Cascadian Action has received accusations of being both an environmentalist hippie tree-hugger organization that does not understand the necessity of industry, and a productivist organization that will clear cut forests and level mountains for the sake of production and industrialization. We have also received questions of whether we are a productivist or environmentalist organization. So to silence the accusations and answer the questions we state that both are true. Cascadian Action is both productivist and environmentalist. We will not clear cut forests and level mountains for the sake of productivity, nor will we reduce Cascadia to a backwater luddite nation that rejects industry for the sake of environmentalism.
Cascadian Action views Cascadia to be a garden, just as the earth is the garden of humankind, Cascadia is the garden of Cascadians and it must be treated as such. Just as a grandmother carefully tends to her garden, or a farmer tends to his fields, the nature of Cascadia must be tended to by the people, for the benefit and enjoyment of Cascadians as the stewards of this great, natural garden. Neither the gardener, nor the farmer, want to extract from their fields so extensively they become barren, sapped dry of all the soil can give. They plant crops that work in sync with each other. They let fields lie fallow to regenerate the nutrients and minerals in the soil. They want their lands to survive and thrive for generations to come, to feed those they will never meet. The gardener and the farmer do not let their lands lie barren and unproductive, they do not build walls between them and the natural world. They connect to it deeply, and directly. Civilization and nature must be intertwined. Cascadians cannot separate themselves from the land of Cascadia
The native nations of Cascadia regularly utilize controlled burning to prevent devastating wildfires in the dry seasons. This helped stabilize the environment and keep animal and plant populations from fluctuating rapidly. They did not overfish when the salmon ran upstream, nor did they butcher every buffalo on the prairie. They did not clear cut forests for timber and profit. Simultaneously they still fished for salmon and hunted the buffalo. They still cut trees to build longhouses, totem poles, armor, tools, and even clothes. They produced in harmony with the natural world, keeping it healthy so they could continue to benefit from its fruit, forests, wildlife, streams, oceans, mountains, and vast open plains. To keep a garden flourishing one must tend to the garden, pulling the weeds and trimming the branches. Cascadians must tend to the garden of Cascadia to keep it healthy and flourishing for both the health of the land and the benefit of the Cascadian people.
In this light, we look to the example given to us by the bees and the beavers. Just as bees pollinate flowers and make honey, and beavers dam streams which create lakes and marshes, we must produce in a symbiotic relationship with nature, giving back what we take. The bee takes from the flower to make honey but also generates more flowers through the process of pollination – a twofold production. Cascadia, out of necessity, must extract resources from nature for the benefit of the Cascadian people for the production of goods and for the development of industry. One of the central problems facing Cascadia today is that this process, currently, is extremely exploitative and leaves no time for nature to regenerate. This is directly caused by those currently in possession of Cascadian lands, who seek only short term profits over the health of the region, and the long term resourcefulness of the lands. The existing lumber, mining, fishing, and energy industries behave as invasive species, extractors who pillage the land until there is nothing left but stumps and corpses. They do not act as bees and beavers, but as bullfrogs and blackberries. They take, but do not give back. They do not engage in a twofold production for the mutual long term benefit of the land and people alike, but in a monetary production for the short term benefit of a handful of tycoons and investors. This deplorable extraction must cease if the beauty of Cascadia is to be preserved for future generations to enjoy and employ. We must bring an end to the industries that devour Cascadia’s beauty, vitality, and resources. Ensure that productivity is regenerative not destructive, serving the land and its people alike.
Cascadian Action seeks to connect civilization and nature in a harmonious balance. We seek to treat Cascadia as a garden to be tended, a land to be dearly loved and cared for, a land we must provide for just as it provides for us. With one hand we water and fertilize, with the other we pick the fruits and trim the branches. Through our energy policies we will utilize nuclear and renewable energy sources to power Cascadia with minimal carbon output and optimal efficiency. Through our environmental policies we will extract from the land in ways that are both renewable and sustainable, while doing our best to regenerate what was lost. Through our governmental policies we will create a commonwealth that is democratic and representative of the needs and wants of the people. A commonwealth free of the corruption that allows the Cascadian lands to be regularly pillaged for the sake of profit. Through our labour and industrial policies we will create an industry that is both productive and democratic, that seeks long term sustainable productivity over short term gains. The lumberjack doesn’t want to clear cut the forest because once that forest is gone they are out of a job. When the angler catches all the fish in the lakes and seas there is no more work for them to do. The hunter does not seek to kill every animal in the woods because there will be nothing left to hunt next year. The farmer doesn’t want to abuse the land because then the fields will turn to dust and sand. It has become absolutely clear that we are soon to inherit a land with no trees left to shade us, and no life or soil to sustain us. A democratization of industry will insure a vested interest in long term sustainability and regenerative practices; thus creating a harmonious, symbiotic relationship between the Cascadian Commonwealth and the Cascadian lands. That is why we here at Cascadian Action are both productivist and environmentalist.
We are bees and we are beavers.