Seed Bombing Illegal?

[The Helpful Gardener]

Essence? Character? How does the meme disconnect between the two, Cynthia?

By distance? Technology? Firepower?

I'd say, to continue waxing militaristic (the thread IS about bombs ), that you have changed the delivery vehicle, but the payloads remain the same...

HG

[donaldloggins]

The seed bombs used by Liz Christy and the Green Guerillas only contained seeds from local non invasive wildflowers. The seed bombs were only ued on city owned vacant lots that were empty because the building that were their were torn down for safety reasons or burned to the ground. In recent years some politically correct gardeners renamed the seed grenade as it was first called to seed green-aid.

I was there in 1973 when the first grenades were tossed.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Then we are mighty pleased to add your voice to the discussion, Don.

Thanks for weighing in. Any more historical perspective you can lend would certainly be germane to the conversation and most appreciated...

How were target sites selected? Bombed? Did you guys do any of the planting type raids we see the London crew doing nowadays?

HG

[sweet thunder]

I know I'm joining this discussion late, but I'm excited to see it happening.

Firstly, may I say I take exception to a0c8c's use of the term "eco-terrorist."
Terrorism is an act that uses fear as coercion. Just because an act is subversive and/or illegal does NOT make it terrorism. I would call seed bombing "direct action" - action that goes about creating change outside of traditional or legal channels.

Secondly, I'll say that I am in favor of seed balls, bombs, green-aids or what-have-you. Native or non-invasive seeds are obviously best, but I've certainly cheered when I've seen non-native bamboo busting through an asphalt parking lot.

I'd hate to see us dismiss well-meaning activists out-of-hand for planting in ignorance. I'd rather lend a hand and donate some native seeds to the cause!

[The Helpful Gardener]

I believe that the laws of your country, state, and town apply above all else, and you need weigh those repercussions on your life on your own. I would not drum for Mr. Thoreau, who did stints for tax evasion to protest the war with Spain. That was his right as it is anyone elses.

I also recognize that a thoughtfully planned and ecologically minded "crime" has no victims, and might be recognized as civic pride, civil engineering, and planet care. I know of no better way to store carbon than planting and think unplanted spaces are a waste of energy. We could be storing CO2 and biomass there. And cleaning air at the same time...

I think planting anything is an act of faith and a bit of a miracle, and approve of it over not planting things... 9 out of ten plants agree.

HG

[boggybranch]

Seems to me that there's three words that fits this "situation":

"It just depends"

[The Helpful Gardener]

BB, what do you think the parameters are? What makes it right or wrong?

HG

[gixxerific]

The three parameters, I would believe:

Who's watching?
What's in the ordinance?
What is the reason for deploying?

[The Helpful Gardener]

Those are good Gixx, althought the first one lacks a certain sense of the moral high ground...

What if I am distributing goldenrod seed, a mast food source for LOTS of local , in a brownfield mostly abandoned but fenced and signed for tresspass. The company that polluted the site bailed decades ago, but I get caught and am charged with century old weed laws, despite the fact the last farm in town closed shop twenty years back, and we now know the value in such "weeds" for promoting beneficial insects? Despite the fact that I am doing nothing that would not be accomplished by the local birds, I am fined heavily.

Did I get what I deserved? Was it worth it? Am I sucking up and immobilizing toxins with the weeds I threw? What if I was, while the company that made the mess did nothing? Still justice?

HG

[cynthia_h]

Still justice?

HG

Depends on a couple of things:

1) Does your lawyer--oh, you *can* afford one, can't you?--know anything about, or can s/he find an expert witness on, phytoremediation?

2) How much lawyer can you afford?

When dealing with large oil corporations, justice is very much a matter of dollars. Not cynical; a follower of legal cases w/regard to the environment.

Cynthia

[gixxerific]

Cynthia kinda like what I heard (could be herasay) about the some of the major car companies having electric cars in the works a while back till the big oil companies came in and bought up the rights/patents and than buried them deep to squash the idea and make more billions off of oil. That kind of big money.

HG they only reason I would say you got what you deserved is because you ignored rule 1 and got caught. If you need some black ops training I can work with you on that.

[Sage Hermit]

if you meet bhuda on the path kill him.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Sage gently reminds us with a violent old koan that blindly following law is generally not the correct path, that often one must make moral decisions on ones own cognizance...

Hai, Sage-san...

HG

[Sage Hermit]

[img]https://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa267/adaba/Zen_889.jpg[/img]

[GardenRN]

This may be completely stupid....but is anyone else a little turned on by the idea of veggie gardeners sneaking into each other's garden and planting something different? It'd kinda be along the lines of someone sending you some seeds as a surprise.

I think it'd be great fun to go into the garden and find a different variety of veggie that was planted by a ninja gardener in the night lol.

I guess this would only be bad if this happened to someone that was trying to keep seed pollination pure by only planting one variety of a vegetable.

Too bad you can't access people's addresses without them knowing. (although I understand obviously why you can't) but it'd be fun to send people surprise packs of seeds here and there. How nice would it be to get that surprise in the mail tucked in amongst all those pesky bills?