Chains for change

by Karen Topakian

February 6, 2015

I wear the chain I forged in life

My literary friends might recognize this phrase from the great Charles Dickens. Jacob Marley says it when Ebenezer Scrooge sees him in a vision and asks why hes laden down with miles of heavy chain, causing him to stoop over under the weight. Jacob Marley responds, In life, my spirit never rose beyond the limits of our money-changing holes! Now I am doomed to wander without rest or peace, incessant torture and remorse!

Today, I too wore a chain, an 80-grade chain, wrapped around my waist locked to a wooden oil derrick for 3 plus hours along with 4 other women, standing in a rain storm on a busy San Francisco street in front of Gov Jerry Browns San Francisco office. We called on our governor to ban fracking and oil drilling in CA.

Chain wore in anti-fracking protest

I hope I wont wear a chain in my afterlife. But Governor Jerry Brown might for his support of fracking and oil drilling. Fracking drills and injects a secret toxic carcinogenic fluid into the earth at a high pressure, fracturing shale rocks to release natural gas inside. Fracking also releases the greenhouse gas methane and toxic chemicals, which leach out and contaminate aquifers and wells. This drinking water contamination leads to sensory, respiratory, and neurological damage.

Governor Jerry Brown could unlock this deadly combination of contamination to this state and its people if he would ban fracking. He could break free of the oil and gas industries chains by supporting wind and solar power. He could follow Governor Cuomos footsteps, who recently banned fracking in New York.

Governor Brown, its up to you!Will you wear the chain of toxicity and greenhouse gases you forged in life? Or will you join us and support a fossil free future?

Karen Topakian

By Karen Topakian

Karen Topakian, owner of Topakian Communications, is a writer, speaker, communications consultant and activist. Karen worked for more than 40 years in the nonprofit world, including 16 years, as the executive director at the Agape Foundation-Fund for Nonviolent Social Change. She served as board chair for Greenpeace, Inc from 2010-2018.

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