"Bastards Had Brothers . . ." Yup, That About Sums it Up!

A message from our spokesfish, Dr. Salmagundi and me:

A lot has happened since The Great Wild Salmon Run was formed. It was born one New Years Eve at the home of my dear friends, Catharine Gallagher and Phil Freeman. Catharine and Phil and I have been friends since my run for US Congress in 1998. Catharine, the massively talented artist, designed my campaign website. While it is true, I did not win, I was befriended by kindred souls. 

During that pivotal New Years, as we sat around the fire with our feet propped up on tuffets, we chatted about the campaigns and the frustrations; how difficult it was/is for environmentalists to make inroads. No friends in Congress. No friends in the White House. No friends at Fox News. Out-spent. Out-gunned, literally. Talk about baby steps. Every success was achingly hard won. And, always felt tenuous.

As a designer, I often think in visuals. As I tried to give Catharine and Phil my view of what we were up against, I was reminded of the opening scene from Romancing the Stone. As we join Joan Wilder writing her romance novel, we are introduced to her heroine, Angelina, and the villain, Grogan, as we hear her voiceover setting the scene:

Grogan: What's it gonna be, Angelina?

Joan Wilder: [voiceover] It was Grogan: the filthiest, dirtiest, *dumbest* excuse for a man west of the Missouri River.

Grogan: So, you can die two ways, angel: quick like the tongue of a snake, or slower than the molasses in January.

Joan Wilder: [voiceover] But it was October.

Grogan: I'll kill you, goddammit, if it's the Fourth of July! Where is it? Uhh. Get over there!

Joan Wilder: [voiceover] I told him to get out, now that he had what he came for.

Grogan: Not quite, angel.

[spits]

Grogan: Take 'em off. Do it! Come on!

[Angelina kills Grogan by throwing a concealed knife]

Joan Wilder: [voiceover] That was the end of Grogan... the man who killed my father, raped and murdered my sister, burned my ranch, shot my dog, and stole my Bible! But if there was one law of the west: Bastards had brothers, who seemed to ride forever.

Truer words were never spoken.

While it is true that bastards do have brothers and that the anti-environmental uber-rich do run in tassel loafered packs, there are heroes out there.

Meet Alexandra Morton.

Alexandra is a marine biologist who has worked tirelessly for over 40 years to protect whales and wild salmon, to educate politicians and policy makers on the perils of farming Atlantic salmon in the waters off British Columbia, to rally the people and put pressure on the government to curtail fish farming.

Farmed fish is filthy. It imperils the oceans.

I've been following Alexandra since the formation of the Great Wild Salmon Run. Her blog posts paint a grim picture of the health and long term survival of wild salmon stock. We can help.

Here are links to her website:

Alexandra Morton's Website

Alexandra Morton's Scientific Papers

If it's true that bastards have brothers, Alexandra is up against some formidable foes. We can help Alexandra save Wild Salmon by supporting her.

Let's get behind Alexandra and help her raise awareness by raising money to pay for public service advertising.

 Let's help Alexandra raise money

gofundme.com

As she says ~ "Please consider a donation, no matter how small,

and tell your friends, do not eat farmed salmon. 

Wild salmon feed the trees that make the oxygen 

we breathe ~ our planet needs them."

Every day grateful to find passionate, committed people

working every day to save the world.