. For instance, we
should not consider our work to stop a clear-cutting operation
here in Oregon to be complete until we are certain that it won’t
relocate to Brazil. We should not deem the protection of the
Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to be final until we have an energy
policy that makes development of its oil reserves altogether
unnecessary. We should hesitate to celebrate the recovery of the
gray wolf until we have eradicated the mentality that nearly
caused the wolf’s demise.
Our work as citizens of this Earth requires us to tap into the
depths of our imagination in order to reach out to people who are
reluctant to join the environmental movement. We need to weave
together solutions to social and environmental problems in such an
intricate pattern that it becomes impossible to separate the two.
If a corridor of suitable habitat is created between two isolated
grizzly bear populations, there is a good chance that a bear or two
will keep walking as long as there are berries along the path and
plenty of fish in the river it follows. Our hope is that all of you will
use this conference as an opportunity to create a vision for the
future that is so compelling and so inclusive that masses of people
will wind up fighting to protect our planet without remembering
when or why they even started along the path.
When the 50th PIELC convenes, may the participants look back
to this conference as the spark that ignited a unified movement
for justice. We need this catalyst like a polar bear needs pack ice,
like a farmer needs fertile soil, like a spawning salmon needs the
waters where it was born. We should not wait for the next Katrina
or tsunami to exert our collective power. We need to start cultivat-
ing this power today.
MARCH 8, 2007 7