Our
film is done, and we are very proud of it. This short film challenges
the idea that job growth must come at the expense of the environment.
If you experience difficulty watching it, put the movie on pause
until it is fully loaded, then hit play. Enjoy, and please pass
this on to anyone you think might enjoy it.
At the Crossroads on YouTube
Please
enjoy this wonderful article written by Nancy Jo Tubbs at the Timberjay.
I am including the text first, then the actual article will follow.
December
6, 2008
The
holidays are in full swing in Ely where the streets glitter with
lights and smell of fresh harvested balsam. The kids are flinging
themselves about on the new skating rink at Whiteside Park, while
birders admire a visitor, a Varied Thrush, who seems to have tired
of the moist Pacific Northwest and dropped by to see how the Mid-West
does winter.
Ely's master birdman, Bill Tefft, e-mailed last week with the news
of a Varied Thrush, a robin-sized bird of bold rust, black and blueish
gray that was hanging out in a birch tree and at feeders near the
"Pillow Rock" on Washington Street. This wandering beauty
is known for its ethereal, haunting song, but in humble fashion
may flock up with Song Sparrows and Fox Sparrows in coldest winter.
I got to thinking about flocks of unlike-minded folks recently when
Diadra Decker and Cat Thompson came to Ely with films-including
"THIRST," about international water politics-and presented
an opportunity for local folks to speak out in a town meeting with
ideas about sustainable development in our area.
The invitations to two events last week at Vermilion Community College
and the Grand Ely Lodge were open to those who want to protect,
regulate, use or privatize natural resources-with a subtle bias
against hard-rock sulfide mining that risks acid drainage into wetlands,
rivers and lakes. The local controversy focuses on PolyMet Mining
Corporation's proposal to mine sulfide ore in open pits nearby in
the Babbitt-Hoyt Lakes area. The White Iron Chain of Lakes Association
and Eagles Nest Lakes Association sponsored a forum on the issue
in Ely last July.
The pros and cons of the proposal probably won't come as a surprise.
In the pro-column, the project would engender about one million
person-hours of construction labor and create about 400 long-term
jobs. In the con-column is the problem that the open pit operation
will produce millions of tons of waste rock with the likelihood
of dumping acid mine drainage into the watershed, including the
St. Louis, Partridge and Embarrass rivers and Lake Superior. In
other areas, the acid has caused severe damage to fish, animals
and plants. As of yet, no technology exists to prevent the pollution,
and where it has occurred, water treatment is required into the
unforeseeable future. PolyMet has finished its feasibility study
and has requested the permits required to begin construction.
Interestingly, Decker and Thompson have spoken little about the
controversy, and are instead focusing the public's attention on
ecologically sustainable economic alternatives. They've engaged
people's desires to do two things that are often at odds: create
jobs AND maintain a healthy environment for fish, birds, trees and
our grandchildren.
We can't predict the look of solutions to this challenge. Thompson
supposed one answer could be to harness our rich resources of natural
beauty, silence and abundant mental-health-inducing peace and package
them for stressed city-dwellers who would savor blissful massages
and health drinks on the train to Ely. Well, we're missing the train
tracks, and she forgot to account for the mosquitoes and sleet,
but you get the drift. And wouldn't resort, spa, canoe rental and
smoothie businesses burgeon?
Okay, you can probably come up with better ideas, and you can do
just that any time your conversations take a turn to the future.
It's time to crank up the creativity, a word which I've heard associated
either with the likes of Beethoven or the finger-painting course
you might take if you had scads of free time.
Actually, I like finger painting, but let's not stop there. Someone's
creativity resulted in the wheel, your phone, kitchen sink and iPod-every
human-made item in your life. And those objects didn't come flying,
fully formed from one genius's brain. The creative advantage of
thinking out loud in the presence of those we agree and disagree
with is that birds of a different feather can build on one another's
ideas. We might flock up, like the Varied Thrush, with a bunch of
other birds and come up with ideas to make it through the economic
winter. We might even create an ethereal, joyous song about the
future of our area.
We can force innovation by brainstorming with people unlike ourselves,
come up with unworkable, goofy, half-boiled and brilliant ideas,
be willing to fail and then problem solve some more. To get started,
just think of ten ways to solve the problem. Write them down. Now
think of ten more.
Ely is a city of kids flying on a bright new skating rink-a stunning
creation by the way-and nature lovers who call each other up when
a new bird comes to town. It's a city of writers, painters, builders,
quilters, inventors, entrepreneurs and hard workers-people with
vision and the ability to make it real. If what we want is a healthy
economy and a clean environment, I think we're the ones to figure
out how to create them.
