July 20, 2009: Dispatch from Prison – Jeffrey Free Luers

Dispatch from Prison – Jeffrey Free Luers
July 20, 2009

Last week I went to my first “release class”. It is odd that when you come to prison you go to classes about how to do time, how to avoid conflict with staff and inmates, how to avoid disease, sexual assault and other pitfalls.

Then just before you leave you go to classes to relearn how to be free. In between the two, you forget that you were even a part of the free world. Relationships by mail become normal; you are accustomed to rarely, if ever, seeing you loved ones. Violence is a way of life; you have no privacy and constant oversight. Then one day a computer program spits out your name because it has calculated that you only have X amount of days left and you need to take release classes so that you can adjust to a completely different world with different expectations.

I’m fortunate, I don’t need these classes, but many people do.

No, my challenges will not come from reentering society. I have not lost myself in here. I have amazing support and will be coming home to my family and friends, my own place, a job, and school. Life is ready and waiting for me. My challenges will be reconciling that I have spent nearly a decade of my life in prison.

I know that I have achieved a lot from behind these walls. That the strength of my support, my contributions to eco-activism and the media work I’ve done from prison are a testament to my accomplishments. It is these reasons that I carry my head high. I know that despite the hardships and obstacles I have fulfilled my duty to myself, my family, my beliefs, and this struggle.

I remain proud of the actions that brought me to prison. I am proud of my conduct as a political prisoner, never wavering in my integrity.

But it is difficult to come to terms with having sacrificed so much of my life only to return and find the battle still being waged. Our struggle to stop human-induced climate change, pollution, and environmental destruction is far from over. Our struggle for social justice, human liberation, and animal rights is far from complete

From time to time each of us must redefine our commitment and contributions to activism. We are not always capable of giving 110%. What matters is that we continue to give what we can.

After my release you may not find me on the front lines battling tooth and nail to win. But whether in or out of prison I’ll never stop standing up for what is right and doing my part to make this world a little better.

I’ve given, hell, my life to these struggles I see no reason to stop there.

-Jeffrey Free Luers

-------
Climate Threat Demands Action
By Jeffrey Free Luers

It seems nearly everywhere I turn these days climate change is being discussed. It is in the news, magazines, and science journals. Global warming is being discussed in social circles high and low.

The U.S. Congress recently passed a bill to reduce U.S. contributions to greenhouse emissions 17% from 2005 levels by 2020 and a further 83% by 2050. Their effort is to be applauded; however, as is usually the case with controversial bills major concessions were made weakening the bill significantly before its passing. The bill which still faces an uphill battle in the senate is a far cry from the proposed reductions stemming from the Kyoto accord, in 1997, the world’s first attempt at addressing climate change.

It appears to be reoccurring trend that as consequences of climate change grow worse, government responses to the threat become weaker. Granted, the last decade has seen little significant action taken to address climate change. Yet, now that action is finally being taken it falls short of that which is needed.

Global warming is already responsible for more than 300,000 deaths a year. Its effects are being felt by 300 million people around the globe; with economic losses coming to more than $125 billion a year according to a report by the Global Humanitarian Forum, led by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The report was calculated from information provided by some of the world’s largest and most influential organizations including the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the Potsdam Institute for climate Impact Research.

The Global Humanitarian Forum warns that almost two-thirds of the world’s population is classified as “vulnerable” to climate change; 500 million of those people are said to be at “extreme risk”.

Oxfam International has reported that climate related hunger may become the defining human tragedy of this century. The report says that without immediate actions all development gains made in the last 50 years are under threat. In much of Sub-Saharan Africa and most of India maize yields, one the world’s most important crops, are predicted to decrease by 15% or more in the next 10 years.

The Oxfam report also documents rising temperatures in conjunction with the urban heat island effect, a phenomenon in cities that can raise local temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit) more than the surrounding area. The report suggests a “six-fold increase in heat-related deaths in Lisbon by 2050, and a five-fold increase in greater London, two to seven times more deaths in California and a 75% increase in deaths among older people in Australian cities.”

A recent gathering of Nobel Prize winners called on politicians to take the drastic and immediate action necessary to avoid a global catastrophe. The St. James Palace memorandum signed by 20 Nobel Laureates asserts that “[There needs to be] a peak of global emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2015 and at least a 50% emissions reduction by 2050 on a 1990 baseline. This in turn means that developed countries have to aim for a 25% - 40% reduction by 2050.”

Current action being taken at government levels is not enough. The world needs a stronger and more immediate response; we need a stronger and more immediate response. The numbers and statistics reflected in these reports do not represent abstractions. They represent you and me. We are the ones at risk.

Global warming is not just the greatest environmental threat of our time it is the greatest humanitarian threat of the century.

This December governments of the world will meet in Copenhagen to discuss what actions to take on climate change. This is our time to demand real action, action that can limit the severe consequences of climate change. On December 11th, join us in an international Day of Solidarity in demanding action on climate change. Join our International General Strike for Climate Justice.

http://www.StrikeforClimateJustice.org

----------------------------
to join this list go to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/freejeffluers

http://www.freejeffluers.org