Condit Dam Removal in Progress

This site gives the history and will be providing a blow by blow as this dam on the White Salmon River in Washington is removed. The boaters are excited because dams are always built where there is substantial gradient and sufficient constriction to make construction easy. Which means there's whitewater under there. Good whitewater.

People get hassled for living unconventionally

http://offgridsurvival.com/livingoffthegridcrime/

There are lots of stories here of self sufficient people getting run off their land for weak reasons. All over the US you can get in trouble for having a homestead that looks junky. It has happened to friends of mine. Bill had to get rid of his volkswagon collection because the neighbors supposedly thought it was an eyesore. He could have supplied his community with running vehicles for generations to come from that collection, but it is gone. It seems to me that we can allow self sufficient and creative people to collect materials for their projects on their land. If there really is a visual issue some kind of fencing or green living screen could be required. And whatever laws about decency we agree to, multinational corporations must also obey. Perhaps it would be useful to define quality of life--not for the individual, but for all humans, so that we could begin with a reasonable basis for such decisions. We don't just want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we want clean air, fresh water, whole food, quiet and space to pursue our missions in life... The link is a pretty impassioned statement from a few outliers who get hassled by authorities.