Should Humboldt Diversify Away From Cannabis?

The following is a guest post by Kyle Keegan.

This piece was written in response to the environmental and social impacts that our watersheds have experienced through the exploitation of our shared resources here on the North Coast.  The emphasis was on our local Southern Humboldt area.

I personally feel that the industrial model that our culture has adopted does not fit into these fragile watersheds and that in order to build community that lasts, we must look to diversify our interests and embrace the place that we call, “home.”  The cumulative impacts of growing cannabis on an industrial scale, whether indoor or outdoor have hidden costs that I believe we are unable to quantify and as we proceed with our lives in this biologically rich landscape, we might stop to ask ourselves, “Am I living IN my watershed, or am I living OFF of my watershed?”  It’s kind of a strange question, but it may reflect the era we find ourselves living here with now.

This time is really no different than the Gold Rush days of the past, where people flocked to an area to get rich quick and fulfill their dreams only to move on as the economic opportunity was depleted.  It all may seem innocent enough at first, but in time, it comes at a great cost to the local communities trying to build a foundation that is stable and also comes at a cost to all of the shared organisms that embody the biotic community that many of us have come to call home.  My dream is that as we proceed with this evolving vision of the Emerald Triangle’s future, we look far enough ahead to be able to create a stable and resilient human and ecological community that can thrive without resorting to selling itself.   I believe that we have more going for us than just our Humboldt name and the one plant we have come to worship.   There is no better time than now to break the BOOM-BUST cycles of the past.  Let’s diversify!

The Industrial Model Does Not Fit 

The industrial model does not fit into our small watersheds and rural communities.
The industrial model does not recognize scale, limits, or the carrying capacity of the land.
The industrial model can not comprehend the subtleties of a fragile, young geology, salmon on the brink of extinction, or the need for the people of the North Coast to re-inhabit the land with a resiliency that builds lasting community.
The industrial model turns its back to the blue-green algae blooms in our rivers, the mined soil and nutrients from far off lands, the unchecked road building, and the diesel that seeps into our grandchildren’s sources of life-giving water.
The industrial model is not sensitive enough to hear the whispers of the Pacific Giant Salamander or Foothill Yellow-Legged Frog.
The industrial model does not have the patience to hear the questions of our children or to listen to the wisdom of our elders.
The industrial model does not celebrate the coming of the rain and is blind to the return of the Band-Tailed Pigeon and Varied Thrush.
The industrial model does not have a memory, and so has forgotten the stories of the Lolangkok Sinkyone, Nongatl, Wailaki, Lassik and Mattole.
The industrial model does not and can not remember the ancient trees, clear water, salmon, grizzly bear, and badger it has consumed.
The industrial model has never felt a sense of place and does not recognize the word, “home”.
The industrial model must continually move on since it eventually destroys the very source of life that it feeds upon.
The industrial model only sees today and can not envision a tomorrow.
The industrial model, without a conscience, can not recognize the true costs and take a full accounting of its actions.
The industrial model’s fuel is the land’s natural capital, the emptiness of its two legged followers, and the fear that it will never attain enough.
The industrial model isolates itself, is alone, and has never felt the warmth and strength of community.
The industrial model, without a soul and without forethought, is doomed to fail again and again without understanding why.
The industrial model is not alive.
The industrial model is not us.
The industrial model does not fit.

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8 Comments
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Emily
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Emily
13 years ago

Wonderful, refreshing perspective. Thank you for taking the time to post this.

Emily
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Emily
13 years ago

Wonderful, refreshing perspective. Thank you for taking the time to post this.

random guy
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random guy
13 years ago

Enough is enough, pale face….stop building your houses and start making your home.

http://mikeely.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/the-myth-of-thanksgiving.gif

random guy
Guest
random guy
13 years ago

Enough is enough, pale face….stop building your houses and start making your home.

http://mikeely.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/the-myth-of-thanksgiving.gif

random guy
Guest
random guy
13 years ago

I heard a song on kmud or khsu today…”too much commercialization of jah” or something like that, was the repeated chorus (not the popular song of similar name…I think?) spent a good bit of time away from humboldt and anything related to “the scene” and on returning, wanting to come up with a vocabular definition of what bugs me about the publicided story of it, and how it’s affecting a manufactured reality of it (to which this blog belongs), that is the one and only genuine “threat” to “it”. What I should probably do is smoke a bowl and write about it, but instead I’m on some thanksgiving wine and will abreviate what I’ve come up with thus far, because I…anonymous who-the-fuck-cares….care.

As it’s been proposed, legally grown warehouse weed is insane, and it has nothing to do with prices or the market or energy use or anything like that. What’s insane about it, especially in relation to anything and everything Prop. 19, is that a secular and private group would be allowed to do something that should be simultaneously offered to everybody without condition. Instead, a very small few countable number of ONLY very wealthy people would be allowed to do what literally every interested person has been wanting to do for as long as most of us have been alive. Instead, any and every interested person except the extremely wealthy would face devastating and life-altering consequences for attempting to do what is fully withing their capability, but to which only the wealthy have been granted freedom. Instead, the poverty-class people have been brainwashed (I don’t fear the word) into thinking they’re being granted a blessing with a few crumbs off a bread truck headed to a mansion. There’s NO reason not to completely and unconditionally decriminalize marijuana…

…AND/OR…in the very least…allow each and every single person of every class creed religion race heritage birthright blood type hair color and geographic location to do EXACTLY the same thing. Forgive my capital letters…it’s an emphasis. The guy across the street from you, the guy in the car next to you at the stoplight, the person ringing up your crap behind a cash register, the person who cleaned the toilet at the gas station you last pissed in…everybody should be given an equal opportunity with marijuana. NO class favorites…no business as usual.

