Our water is not dying, it's being killed.

In these times of oligarchy here in the USA we are facing massive health threats from the extraction industries. Whether it’s coal dust, benzene gas, arsenic, or uranium, our public waters, air and soil are being openly threatened and destroyed.

People in parts of the USA have toxic water which has been poisoned by industry, places like Flint, Michigan, where people are still dying from poisoning while government and industry avoid genuine change. Instead the industries wait for the inevitable flight from danger, that they may swoop in on potential wealth in the form of real estate.

Poisoning people is ongoing in places like Cancer Alley in Louisiana, where there are regular discharges of fumes, fluids and solids into the already damaged waterways. Benzene gas, bitumen, and sodium sulphate are commonly dumped by pipeline companies, diesel fuel-laced water and drilling solutions are another common contaminate. These fluids often are radioactive.

Source 350.org

We are living in a toxic soup of extraction industry waste. Even if you are somewhat removed from the direct threats of these polluters that does not guarantee your safety. The toxic mess they create is often shipped to dumping grounds off site. These dumping sites are often self-regulated, and allowing for ongoing environmental destruction without oversight of the the agencies tasked with protecting the environment.

We see a full frontal attack on our protective agencies, the current head of our nation’s EPA is a man who once sued the agency, he now heads, to prevent them from protecting waterways and air quality in Oklahoma. He even went so far as to block the release of information which could have helped people understand the level of threat posed by a superfund site, endangering the people of his state and protecting the polluters from potential liability for their poisoning of the soil, air, water and population.

Our country has many troubles concerning the extraction industry. Aside from the environmental havoc unleashed by putting more carbon dioxide into the air we also face misdirection and outright deception of the public by regulators and media. Forcing people into a debate over science which is generally accepted as fact the world over, we have a brainwashed segment of the population which is unwilling to see the facts as demonstrated. These people are now governing our regulatory bodies, puting faux science into policy and indirectly killing generations of individuals through policy which is releasing toxic materials into areas where people live. There are no proven ways to remediate the damage which is being caused. At best we can mitigate some of the damage by removing people from the areas destroyed by these oligarchs.

We are not directly benefiting from the extraction industry which is killing us. The corporations which are buying the resources from the USA are largely exporting them to other countries, where labor and environmental laws are less restrictive. By exporting these minerals the industries are escaping the regulations which are in place to protect people from the threats caused by these fuels. Sending the refinery work abroad allows the companies to pay less for the labor and worry less about potential liability for their behavior. Whether it crude oil, copper, or uranium, foreign mining companies are rushing to take anything abroad they can, for refining.

This export of unrefined fuels is harmful to our nation in many ways: economically, environmentally, and spiritually; because many of these mining operations are being sited on grounds sacred to the indigenous people of the USA. Bears Ears, Oak Flat and The Sacred Black Hills are all under direct attack from foreign based extraction industries. These sites are sacred, and they have been sacred to the peoples of this land since the dawn of time. Now the people who once had their sacred sites stolen through trickery and deception are being further harmed by having these sites desecrated by foreign companies. Creating profit for corporations outside of the country and ruining the lands of our ancestors.

I am against this geocide. My family is from this land. We have seen our ways and traditions stolen, and now we see the lands where our lives happen being ruined. If things continue in this manner we will live in a country of caustics, where filters will be required at all times just to breathe.

Please engage in halting these companies. There are perfectly legal ways we can stand in defense of our future survival. We can slow our consumption of fuels, we can get our money out of banks which fund geocide, we call on our governments to hold industry accountable, better yet we elect individuals who will uphold our environment and protect future generations through policy and law.

The killers of the water are not slowing down, they are ramping up. The poisoners of the soil are pushing forward with their plans to extract profit without concern for the generational harm caused by pollution from their industries. The desecration of our air is steadily accepted by the people in power. We need to find ways forward if we genuinely care for our world and future generations. We need to make solutions to these challenges our main focus. We are all Water Protectors now.