NO to uranium mining - Hunger Strike

What can I do? Write a Letter

Category: Environment

When: 12:00 AM November 2, 2007 to 12:00 AM November 2, 2007

Responsibility for the grandchildren.

As Donna moves through the fourth
week of her hunger strike, (started October 8th)
some of us are starting to worry. What of
Donna's four children and three grandchildren?
Does she not sense the tremendous loss they
would feel if there is no progress toward a
moratorium on uranium mining and their
mother/grandmother comes to harm?

For thirty years Donna has looked out for
things that might hurt her off-spring. Saying NO
to uranium mining is more of the same. The
danger she sees in uranium poses a far greater
risk than falling off a fence or playing with sharp
knives. It is a threat to her children and
grandchildren and, is an example of what
threatens all children and grandchildren. I am
moved to tears as I read some of the letters of
admiration and gratitude that are flowing in,
thanking Donna for making her stand.

Now that the Ontario election is over,
letters supporting Donna's call for a moratorium
on uranium mining will be received by:

Premier Dalton McGuinty
Main Legislative Building
Room 281, Queens Park
Toronto, ON, Canada
M7A 1A1

Letters from far and near will help.
As will mentioning this to the media.

It would indeed be sad if this one
grandmother came to grief. As her husband, I
assure you, that ever since the idea of a hunger
strike came up, I have been apprehensive.
Donna's youngest daughter, soon to be 18, states
another perspective. She says that her mom is
"awesome." "She's making history."

Indeed these are historic times. For the
first time since fire was discovered, humankind is
sensing that there may not always be more energy
to power ever greater volumes of activity.
Extraordinary efforts are being taken to gather
energy from the frozen Arctic, deep at sea and by
means of war. Energy is even being sought from
uranium, with all its hazards.

The fossil fuel reserves, that we are using
up, were gathered from the Sun over a period of
600 million years. Compared to this resource, the
energy available from uranium is inconsequential.
In their latest annual report, the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a pro-nuclear
organization, predicted that, even with today's
renewed interest in building new reactors,
nuclear's share of the world's energy supplies may
actually drop between now and 2030; hardly a
solution to the Climate Change crisis.

While those with money to make swear to
the safety of nuclear power, every step of the
process has documented problems: prospecting,
mining, transportation, processing, power
generation, waste storage and bombs all have
routine emissions of radiation, small and large
accidents, and occasional catastrophes.

Life has always lived from the Sun. In the
long-term, humans are no exception. We have a
responsibility to the future to re-learn how.
Nuclear energy can only postpone, by a few
decades, the absolute need to meet that
responsibility. If we go down the nuclear path,
the grandchildren will inherit the responsibility
we would be evading. If we leave it to them, they
would have far less fossil energy to work with and
they would have the additional problem of many
radioactive areas that would remain hazardous for
thousands of generations.

Are we willing to acknowledge planetary
limits? Better to do so, before we make massive
investments in nuclear. Think of how far those
billions of dollars would go toward harnessing the
sun and the wind, increasing efficiency, and
learning how to tap our lives for maximum
enjoyment, rather than draining energy reserves to
consume and waste.

Join Donna's call for a public discussion
about the advantages and disadvantages of
mining uranium:

Please write to:

Premier Dalton McGuinty
Main Legislative Building
Room 281, Queens Park
Toronto, ON, M7A 1A1

Phone calls also work.
(613) 736-9573 his constituency office in Ottawa
(416) 325-1941 at Queen's Park

Email is better than nothing:
dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org

Ask him to start an open process to consider the
pros and cons of a uranium mining moratorium.
A personal, signed letter, asking for a response
carries the most weight. CC. your letter to the
national and local media.

The word is getting out. CBC's "The
National" carried the story yielding residual
interest across the country. Contact your local
media. Tell them that you want them to carry the
story. Write a letter to the editor of the local
paper asking for an inquiry into the pros and cons
of a moratorium on uranium mining. Tell them
that they can find background information and
updates at the web site of the Community
Coalition Against Mining Uranium
(http://www.ccamu.ca)

There are numerous additional places you
can send notes to. They are laid out with
"mail to" links at www.ccamu.ca Go to "How
You Can Help" and click on "Letter Writing."
= http://www.ccamu.ca/letter-writing.htm

Or ask me to forward the list to you.

On the "Letter Writing" page, there are
convenient links to various newspapers, radio and
television stations, as well as contact information
for the Cabinet Ministers who are responsible for
various aspects of this issue. If you only have
time for one letter, make it signed letter to
Premier Dalton McGuinty. No postage is
necessary to mail to his Queens Park address.

I have been asked numerous times, "What
are the chances of winning this?" My reply is that
if you end up writing a letter or making a phone
call, the chances are good. If you cannot find the
time to do so, the chances decrease.

Please help bring Gramma home.

Yours, Mike Nickerson

When writing a letter to the government you can
include some or all of the following points

* Call for an inquiry to look at establishing a
moratorium on uranium mining.

* Explain that the proposed mine is at the
headwaters of the Mississippi River watershed in
Eastern Ontario, which provides drinking water to
tens of thousands of people and is used for
recreation and tourism upstream from the
Nation's Capital.

* Explain that the proposed mine is in Algonquin
territory, which was never surrendered or sold to
the crown. Algonquin title and jurisdiction
remains intact and prohibits mining activities,
without Algonquin consent.

* Explain that time has shown that there has
never been a "safe" uranium mine in the history of
the industry.

* Ask for a public inquiry as to how the
government granted permits for exploration of
uranium in an environmentally sensitive and
highly populated area.

Contact information: Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium

Web link for more information: http://www.ccamu.ca

Source: Mike Nickerson

by Mike Nickerson