“The Battle of Beltane*"

Tired of struggling to save Mother Earth? Imperial America? Washington State? Whatcom County? Your neighborhood? Your land? Your family? Yourself?

I know the feeling. We seem to be engulfed in an amorphous all-powerful drive to live in the Eternal Present of Consumption. This ETC Drive is the drive that demands us to believe that if we consume enough of the right things and build enough of the right stuff, we will be happy, our children will be taken care of, our land will flourish, our neighbors will love us, Whatcom will become the Shining County on the Hill, Olympia will spew thousand dollar bills, the Bush Cartel will conquer our enemies and Mother Earth will forgive us our environmental transgressions.

But it is not so. Mother Earth is pissed. Emperor Dubya is causing the collapse of the American Empire by attacking “enemies” who do not exist. Our state is in danger of being economically partitioned by greedy politicians. Whatcom County is being plowed under by money-hungry real estate barons in the north and west, and salivated over by cash-crazed construction companies in the south and east.

Chances are your neighborhood will soon be surrounded by condominiums and/or strip malls. Your land will be worth more if you sell it to insipidly greedy developers than if you have the temerity to hang onto it for posterity. Family has become a fiscal liability. And even the biggest SUV or most massive TV won’t save you from becoming infested by the toxins poured into your air and soil or poisons beamed into your mind.

Those of us who care about the future realize that the well being of the grandest ecosystem involves the health of the tiniest microbe. Therein—within the unity of all things—lies the solution. And therein—the opportunity for dark-souled men to attack Our Mother and ourselves on all fronts—lies the problem.

And so we fight, defending all living things at all possible angles. Often at all costs.

Yes, we do tire, we do grow weary, we do become discouraged. But take heart: encouragement is only about 1,300 miles away.

Might I humbly suggest a trip to Southern California?

That’s where I just got back from. But I’ve been there before.

This reporter spent his teenage years in SoCal during, shall we say, the latter half of the twentieth century. Attended C.E. Utt Junior High and Foothill High School when there were still orange groves and rolling green hills in the heart of Orange County. Graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara, just after the Bank of America there was burnt down during the Vietnam War protests and rebuilt as an impregnable fortress.

Now it’s all gone. No more orange groves. No more rolling hills. No more unspoiled beaches, meadows, woods. Nothing but asphalt, concrete, neon.

Reflect upon that juxtaposition between what we’re protecting here in northwest Washington and what is likely to happen if we quit fighting.Not so tired anymore? Good.

Besides, there are reinforcements—other folks who are on our side. Lend a hand to Whatcom Land Trust, for instance, and they’ll probably reach out to you as well. Whether it’s protecting farmland, preserving wildlife habitat, creating parks or promoting conservation, Whatcom Land Trust knows how to safeguard the natural heritage of Whatcom County. (See article on page 8.)

Whether you want to volunteer, donate or simply learn more about Whatcom Land Trust, please contact them at 98 Central Avenue, Bellingham, WA 98225; 360-650-9470; or info@whatcomlandtrust.org.

And for those of us who figured the Highway 9 “Commerce Corridor” was dead and gone, well, it ain’t. Dark-souled fossil-fueled trucking interests are still trying to open up a massive mega-highway starting at the Sumas border crossing. Such a boiling mass of semis would have to spill over somewhere southward.

Although logic might dictate a relatively swift westward transition from such a mega-hub toward I-5 (via the Badger or Smith Roads?), dark-souled developers will no doubt again push for a pro-sprawl pathway carving through the lush valleys of the Cascade foothills. Can’t you just see all those exclusive suburban neighborhoods, convenient strip malls and pricey condos springing up alongside Highway 9? Ah, progress…

Or, we can continue to fight. And here’s one reporter’s suggestion for the first castle to storm: The Building Industry Association of Whatcom County (BIA). The BIA is the money and muscle behind the local pro-development community. Our very own version of the Church of the Dark Souls. They want your land so bad they can taste it. They want to build, and they want to build now. For the BIA, as with any cancerous organism, consumption is growth. If they build it, we will pay them; we will pay them to use it, we will pay them to live in it. Later on, we will wish we had never allowed them to build it at all.

Whatcom County’s “economy” has two strikes against it: retail and construction. Both are dead-ends based on unlimited consumption. Whatever happened to production?

Whatever happened to preservation?

Wake up. Dark-souled outfits like the Building Industry Association want to take away your land. They want to sell Whatcom County to the highest bidder. They want to buy your soul. Small price to pay for progress, right?

Them’s fightin’ words! §

*Beltane, according to the Old Ways, is a celebration of fertility, romance, growth and abundance. Beltane embodies the full bloom of life at the height of Spring, and is generally observed with food, dance and wine on or about May 1 (May Day). Curiously, “May Day!” has become a distress call in modern times; perhaps a tacit admission that the Earth Herself is in dire trouble?

To contact Matthew, to add spice to this casserole, or to order his new book, “Original Recipes” (it’s a “best-of” collection of columns from 1985 to 1995, not, thank heavens, a cookbook!), please write to P.O. Box 28983, Bellingham, WA 98228; or email mdthuney@email.msn.com.