Dear Friend and Nethead,
Good morning. We are less than a day away from the Cancer New Moon. The Moon is in Cancer as I write, having just worked its way over the Aries Point (shorthand for the first degree of any cardinal sign). Mercury, for its part, has two degrees to go before exiting echo phase. Mars is in Virgo, heading for a conjunction to Saturn in about 10 days. That one should be interesting, clearing a lot of stuck mental energy but making it mentally and emotionally risky for those with strong placements on the mutable cross (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces).
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This may be a particularly difficult aspect (in general, covering Mars in Virgo) for those with what are commonly called self-esteem issues, which is another way of saying people who are overly self-critical, who push or pick on themselves, or who feel excluded. I’ll keep watching that.
I am deeply saddened to note the death of a man named Erik Jansson. Erik, editor of Department of the Planet Earth website, was one of the unknown heroes of the environmental movement. He was found dead last week in his farmhouse at the age of 67. Though he was highly effective on issues from global warming to aluminum as a cause of Alzheimer’s disease, I don’t suspect that his death was anything more or less than natural.
Erik was a Leo and he was typical of that sign in that he worked tirelessly, even to his own detriment. Leos are often accused of being egotistical, but there is another breed of them who take their responsibilities so seriously, they have to be dragged out of the office, handed a beer and fed dinner on the threat of bodily harm. These people tend to work their hearts into the ground; they are driven by love, but there’s just not a lot of room for it in their lives. (If you are into homeopathy, consider aurum metallicum.)
I met Erik in 1994 at the Third Citizen’s Conference on Dioxin in St. Louis. At the time, I was about to come out with my cover story about the history of a dioxin-like chemical, PCBs, in Sierra, the magazine of the Sierra Club. Erik introduced himself to me as one of three legislative aides who stayed behind in Washington, DC the summer of 1976 to write the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). This law banned then widely-used PCBs in new equipment and began a fairly massive phase-out. It was the first act of Congress banning a specific chemical by name as being a menace to human health and the environment.
The modern equivalent of banning PCBs would be something perhaps 100 times the scale of banning polycarbonate plastic, which is used in everything from Coke bottles to eyeglasses.
So I always think of Erik as being the guy who co-wrote the law banning PCBs, which is what he actually was. More recently, he was involved in proving that aluminum is the cause of Alzheimer’s disease. Thanks to Erik, I disposed of all my aluminum cookware right around 1994, literally putting it all in the trash. This includes Teflon, which is a kind of hybrid of plastic and aluminum. Many people have heard of the aluminum-Alzheimer’s connection as a rumor; I heard of it from someone who read ALL the science, and I consider myself extremely blessed to have had such early warning.
He was one of the only people who provided publicity for the Dioxin Dorms project last year, aimed at warning New Paltz students about PCBs. But what would you expect?
Most recently, Erik was involved in a push to organize the governors of all 50 states to take up a new level of climate change/global warming action, in the absence of any such action by our oil-biz controlled White House (it should be called the Black House). To this end, he had worked tirelessly with David Shiah (pronounced “see”) the majority whip in the Maine House of Representatives, to get the various state governments on board. At last tally, they were up to 20 governors signing onto their proposal.
Shiah wrote, “Over the past several years I had the privilege of working with Erik on global warming as we tried to get various states to take actions realizing the Congress and White House were doing nothing on the issue. Erik’s wide-ranging knowledge and exceptional collection of information impressed many state officials throughout the country. I just forwarded him a letter from the Governor of Hawaii in which she stated her appreciation of the comprehensive information and references contained in Erik’s paper on global warming. We were working on another mailing to go out soon to all 50 governors but alas, it may not happen now.”
Despite his considerable efforts, it would be fair to say that Erik had no patience for politics; he only endured this neurotic game long enough to get things done. Indeed, he had a reputation for putting his foot in his mouth from time to time, which is exactly what you would expect someone who cares only about the issues and the people they impact.
Erik headed a local organization, Potomac River Association, which was founded by his parents. He was president for 10 years. I’ve been in contact with the Dept. of Planet Earth webmaster, Bob Lewis (also involved with Potomac River Association), who described Erik as “a spirited person who knew the urgency of addressing human impacts to our environment and ourselves. Erik always set a standard that others tried to emulate.”
