Saturday, October 25, 2014

Answering the Call




"We have no guarantee of victory, but if we don't try, we lose by default. 
What we can do is create possibility. 
And after all, lots of things seem impossible until they happen."

~ Katie Davis


Katie Davis had an epiphany after watching Al Gore's seminal film, "An Inconvenient Truth," with some German a few years ago. While discussing the movie, the conversation turned to Nazi Germany. How could ordinary German citizens who opposed the Nazis stand by and do nothing while innocent people were rounded up and killed? What did they say to their children when they asked, you knew this was happening? How come you didn't do anything?


It was at that moment that Katie had her epiphany. What if her own children grew up watching carbon emissions increase and the ice caps melt, polar bears go extinct, and the sea level rise? How would she answer them when they asked, you knew this was happening? How come you didn't do anything?


So Katie did something. She went to a training by Al Gore himself to become a presenter of his famous power point presentation on climate change. She began presenting at churches and community centers around Santa Barbara county. And it was while she was making the rounds sharing Al's slide show that she really heard her calling. She wanted to do more than educate. She wanted to be an activist. She was ready to tackle a local environmental issue head on.


Earlier this year, Katie quit her lucrative job with a local high tech company to devote herself to environmental activism. Specifically, she started working with a team of concerned citizens to draft an initiative for the November 2014 ballot to ban fracking in Santa Barbara county. She worked tirelessly -- collecting signatures, rallying volunteers, attending meetings and hearings. In three weeks, Katie and her team helped mobilize an army of volunteers to collect 16,000 signatures of registered voters which secured Measure P a spot on the November ballot. If passed, Measure P will ban the use of extreme oil extraction techniques, such as fracking, acidizing, and steam injection in Santa Barbara county.


Last week, while planning a worship service for the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara on the theme of sacrifice, I asked Katie about the sacrifices she has made for this cause:


Why did you quit your job and devote your time and energy to the issue of fracking?


I don't want my children to one day ask if -- I knew about what was happening, if I knew about climate change, why I didn't do something about it? I don't want to be asked how we let this happen.


Secondly, when I learned that Santa Barbara has it's own tarsands-like oil, some of the most carbon-intensive and polluting oil in the world and that thousands of wells are planned that will destroy our local area as well as contribute to the global problem, I felt I needed to join a movement to try to stop it.


We have no guarantee of victory, but if we don't try, we lose by default. What we can do is create possibility. And after all, lots of things seem impossible until they happen.


What are some of the sacrifices you are making to work on the Measure P campaign?


Sometimes I feel like I have sacrificed nothing. The journey is so interesting that I have gained far more than it has cost me. So far, I am doing fine. And if sometimes I am too busy or distracted to eat, the plus side is I actually got down to my pre-pregnancy weight for the first time!


Other times, I feel like I am risking everything -- financially I am not working and was so distracted I let our insurance lapse for a period of time; the oil companies could have sued those of us involved in drafting the Measure; they can and have slandered me personally and seek to demonize and publicly attack. The risk of public humiliation is hard for a private person to deal with. I put my marriage at risk due to the all-encompassing nature of running a campaign like this. I have to live with fear and anxiety knowing that over $5 million is being spent against us (that's over $25 per registered voter.) So sometimes I think I'm crazy for doing this.


On the other hand, we can't not do this. Seriously, we have to draw the line somewhere if we're going to live with ourselves. Apathy is our biggest enemy. If everyone who believes in this votes and gets others to do so, we'll win.
***


Katie has put her career, her reputation, and lots of time and energy on the line to fight for something she believes in. She does not stand to gain anything by the passage of Measure P. That is to say, she does not stand to gain anything that the rest of us won't also gain -- a county free of threats to our environment posed by fracking and other intensive oil extraction methods. The oil companies have poured millions of dollars into fighting measure P. They are trying to turn it into an issue about jobs and tax revenues, employing handsome firefighters in their ad campaigns to tug at our hearts. They are outright lying about the impacts of Measure P on oil production in Santa Barbara county, attempting to make it an issue about anything other than what it actually is -- a measure to protect the county from further environmental threats from the oil companies. Anyone remember the oil spill of 1969?


The oil companies want to protect their profits.
Katie wants to protect our children.


Who are you going to believe?


Please do your homework on this issue. For more information on what Measure P will and will NOT do, I urge you to visit www.voteyesonp.org.

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