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Mother’s Day trekkers learn about dangers of uranium mining

Lila Watson, Australian aboriginal leader, said: “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come here because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”………

A Mother’s Day Call to Protect the Earth, Care 2, 9 May 2010, Our team of eight dynamic women – legal, policy, and business experts -convened in Elko, Nevada, to begin our journey……….. Finally, we traveled to the magnificent Grand Canyon, where Havasupai leader Carletta Tilousi explained the grave threat of uranium mining to the tribe’s sacred Red Butte mountain, to the community’s health, and to the safety of the regional aquifer. Since 2005, because of a major spike in the price of uranium on the world market, over 10,000 new uranium claims have been filed on the land surrounding the Grand Canyon, the traditional homeland of the Havasupai. Uranium mining – including one mine just a few miles from the Havasupai’s holiest mountain shrine and from the rim of the Canyon, situated directly over the aquifer that provides water to the tribe’s village and many other communities – would expose the air, water, land, and community to toxic and carcinogenic contamination through the extraction of hundreds of thousands of pounds of uranium ore.
……We have seen that when economic development clashes in court or in the legislature with the protection of Native American holy places, development usually wins – no matter the devastation of natural resources and human community that may result.

On this Mother’s Day, why should we care about these injuries to communities we may never know? This week, our team has learned that we all owe our lives to the delicate balance of the planet, and disruption of that balance in one place will impact all of us everywhere.
Lila Watson, Australian aboriginal leader, said: “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come here because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”………

Women’s Earth Alliance (WEA) is a global organization that implements solutions to issues of climate, water, food, and land by connecting grassroots women environmental leaders to urgently-needed resources, training and advocacy.

A Mother’s Day Call to Protect the Earth

May 10, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, indigenous issues | antinuclear, nuclear, uranium, water, wind