The calls are asking for information or updates on a variety of subjects. Headwaters Forest, one of the major projects based out of the MEC, is spearheaded primarily by Earth First!. Police accountability matters go to the Human Rights Monitoring Project, which takes statements from people who have experienced misconduct. A county resident calls to report foul smelling air or concern about trees being cut down near their home; we refer them to the appropriate agency, to an expert on the issue, or perhaps to legal counsel. An individual wants to plan an event around April 15th to protest war taxes; we provide the names of people who would likely want to be involved. Someone calls to buy a Luna video, staring the Redwood Forest, Pacific Lumber, and Julia "Butterfly" Hill, who on October 10th will have spent ten months in a redwood tree.
People gather in the MEC to read a newspaper or review action alerts or issue updates from many environmental and social justice organizations. Students come by to check out research material from the library. Perhaps there is a bulk mailing, with folding, stuffing and labeling envelopes accompanied by lively conversation. Somebody drops off something for somebody else to pick up. Supplies and food are brought in for the in-the-forest activists. Phone banks are turning out people for an event or action.
The mail brings notices of public hearings and conferences on water use, air quality, toxins, waste management, biodynamic agriculture, watershed rehabilitation, land use and natural resources, and habitat conservation. There is the long list at the California Department of Forestry of timber harvest plans applied for in Northern California. Newsletters and information from organizations across the country addressing a broad spectrum of issues go to the resource section. A Bay Area attorney FedExes legal documents for filing at the courthouse. There may be a letter from an elected official or agency responding to an inquiry made by the MEC. Of course, there are the bills, and on a good day, donations to cover the cost of operation.
Meetings, meetings, meetings. The dry erase calendar on the wall shows MEC committees for fundraising and newsletter production, an organizational meeting of the newly formed local Food Not Bombs, the Toxic Task Force, the Lincoln-Peters Defense Alliance, an EF! affinity group, an information and discussion forum on corporate control, a workshop on holistic healing for animals, and a slew of events outside the office: agency and public meetings, a concert, a Headwaters slide show, a rally.
The MEC is not a quiet office. It's not a tidy office. It's hard to find a space for private or uninterrupted conversation. The computers need finessing. We are miserly with supplies, (e.g. we use both sides of the paper.) But the MEC is full of people who believe they can make a difference, and work hard to do so. Even through the disagreements, and the news of yet another clear cut, and legislation that further jeopardizes our fragile ecosystem, the MEC is full of optimism and enthusiasm and good will, because we know that what we do matters, and that we will continue making a difference.
A special thanks to all our members for helping the MEC survive and flourish.
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 1998
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited