I had a feeling when unprecedented non-violent uprisings started spreading like wildfire throughout the mid-east that this spring was going to be interesting.  I was reminded of the sixties and could sense reverberations from those wonderful and terrible days.  Just watching or listening to the news, many of us could feel winds of change rippling through us. 

It was easy to be thrilled by the uprisings and forget the long fuse of violent oppression that ignited them -- until Libya. 

Not even a month later, today on the anniversary of the disaster at 3-mile-island, we’re dusting off our No Nukes banners, remembering millions of us in the streets (and thousands in jail) thirty years ago, protesting the proliferation of nukes.  We watch the people of Japan (and all the creatures downwind)  face long-time consequences of leaks from a damaged reactor that was (supposedly) no more dangerous a few weeks ago than the one that powers this computer. 

And another day of remembrance approaches--the April 20th anniversary of the Deepwater explosion which set off the eruption of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, Most of us never even knew about similar disasters in Nigeria; but the BP disaster was impossible to hide.  A year later the crude and the chemicals dumped into it are revealing that nuclear radiation isn’t the only source of agonizingly slow-acting  but nonetheless fatal injuries.

What to do?  Today we’re using our computers to follow the long fuses of oppression and locate sparks of resistance.  And we’re using our people-powered guitars to prepare for the release of atmosphere, an album of locally produced songs (two of which already appear on the capecool podcast) on April 21, the eve of Earth Day 2011.  The release party at First Encounter Coffee House on the 23rd will be a benefit for the S.E.A. Prize scholarship fund.

It’s a good thing to share music and observe a day without oil,  or an hour or day or week without electric lights and power (if for no other reason than to feel some connection with those who live their lives without it).  But until we really wake up ourselves --and profoundly shake up the powers that be-- until we plug our own energy leaks, change our lives and rebuild our power-grid, we will be spinning our wheels.  squandering the opportunity to make use of the free energy that flows from the sun, the earth, the waves, the wind--and the winds of change blowing our way.