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<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT face=Verdana size=2>I am also on the Board of
Directors of the California Water Impact Network. </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Tom Stokely</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT face=Verdana size=2></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT face=Verdana size=2>latimes.com
<BR></FONT><A href=""><FONT face=Verdana
size=2>http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-me-lopez17-2008sep17,0,3496650,full.column</FONT></A><BR><FONT
size=2><FONT face=Verdana>>From the Los Angeles Times<BR>Cancer can't dim
passion for a cause<BR>The energy and focus that helped Dorothy Green, 79, found
Heal the Bay remain with her as her health fails.<BR>Steve
Lopez<BR><BR>September 17, 2008<BR><BR>Dorothy Green was trying to be polite,
but the founder of Heal the Bay made it quite clear that she wasn't terribly
interested in talking about the things I had come to discuss in her Westwood
home.<BR><BR>Death?<BR><BR>"It's part of living," she said, flicking away the
question.<BR><BR>Her legacy?<BR><BR>"I don't look back, only
forward."<BR><BR>Her deteriorating condition?<BR><BR>"It's interesting that
cancer is what you want to talk about."<BR><BR>Now 79, Green has beaten her grim
prognosis by years. But the melanoma first diagnosed 30 years ago metastasized
to the brain six years ago, and she's now been told there's no way to stop the
rapid spread of the disease. She's in hospice-care now, a bit wobbly on her feet
and wearing a smart-looking cap to keep warm.<BR><BR>"I hope it happens sooner
than later," she said of her demise. "It's so hard getting one thought put with
another now."<BR><BR>You're not afraid?<BR><BR>"I'm scared for the whole world,
for the Earth. Not for me."<BR><BR>To those who know her, this is classic
Dorothy.<BR><BR>"She tells me we have to keep talking about these issues because
it's what keeps her alive -- her passion to do what's right for California,"
said Carolee Krieger.<BR><BR>Krieger and Green co-founded the California Water
Impact Network, a nonprofit devoted to educating Californians about what they
see as environmentally destructive water mismanagement in California, with
public officials caving to the desires of big agriculture.<BR><BR>Though Green
is clearly addled by painkillers and exhausted by her fight with cancer, so much
so that she often pauses mid-sentence to steal the strength to continue, she
immediately interrupted me when I mentioned California's water
shortage.<BR><BR>"There is no water shortage," she said sharply.<BR><BR>Not that
anyone should run out and plant a 40-acre lawn, she cautioned. We waste far too
much water as it is.<BR><BR>But there's no water hog like agriculture, she
said.<BR><BR>"Big agriculture uses 80% of the developed water in the state," she
said, calling their conservation measures abysmal. "And almost half the
agriculture in the state is for low-value, water-intensive crops like cotton,
rice, alfalfa."<BR><BR>The siphoning of such huge amounts of water for
agriculture is destroying the ecosystem in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River
Delta, she argues. And the boondoggle is made possible by the lackeys on the
state Water Resources Control Board.<BR><BR>She gave the Gov.
Schwarzenegger-appointed board members lousy grades for their two main
duties:<BR><BR>Managing water supplies and managing water quality.<BR><BR>But in
Dorothy Green's book, they aren't the only culprits. More than once during my
visit, she blamed the media for not hammering away at the story and helping
light a fire under the aloof and detached general public. As for the
latter:<BR><BR>"They turn on the tap and water comes out," she said, and that's
all the average Californian cares to know about water issues.<BR><BR>If she
weren't still fighting the fight, Green told me, she doesn't know what else
she'd be doing.<BR><BR>"This year, she had her spleen and kidney removed and
showed up at our board meeting five days later," said Mark Gold, executive
director of Heal the Bay. "She has been the most influential water activist in
California in the last 30 years."<BR><BR>Green's life is a lesson in
reinvention. All that activism lay dormant as she raised a family with a husband
who was in real estate.<BR><BR>But after the kids were out of the house, she
filled the void by volunteering for one cause after another, beginning with
programs related to the needs of her own mentally challenged child.<BR><BR>She
later campaigned for Proposition 20, which led to the creation of the California
Coastal Commission. Her outrage over the lack of restrictions on sewage
treatment and discharge into the ocean led to community organizing in her living
room, followed by the creation of Heal the Bay and the watershed councils for
the San Gabriel and Los Angeles rivers.<BR><BR>I assumed a person of her
background might choose to have her ashes scattered over a bay she has helped
heal. But Green shook her head, calling herself more traditional than
that.<BR><BR>"Bury me in the soil," she said with a devil-may-care grin. "Worms
crawl in, worms crawl out."<BR><BR>I asked Green if she thought it was easier to
face death having made a great contribution to society and knowing she's left a
lasting mark.<BR><BR>That's not something she'd given much thought to, she said,
as if such rumination would be a waste of precious time.<BR><BR>"It's been a
good life. A very rewarding life," she admitted.<BR><BR>She regrets that she
won't be around to see 3-year-old granddaughter Tara grow up, and she regrets
all the unfinished business. But she's not finished just yet.<BR><BR>She and
Krieger were scheduled to meet today and strategize on fundraising for
California Water Impact Network. I promised Green I would direct readers to the
website, so they could educate themselves on the issues she's so passionate
about.<BR><BR>So please, dear readers, take a look at www.C-Win.org. Or spend a
few minutes at www.healthebay.org.<BR><BR>You might get angry; you might even
get involved.<BR><BR>And Dorothy Green's great legacy, in spite of her modesty,
will only grow.<BR><BR>steve.lopez@latimes.com<BR><BR><BR><BR>If you want other
stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives.<BR>TMS
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