He was a loner, a man with few people he considered friends (two that I know of, although I am sure he considered Carol van Strum, my environmental mentor and one of his best writers, a friend). He lived on his family farm, though his mother, father and brother who lived there died over the previous 10 years.
Carol wrote, “The first time I met Erik in person was during the ’80s, when he stopped by our farm in Oregon on his way to or from some conference. Privately, I tend to associate my favorite people with particular birds, and from that visit onwards Erik was for me a stormy petrel – small, trim, and indomitable, a lonely spirit defying every tempest with unfeigned grace; to have him alight and visit was a rare privilege. The audacity and humor that inspired him to create the Department of the Planet Earth were so damn typical of this remarkable, unassuming champion. Keeping Planet Earth alive is the greatest tribute we can pay him.”
I leave you with this thought, and it’s the thought I had when, after three years of work putting together the PCB scandal from 1991 through 1994, I met the man who co-wrote TSCA. It is often the people you don’t hear about who get the real work done. It is people who don’t care to be in the rat race, who don’t care what kind of car they drive, who don’t collect awards, who don’t get slapped on the back by the chairman and who never bought a latte in their entire lives, who often do the heavy lifting in our society. We may think that we would be just fine without them. But this is not true; we would not be, and you would not be.
We enjoy the spoils of capitalism, the privileges of technology, and the “benefits” of chemicals like PCBs, which are still sitting in breast implants in (hopefully) living people. Every now and then, someone like Erik Jansson comes along and insists on being the conscience of a system that otherwise would never dream of having one.
Yours & truly,
Please continue to email us at: editorial (at) planetwaves.net, and let us know what’s on your mind: we’re now accepting astrology questions, comments about Planet Waves and our articles and even notes just to let us know what’s on your mind.
Today’s Oracle takes us to March 4, 2005 – Leo – Weekly
The past couple of weeks have likely come with a series of surprises revelations and developments in your most intimate relationships. The important thing to remember is that nothing is etched in stone. Normally people seek their security by writing with a hammer and chisel. I suggest you stick to watercolors which are good at conveying feeling and a sense of light shining through the world not just at it. Within a few days you’ll know exactly where you stand with a certain situation that you’ve been turning over and over in your mind and if not exactly close enough to move on with your plans.
Wednesday 02 July 2008
Sisyphus (8+ Libra) square Ceres (8+ Cancer)
Mars (0+ Virgo) septile Ceres (8+ Cancer)
Apollo (15 Leo) sesquiquadrate Aries Point (0 Aries)
Ceres (8+ Cancer) sesquiquadrate Neptune (23+ Aquarius Rx)
Ixion (13+ Sagittarius Rx) quintile M87 (1+ Libra)
Eros (18+ Cancer) conjunct Varuna (18+ Cancer)
Venus (17+ Cancer) sextile Pallas (17+ Taurus)
Eros (19+ Cancer) quintile M87 (1+ Libra)
Jupiter (18+ Capricorn Rx) quintile Hidalgo (6+ Scorpio Rx)
Sisyphus (8+ Libra) sesquiquadrate Neptune (23+ Aquarius Rx)
Arachne (5+ Libra) sesquiquadrate Chiron (20+ Aquarius Rx)
Venus (17+ Cancer) quincunx Quaoar (17+ Sagittarius Rx)
Venus (17+ Cancer) sesquiquadrate Hylonome (2+ Sagittarius Rx)
Venus (17+ Cancer) quincunx Juno (17+ Sagittarius Rx)
Mercury (19+ Gemini) square Logos (19+ Virgo)
In a world filled with endless chatter, information and even more dis-information, it is getting harder and harder to find the truth. I receive regular newsletters from each of you and want to say a huge thank you for your discerning, unfailing, wise and broad choices of what you include. I have further investigated many stories and have always ended by feeling you were valid and honest. I rely on your selectivity to help me through the maze of spin and too many choices — you make life much easier and I will be forever grateful.
