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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 2015)
you or someone you know suffers from a mental health condition, or if you just want to support a very worthy cause, please join us for the Out of the Darkness Walk to fi ght suicide on Oct. 24 at Alton Baker Park at 10 am. Funds raised support the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and its bold goal to reduce the annual suicide rate in the U.S. 20 percent by 2025 through research, education, advocacy and support. These walks are truly uplifting experiences, and they grow every year. Hope to see you there. Sara K. Scofi eld AFSP Advocate Eugene PROGRESS OFFERS HOPE Sam Porter’s evaluation in his Viewpoint Oct. 1 of the state of mankind provides philosophical hope to Guy McPherson’s glooming predictions. Even more hope comes with the fact that, though not fully realized, the great progress provided by the Millennium Development Goals are a cause for celebration. Abject poverty was cut in half, more children are in school and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria are within reach to control. The new Sustainable Development Goals offer universal hope in these and environmental areas over the next 15 years. Senate Bill 1911, the Reach Every Mother and Child Act, is a part of this hope. This bill targets ending the preventable deaths of 16,000 children and more than 800 mothers each day. We can take action by asking our senators to support it. So let us rise up to humanity’s greatest opportunity to make a difference! Willie Dickerson Snohomish, Washington A NEW BEGINNING Sam Porter in his Oct. 1 Viewpoint responds to Guy McPherson’s dire predictions July 16. He describes in the biblical terms of the apocalypse the end time of the present age. This revelation, the “unveiling of the present age,” is our nightmare from which we must awaken. The truth can be frightening, overwhelming and we desperately try to avoid it. It is helpful to understand how our avoidance operates. The Swiss-born psychologist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ famous scheme for the fi ve stages of grief, which follow upon learning that one has a terminal illness, are illuminating. Denial (this can’t be happening, not to me), anger (how can this happen to me?), bargaining (just let me live to see my children graduate), depression (I’m going to die, so why bother with anything?), acceptance (I can’t fi ght it, so I may as well prepare for it). Slavoj Zizek, in his book The End Time, applies Kubler-Ross’ fi ve stages to our social consciousness and our attempts to deal with the forthcoming environmental and global apocalypse: The fi rst reaction is ideological denial (there is no fundamental disorder). The second reaction is anger at the injustices of the new world order (violent protests against the World Trade Organization for example, or the rise of religious fundamentalism against globalization and neo-liberalism in the Middle East). The third reaction is bargaining (if we change things here and there, modest environmental reforms, life could perhaps go on as before). When the bargaining fails, the fourth reaction is depression and withdrawal, as in the prevalence of the post-traumatic stress disorder today. Finally, acceptance: One no longer perceives the situation as a threat, but as the chance for a new beginning. We can choose life. Dire predictions notwithstanding, we can still act to ensure a livable world. It is crucial to know this: We can meet our needs without destroying our life-support system on planet Earth. We are living in the End Times and we can begin to perceive the crisis as a chance for a new beginning. There is a wonderful slogan from the Paris demonstrations of May 1968 which should guide us in the troubled time ahead: Soyez réalistes, demandez l’impossible. “Be realistic. Demand the impossible!” The Rev. Gary James Unitarian Universalist Church Eugene FOLLOW THE CODES Safety and land change is the key focus to Oakleigh/ McClure neighbors, and the community! Neighbors and surrounding supports are united. The Oakleigh Meadow Cohousing (OMC) stated in The Register-Guard Sept. 21 that the property is a “vacant lot lying fallow,” more misinformation by OMC hopefuls. The vacant lot is a green meadow that used to have many more trees until OMC acquired it. Back then, they stated publicly that they bought it to preserve it. This vacant lot lies in the fl oodplain and Greenway along city parkland and the river. Neighbors didn’t have enough money to appeal the Greenway permit. The city should be a better steward of the river. This maximum-density condo project, if built, will set a precedent for developments all along the river. There is nothing “modest” about OMC or their plans. The fi re code has to do with right of way (ROW), choke point, width of the lane, low traffi c fl ow and other factors. The International Appendix D103 explains things quite well. Building permits play an important role in a PUD. The city of Eugene needs to follow codes. Please read and understand the EC 9.8320. We don’t see consistency in the planning department. OMC is probably eager to start breaking ground, and putting their life savings into their home. Neighbors would like this battle over, too. Flexibility, following codes and saving 25 cedar trees will close the deal. Neighbors are showing evidence and OMC is offering assumptions. Visit the meadow! Anne Love Oakleigh Lane, Eugene RECLAIM DEMOCRACY Support Local Food Rights is gathering signatures to put the Right to a Local Food System of Lane County Charter amendment on the May 2016 ballot. Why do we need this? Because corporate industrial agricultural power-brokers should not be determining what farming should look like in our county. They don’t value our precious food system like we do. Our local farmers are the experts in matters of farming and have a vested interest in the long-term health of our county’s farming lands. We Lane County residents have a right to decide what agricultural activities should take place here in this place we call home. We have the right to save and share seed, as farmers have been doing for generations. We have the right to say no to corporate GMO agriculture that threatens to contaminate our farms and undermine traditional farming practices. We have a right to protect ourselves from corporate harm. We have the right to reclaim our democracy and be the decision-makers and architects of our collective future. When asked, please sign the petition to ensure the people’s right to be heard through your vote in May. And vote yes! Who decides? We the people decide! Michelle Holman Community Rights Lane County Deadwood NOT SO PROGRESSIVE It seems to me that your newspaper strikes a progressive chord in the community. Is it progressive to carry full- page advertising for cigarettes, especially ads that include offers for obtaining these cigarettes at cut-rate prices? Impressionable young people read this paper. Bill Hampton Eugene EUGENE WEEKLY GETS RESULTS “Dave’s Space Cakes continues to grow, every week, because the community of Lane County knows the name of my business. With the help of my Eugene Weekly ads I know that growth will continue to ‘skyrocket’!” — David McNicoll, Owner Offthewaffle.com! Weekly Giveaways! For more information on how Eugene Weekly can help your business grow call 541-484-0519 EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • OCTOBER 22, 2015 7