Relating this to Humboldt Marijuana ©, what I see in this fake computer blog LA Times world is a whole shit ton of people who already make a whole shit ton of money (in my humble opinion), complaining about pretty much the same thing, but ALSO proclaiming themselves to be this thing that never existed before…a declarative entity sprung forth around me and my friends who can’t be part of this thing unless we literally buy into it, and simultaneously concede any real input about not even making it an issue to begin with. The committee baloney, the permits and the pay to play isn’t and has never been what real Humboldt Marijuana has been about…the truth is completely opposite.

That’s as much writing as my attention span can handle right now…there’s a good chance I’ll regret writing this as it only fuels the pointless fire. But, fuck it at this point. Humboldt politics…the real meat of destruction…is so fucked up by its own circular, back patting, chicken shit numbskullery…if I’m to take any of these blog times standerrrr journal outlooks at face value…that marijuana should be the least of our concerns. Right now, the identical “they” who want to control the “marijuana market” want to control all things Humboldt ©. It’s happening all over the state in plain view of everybody…money is buying politics…politics buys people. -ism’s are four letter words…Nationalism is taking over. Humboldt Marijuana © is by its very nature a nationalized claim of something that should belong to everybody everywhere. It’s business as usual.

random guy
Guest
random guy
13 years ago

I heard a song on kmud or khsu today…”too much commercialization of jah” or something like that, was the repeated chorus (not the popular song of similar name…I think?) spent a good bit of time away from humboldt and anything related to “the scene” and on returning, wanting to come up with a vocabular definition of what bugs me about the publicided story of it, and how it’s affecting a manufactured reality of it (to which this blog belongs), that is the one and only genuine “threat” to “it”. What I should probably do is smoke a bowl and write about it, but instead I’m on some thanksgiving wine and will abreviate what I’ve come up with thus far, because I…anonymous who-the-fuck-cares….care.

As it’s been proposed, legally grown warehouse weed is insane, and it has nothing to do with prices or the market or energy use or anything like that. What’s insane about it, especially in relation to anything and everything Prop. 19, is that a secular and private group would be allowed to do something that should be simultaneously offered to everybody without condition. Instead, a very small few countable number of ONLY very wealthy people would be allowed to do what literally every interested person has been wanting to do for as long as most of us have been alive. Instead, any and every interested person except the extremely wealthy would face devastating and life-altering consequences for attempting to do what is fully withing their capability, but to which only the wealthy have been granted freedom. Instead, the poverty-class people have been brainwashed (I don’t fear the word) into thinking they’re being granted a blessing with a few crumbs off a bread truck headed to a mansion. There’s NO reason not to completely and unconditionally decriminalize marijuana…

…AND/OR…in the very least…allow each and every single person of every class creed religion race heritage birthright blood type hair color and geographic location to do EXACTLY the same thing. Forgive my capital letters…it’s an emphasis. The guy across the street from you, the guy in the car next to you at the stoplight, the person ringing up your crap behind a cash register, the person who cleaned the toilet at the gas station you last pissed in…everybody should be given an equal opportunity with marijuana. NO class favorites…no business as usual.

Relating this to Humboldt Marijuana ©, what I see in this fake computer blog LA Times world is a whole shit ton of people who already make a whole shit ton of money (in my humble opinion), complaining about pretty much the same thing, but ALSO proclaiming themselves to be this thing that never existed before…a declarative entity sprung forth around me and my friends who can’t be part of this thing unless we literally buy into it, and simultaneously concede any real input about not even making it an issue to begin with. The committee baloney, the permits and the pay to play isn’t and has never been what real Humboldt Marijuana has been about…the truth is completely opposite.

That’s as much writing as my attention span can handle right now…there’s a good chance I’ll regret writing this as it only fuels the pointless fire. But, fuck it at this point. Humboldt politics…the real meat of destruction…is so fucked up by its own circular, back patting, chicken shit numbskullery…if I’m to take any of these blog times standerrrr journal outlooks at face value…that marijuana should be the least of our concerns. Right now, the identical “they” who want to control the “marijuana market” want to control all things Humboldt ©. It’s happening all over the state in plain view of everybody…money is buying politics…politics buys people. -ism’s are four letter words…Nationalism is taking over. Humboldt Marijuana © is by its very nature a nationalized claim of something that should belong to everybody everywhere. It’s business as usual.

random guy
Guest
random guy
13 years ago

Humboldt ©, is in a very unique position…both in today’s politics and future’s history…to say “complete and unconditional decriminalization”. It’s recognizedly inevitable that “baby steps” will be taken ‘for us” ANYWAY. There’s NO reason not to declare a cut to the chase…baby steps is bullshit, and everybody knows it.

random guy
Guest
random guy
13 years ago

Humboldt ©, is in a very unique position…both in today’s politics and future’s history…to say “complete and unconditional decriminalization”. It’s recognizedly inevitable that “baby steps” will be taken ‘for us” ANYWAY. There’s NO reason not to declare a cut to the chase…baby steps is bullshit, and everybody knows it.