(Released on May 6, 2008)
Weapons of Moth Destruction is a political documentary made in protest to the California Department of Food and Agriculture's (CDFA's) plan to spray 7 million people in several northern California counties with untested pesticides, for the sake of eradicating a quarter inch long moth known as the Light Brown Apple Moth, aka LBAM.
The film includes interviews with veteran environmental impact expert, David Dilworth of H.O.P.E., UC Davis invasion biology expert James Carey, Ph.D., UCSC Arboretum Director, Dan Harder Ph.D. (co-author with Jeff Rosendale of the New Zealand Report on LBAM), and Board Certified Environmental Medicine Expert, Doris Rapp, MD. Local government officials and community members also appear in the film.
Weapons of Moth Destruction is an artistic, sometimes satirical wake up call for citizens to get informed and involved, to know the LBAM truth vs the LBAM fiction, and to take political action to stop the CDFA's needless and dangerous LBAM spray program.
DVD's of the film may be purchased through the producer for $15.00, plus $2.00 shipping. For more information contact Laura Vitale at: elvee@cruzio.com
PORTRAITS OF A STONE NATION by LAURA VITALE (2001)
The geological name for these amazing geological sandstone rock formations is the Pigeon Point Cretaceous sandstone. They are part of one of the most complex rock formations in the world. These sandstone formations trace their origins back 100 MILLION YEARS. They began their history deep into the age of dinosaurs, as rivers carried grains of sand from
pre-Sierran mountains into an oceanic trench that was somewhere west of what is now Bakersfield. (This was back in the days when the Central Valley was part of the Pacific Ocean and neither the Sierra Nevadas nor the Coastal Range existed.) When the great Pacific Plate began grinding against the coastline 35 million years ago, it carried the accumulation of now compressed and hardened layers of sand--in the form of sandstone that was hundreds of feet thick--north to their temporary residence along the San Mateo coast. Over time, weathering from surf, rains, and swirling sands embellished the features, creating many different shapes and patterns, like the ones seen in these photographs.
Even before I knew their history, it was hard for me to not be amazed and impressed by these stones. While in their midst, I felt like I’d stepped onto another planet--one of otherworldly landscapes and creatures, faces, anatomies, skulls and unnamable things. As I framed the shots with my camera, they performed their magic for me. And I was very much enchanted by their presence. By their poses. By what they had to show me, and tell me, and give me.
A couple months later I was reading a novel written about an old Native American woman. The descriptions of what she called “THE STONE NATION” jumped out at me and resonated with my experience. “People would do well to listen to the stone nation. These are the most ancient voices on this turtle continent,” she said. “They have things to tell us.” She continued, “My people have always known that the stones speak; it’s just us two-leggeds have trouble listening. As the old ones say, their breath may take a thousand years, but these stones are alive. If you know how to listen, they can teach you a song that will help you survive whatever life has to offer. They know about endurance.”
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