A group of unlikely compatriots find themselves camping together at a spot on Lake Umbagog said to have been frequented by the Indian medicine woman Moll Ockett in the early days of the American Republic. They find in short order that they have one very important thing in common - a deep concern about a proposed private power transmission project to transport electricity from Canada to the toney suburbs of Boston, New York, Connecticut, Philadelphia and Washington D.C.
The proposal, dubbed "Granite Skyway" proposes to bring massive 150 foot towers through the most beautiful parts of a state that boasts some of the most beautiful scenery in the entire country.
The threat to the environment and the scenic beauty are only the tip of an iceberg that includes the value of homes, farms and businesses built by generations of men and women in this hardscrabble land. Already affecting life for many caught up in the mere shadow of this proposed transmission line Granite Skyway poses an existential threat to an entire way of life.
Determined to do more than shuffle papers and employ lawyers, the compatriots form a band of brothers and sisters (along with a timberwolf named Cochise and a moose named Mettalak) calling themselves "the Trust". Armed with only their wits and a lot of heart they embark on a campaign of civil disobedience that would make Thoreau, Alinsky and Dr. King proud.
Along the way they examine many of the most important questions of our time including how America can continue to make an honored space for free speech and civil disobedience in an era of terror; how social media can help create accountability in an increasingly corporatized mega-media landscape; and, how citizens can challenge the corporate oligarchies that threaten our planet's future.
"Sacred Trust' is a vicarious, high voltage campaign to stop the Granite Skyway power transmission project and its short-sighted and greedy corporate sponsors, intent on using political muscle and money to lock up the region's energy production and distribution, short circuiting efforts to bring about an energy future based on sustainable, and renewable energy deployed through micro-grids, smart-grids and a competitive environment that makes energy more - not less - affordable.
This book is half complete and I hope to finish it by January 1 so that the issues in the book are still relevant to similar projects actually being contemplated throughout the country. Your support in this crowd funding effort will help make it ready for publishing when it is finished.
© Wayne D. King, 2016
Sacred Trust is a book in progress. Click here to subscribe to the email list and I'll let you know as soon as we launch the campaign.
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