To give more depth to what I wrote in ‘Crisis 2’ about the “corridor community” in the [North West of the USA, West coast of Canada and the coastal area of Alaska]; here is a very strong film about what drives these people and what ideas their share: The Occupied Cascadia Documentary Online http://www.cascadianow.org/occupied-cascadia-documentary-available-online/

They have chosen to say “Enough” to the old ways the regime that they feel occupies them. This is what one of the inhabitants, Jeff Michka, wrote after seeing the film:

“”It was a good watch this morning. It did leave me with the often-felt sense of what it has meant to live here, and of being old enough to have watched and mourned passages of things in both natural and social realms in what can be defined within the concept (alone) of Cascadia. I’m also oddly left with a deep sense of our very short history here, at least in terms of white, Western “civilization.”

I was born here, and save a couple of years, lived here, spending a good portion of my life immersed in this region’s environment, at one level or another (from skies above, in the forests and summits of peaks, or on the water). My experiences have made Cascadia a reality as a unique place as a small child and as I grew up, even before I heard the term in the early 70s, then as a term defining it as a geologically and environmentally special, diverse region. I knew it in direct context, and it was totally natural to internalize the environment as a part of me. That has always stood me in good stead, making much of what we discuss only a common sense way to live, and not “new ideas.” This place has been worth trying to defend, and for so many years, along with others, attempted to defend it. It was in direct reaction to owing my time and efforts to that which gave me so much, if nothing else. But the defense has always been, at best, a holding action with no real victories save delay. I’ve watched Puget Sound become an open sewer leading directly to the loss of rich fisheries and biodiversity the Sound offered until just around 45 years ago. It was once common for my father and I to sail with orca pods, jointly seasonally fishing the salmon, cod and herring shoals on the Sound; more the rule than exception to travel on foot through old growth forests to begin assaulting a peak. Both of these things are now local news events: “Oh look! A whale!” or “Look! An old growth tree!” It’s a whole different level of understanding when you spent some time looking these creatures in the eye, up close and personal to the point of it being “normal and every day.” It was once possible to stand on the summit of Glacier Peak and see nothing but an endless sea of snowy peaks and forests, now given way to summits obscured by air pollution and an insane quilt of bare patches from clear cuts in places not thought possible or even rational. I’ve never been able to fathom the sense of loss local native tribes must feel in their sense of history and culture still embracing a world of diverse wonder before the white guys came in and ruined everything for seemingly all time. There is little current acknowledgement of a once-world they lived in harmony and security with under the wonderful marine climate blanket this region once provided. If you were hungry, walk to the beach and gather clams and oysters; if you needed fabric, find a cedar that towers hundreds of feet above the low forest and harvest bark among the naturally-downed children of these giants. Take only what you need and no more was understood, even when the wealth was so great.””

But once Nature in that beautiful area was harvested at an industrial scale things went wrong. The false ideas on which that harvesting was based are still widely believed: [ Nature is endlessly abundant and information& knowledge are scarce economic resources.] As the P2PFoundation.org is never stopping to explain : in truth it is just the other way around: the resources of Nature are limited in ecologies and information should be shared and reused and combined creatively without deminishing it. You can follow the Cascadia Community on Twitter at: @CascadiaNow

Jaap van Till, Corridorian