AS, From Gorton to Nadar, and a Seattle WTO connection...interesting what you find when you research...Brower founded the ICV and Friends of the Earth, etc.....Note his dissatisfaction with the Clinton/Gore team on the environment saying that they weakened the environment more in 3 years, than Reagan and Bush did in 12 years...
POLITICS AND GREENS
DAVID BROWER, LONGTIME ENVIRONMENTALIST AND A BOARD MEMBER OF THE SIERRA CLUB, issued a statement through the Los Angeles "Times" in July citing his dissatisfaction with the Clinton administration’s environmental record and announcing support for Ralph Nader’s Green Party campaign for president.
Included in Brower’s list of citations against President Clinton were the passage of the "salvage logging" rider that is causing destruction of ancient public forests and critical watersheds; the signing of the Panama Declaration, thus undermining protection for marine mammals, including dolphins and whales; and continued use of methyl bromide, a highly toxic pesticide known to destroy the Earth’s ozone layer.
Brower called passage of the NAFTA and GATT international trade agreements the biggest sellout of American workers in U.S. history. Passage removes environmental protection laws passed by Congress because any legislation deemed to restrain free trade can be declared illegal by international tribunals dominated by multinational corporate interests.
Calling Clinton "the Great Capitulator," Brower said the president has done more to harm the environment and to weaken environmental regulations in three years than Presidents Bush and Reagan did in 12 years. What’s more, Clinton has tried to "greenwash" his record by claiming to be on the side of the environment.
Neither major political party understands the seriousness of the responsibility to see Earth as a father and a mother or to give the planet our care and nurture, Brower says. He cites multinational corporatism as the biggest threat to international sustainable environmental standards, something that Nader understands.
nonviolence.org
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Celia Alario: David, I'd like to hear your answer to this question in terms of strategy and tactics.
David Brower: At Seattle, I was able to herald the work of Tom Hayden, who was of the Chicago Seven, and is now the best member we have in the California Legislature, in the Senate. And Tom said: "All I've been able to do in my career is slow the rate at which things get worse." And whoops, that's all I've been able to do. That's all the Sierra Club has done; that's all the environmental movement has done; that is all the church has done; that is all the universities have done. We can do better than that, because we've been so timid, so unconfrontational. We don't have to stay that way. If you've been wrong, you don't have to stay wrong. And this is what is happening now, and we just have to build these agreements that we get with the other parts of the society, and remember also that we are just one of the species. There are quite a few others around here. And in that respect I'm very happy that my oldest son is an extremely good writer, and he has said: "The living planet is a rare thing. Perhaps the rarest in the universe, and a very tenuous experiment at best. We need all the company we can get on our unlikely journey."
Phillip Babich: That was David Brower, co-founder of Friends of the Earth, an international environmental organization. He was joined by Lois Gibbs, head of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, in Virginia and Mike Rossel, co-founder of the Ruckus Society and Earth First! They were interviewed by Pratap Chaterjee and Celia Alario
radioproject.org
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David Brower - Why I won't vote for Clinton
_L. A. Times, 7/22/96
This president has done more harm than Bush and Reagan combined.
Over the past three years, I have become increasingly distressed by
President Clinton's environmental recore. While I would certainly expect no
better from Bob Dole, I think it is time to examine where we are going as a
movement and as a civilization.
My personal assessment has led me to support Ralph Nader's presidential
campaign. Briefly, let me recount the reasons for my disaffection with the
president.
His administration is responsible for:
- The passage of the "salvage logging" rider that is causing the destruction
of ancient public forests and critical watersheds.
- The signing of the Panama Declaration, which undermines protectin for
marine mammals, including dolphins and whales.
- The continuation of the use of methyl bromide, a highly toxic pesticide
known to destroy the ozone layer.
- The weakening, if not gutting, of the Endangered Species Act through
administrative changes in its rules and regulations.
- The passage of NAFTA and GATT, international trade agreements that
represent the biggest sellout of American workers in U.S. history while also
effectively removing environmental protections passed by Congress because
any legislation deemed to "restrain free trade" can be declared illegal by
international tribunals dominated by large-scale corporate interests.
- The lowering of grazing fees on public land, despite promises by candidate
Clinton to raise those fees. As a result, Clinton is subsidizing the cattle
industry while overtaxing people and land.
- Continuing to subsidize the sugar industry in Florida, which is poisoning
the Everglades and diverting large amounts of water needed by wildlife.
- Opening wildlife refuges to hunting and fishing by presidential decrees.
- Weakening the Safe Drinking Water Act by allowing increased levels of lead
and arsenic in drinking water supplies.
- Reversing the ban on the production and importation of PCBs which may
cause more than 40,000 fatalities in the Great Lakes region alone.
- Increasing our dependence on Middle East oil by breaking the promise to
not allow the export of Alaskan oil.
President Clinton has done more to harm the environment and to weaken
environmental regulations in three years than Presidents Bush and Reagan did
in twelve.
After an interim of reading lips, we have seen the regimes of environmental
destruction move from the Great Communicator to the Great Capitulator. Even
so, Clinton has tried to "greenwash" his record, claiming to be on the side
of the environment.
Having fought for the environment for more than 50 years, I see planet Earth
not only as our father and mother, but also as out child, demanding care and
nurture. Neither of the major parties comprehends the seriousness of this
responsibility.
In response, I am supporting a real alternative in 1996. I have known Ralph
Nader for nearly 30 years, and in that time he has never let me or the
environment down. He is properly described as an idealistic, if modest,
Spartan.
Nader understands that until we rein in the far-flung empires of
multinational corporations and subject them to international sustainable
environmental standards, this planet will continue to suffer.
csf.colorado.edu
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inthesetimes.com
In These Times.....David Brower's Last Chance - Taking out Glen Canyon Dam
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