EARTHKEEPING NEWS A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY Volume Five, Number Six September/October 1996 Call to Action: Is the Salvage Logging Law Unconstitutional? In the January/February '96 Earthkeeping News the Call to Action focused on working through ecological grief by addressing the causes of our loss and sustaining momentum by developing long term remedial actions. One arena of study and action is how to take back our sovereignty in the process of chartering corporations (Taking Care of Business: Citizenship and the Charter of Incorporation, by Richard L. Grossman and Frank T. Adams). Another arena is the US Constitution which states that the government of this republic is to insure domestic tranquillity (preamble) and protect us against domestic violence (Article IV, Section 4). Michael Diamond, in his book If You Can Keep It, (see Resources) suggests that applying the 'domestic violence' clause is the only way we can attain security from environmental threats which we have brought on ourselves. The evidence for a current condition of social and environmental domestic violence is overwhelming. The Sa(l)vage Logging Rider to the 1995 Recisions bill, for example, defies common sense. It prevents public participation, eliminates legal protection for endangered species, and overrides all existing laws regarding clearcutting old growth forest. It gives a few industries permission to ruin other industries and the environment. FRIEND Did you hear that? a bird and a tree Just said to you "Friend........" By John Jackson Econfina 1995 from Poems and Ponderings Diamond urges public discussion in Article Four Meetings, to shape policy and procedures under the domestic violence clause, as an example of direct democracy in action. This is a challenge to communities of faith whose members may consider "the environment" too big and complex to address, and not really a "religious" issue. "Implementing the domestic violence clause is a life affirming project." writes Diamond. " If done well, we as a nation can literally choose life instead of death — as religious imperatives have long required. Stopping the poisoning of our children and the planet is the fundamentalism we have all been looking for — liberal and conservative alike. It involves changing the core of our national being from the cold killer of a business imperative to a core of love and respect. It is, quite simply, living up to real family values and abiding by the truths of our great spiritual leaders — at long last. The meetings will be places to make prayers long forgotten become joyful realities." (If You Can Keep It, p.169). In this season of political promises, let us examine the implications and confront our candidates for Congress and the Presidency with Article Four, Section 4. Ask them about the constitutionality of anti-environmental legislation. Does it not do violence to our home? Home     Table of Contents