My friends, Mary Beth and Jim, of the Ecological Options Network recently published a phenomenal video which I saw for the first time tonight.

If you want one more reason why Californians must defeat the LBAM spray program, you will find it in this video:

I’m sure you heard what I did. Three times in this video, Professor Thomas Kerns states that the Central Coast of California and the SF Bay Area are the first places he has ever heard of where an aerial spray has been stopped. Knowing, as we do, that aerial spraying is a constant across our country, that aerial spraying is a common, accepted practice of both our government and conventional agriculture, we can begin to see why Professor Kerns reiterates his point in a tone of wonder and, even, awe.

To be clear, we did not stop the spray, but we did temporarily halt it and are still standing and fighting the LBAM program in all of its forms. Just think, for a minute, what it could mean to America and to the world, if we ultimately succeed – if we ultimately defeat just one of our government’s pesticide contracts. Think of the sickened and overwhelmed families of the East Coast, the Deep South, the industrial corn belt and the Great Lakes region, learning for the first time that you can overturn policies of environmental destruction and slow genocide. You can cause change to happen and you can win.

Because it isn’t just California and it isn’t just the Light Brown Apple Moth, of course. It is all of the states and all of the insects and all of the years of backward, pesticide-based mentality and greed that creates these programs of sickness and death for the people of America. Think with me of the day when a new mentality can arise from this Californian origin in which we no longer have to fear government or agriculture because we, as a nation, no longer view the use of killer chemicals as an acceptable suggestion to make within any sane community. Think with me of the day when our public servants serve our people and know, in the depths of each of their beings, that a turn in public office is no longer an opportunity to aggrandize one’s self through the robbery, misery and abuse of others. Think with me of that day.

So much is happening right now on the LBAM front. The National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council has issued a groundbreaking report that calls into question the USDA’s lack of scientific data. Roy Upton cites this report as a, “pretty strong rebuke” of the USDA and adds that he feels the next step will be a lawsuit against this agency. It is hard to express our gratitude toward men like Roy Upton for the time and spirit he has put into this terrible struggle.

Meanwhile, as we wait for each new piece of news regarding the LBAM scandal, we see the traps for LBAM, Gypsy Moths and Glassy Winged Sharp Shooters littering our rural region and our hopes and prayers are pinned not just on the defeat of this one inhumane government program, but the defeat of all such toxic assaults on our people. To everyone who is working and battling the LBAM spray program right now, keep going so beautifully strong, and keep thinking of what we can do if we overturn just this one dreadful plan. There are all of the other programs, all of the other insects, all of the other pesticides which are being used as as deceptive tools to capture hoards of wealth while sickening and killing our families. The LBAM battle is making us strong, and I believe it is only our first.