THE MOST COMMON WORDS I hear spoken by any environmentalists anywhere are, We're fucked. Most of these environmentalists are fighting desperately, using whatever tools they have—or rather whatever legal tools they have, which means whatever tools those in power grant them the right to use, which means whatever tools will be ultimately ineffective—to try to protect some piece of ground, to try to stop the manufacture or release of poisons, to try to stop civilized humans from tormenting some group of plants or animals. Sometimes they're reduced to trying to protect just one tree.

Here's how John Osborn, an extraordinary activist and friend, sums up his reasons
for doing the work: "As things become increasingly chaotic, I want to make sure some doors remain open. If grizzly bears are still alive in twenty, thirty, and forty years, they may still be alive in fifty. If they're gone in twenty, they'll be gone forever."

But no matter what environmentalists do, our best efforts are insufficient. We're losing badly, on every front. Those in power are hell-bent on destroying the planet, and most people don't care.

Frankly, I don't have much hope. But I think that's a good thing. Hope is what keeps us chained to the system, the conglomerate of people and ideas and ideals that is causing the destruction of the Earth.

Does anyone really believe that Weyerhaeuser is going to stop deforesting because we ask nicely? Does anyone really believe that Monsanto will stop Monsantoing because we ask nicely? If only we get a Democrat in the White House, things will be okay. If only we pass this or that piece of legislation, things will be okay. If only we defeat this or that piece of legislation, things will be okay. Nonsense. Things will not be okay. They are already not okay, and they're getting worse. Rapidly.
But it isn't only false hopes that keep those who go along enchained. It is hope itself. Hope, we are told, is our beacon in the dark. It is our light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. It is the beam of light that makes its way into our prison cells. It is our reason for persevering, our protection against despair (which must be avoided at all costs). How can we continue if we do not have hope?

We've all been taught that hope in some future condition—like hope in some future heaven—is and must be our refuge in current sorrow. I'm sure you remember the story of Pandora. She was given a tightly sealed box and was told never to open it. But, being curious, she did, and out flew plagues, sorrow, and mischief, probably not in that order. Too late she clamped down the lid. Only one thing remained in the box: hope. Hope, the story goes, was the only good the casket held among many evils, and it remains to this day mankind's sole comfort in misfortune. No mention here of action being a comfort in misfortune, or of actually doing something to alleviate or eliminate one's misfortune.

More at link.

Addendum:

Because I didn't post the entire dialogue, in case people arrive at the false conclusion the writing's inherently negative, I should post a bit more, this from the end:

When you give up on hope, something even better happens than it not killing you, which is that in some sense it does kill you. You die. And there's a wonderful thing about being dead, which is that they—those in power—cannot really touch you anymore. Not through promises, not through threats, not through violence itself. Once you're dead in this way, you can still sing, you can still dance, you can still make love, you can still fight like hell—you can still live because you are still alive, more alive in fact than ever before. You come to realize that when hope died, the you who died with the hope was not you, but was the you who depended on those who exploit you, the you who believed that those who exploit you will somehow stop on their own, the you who believed in the mythologies propagated by those who exploit you in order to facilitate that exploitation. The socially constructed you died. The civilized you died. The manufactured, fabricated, stamped, molded you died. The victim died.

Everything happening in the Middle East since January of 2001 and here at home, was clearly spelled out in 1995 in the Project for a New American Century.

Two stages to the project -- One, install America-friendly regimes from Lebanon all the way through to Pakistan.

Two, confront Russian expansion into the Caspian and Caucasus. Lots of natural gas north of Persia. Put American-friendly regimes in there as well.

Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, and then he set out to fulfill it. These neocon clowns are doing the same thing. They see themselves as history's actors, and the rest of us as chattel.

Hell, truth be known, this all came out of cold awr bullshit of the 70's, with Team B.

Anyone remember the docu 'Power Of Nightmares' and Team B's ascessment of Russian defence and military? Israel, Team B, and the rest of the neocons are drunk with the maddness of power, the power of nightmares and their own shadows. They project their fears, and in doing so justify their wounds and hate.

A few sentences about here at home, taken out of context by me, of Anatoly Medetsky, in this article reminded me the following idea, in it he very cognizantly point's out what we should start referring to America as, imho. He writes, "The key, I think, lies in describing Israel as an “ideology.” It’s not simply a state and it’s not even simply “Jewish.” Instead, it’s a political, social, and religious ideology"... Likewise, being as America is tied to the hip of Israel, we could very easliy say, the key, --at the very least, since 911-- lies in describing America as an “ideology.” It’s not simply a republic and it’s not even simply an "American" republic anymore, Instead, it’s a political, social, and religious ideology". A forced meme. A psychological imprint which is being and has been forced on us. Every bit as much as a cult indoctrinates it's mark. It is the cementing of The Rise of Rove's Republic: one of Money and Influence, controlled chaos, "the haves' and 'the haves not'. A bipolar world. A decades old Master plan. The basis of Rove's Republic will not only be the massive debt, but the 'fire-sale' of the entire countries infrastructure, ours and others via the world bank, IMF, etc..of privatizing everything here and abroad. All that it can pawn, beg, borrow or steal from the current and future eco-sphere and landscape and it's people. Using the advanced technology gained from decades of secret black budget programs, (that you paid for) It not only will be the death of liberal democracy as we know it, but the glorious introduction of new mad max type civilization. The sci-fi equivalent of the Imperial Politics of Herbert's Dune, or Bladerunner, Brazil, or any untold other myopic futures. One big Kafka castle journey from cradle to grave. Oh, not for you dear reader, but for your children and thier's. For you there will be the slow rot of seeing 'hope' systematically and methodically washed out of your conscience while it imprisons us body, soul a spirit, they want our dreams. See, once our empire falls, --our lady, America,-- that is when the plan really gets started. Because you see, they have set the black magic into motion and even if they fall from grace, they have accomplished the work.

Finally, as I was saying, these fucks have set up an ideological network grid, one in which the system carries on and is self perpetuating even if the head is cut off, in other words, even if Cheneyco, Bush , whomever, is taken out of the picture the system will merely see it as damage and route's around that damage, around any stovepipes that keep it from ever more power and it's intrinsic values and ideology goes on; the pre manifest become manifest. It's their long term post abundance Manifesto. Gated communities for them and mad max for us, our children and our children's children.

The point of all this is, is it's either their dark ideology that preveils
or ours. Or as I Imagine something in between. Like it or not, this is a 'belief systems' war.