It's Time to Mother Nature
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 03.16.08
Do you wish you could send a message -- to the government, to the people, out into the world -- that it is time to act to save our planet? Adrian Saker is no longer wishing; he is acting. Adrian believes his line "It's Time to Mother Nature" is original. He has not trademarked nor registered this line, but chooses to give his creative slogan away to the environmental movement. And he has put the Secret Service on notice: he is planning to break the law.
Adrian Saker has announced in his blog householdname:
Dear Secret Service,As an act of civil disobedience I'm risking a $5,000 fine and six months in prison (under U.S. 18 U.S.C. 331) for this line I penned and have been printing on every bank note that passes through my hands, but it's a chance I'm willing to take to send the White House a message.
By posting his intentions in writing, Adrian certainly demonstrates that he is willing to take personal risks to make his statement because it would be easy to stamp paper currency in private and get the message out with little risk of pursuit. Henry David Thoreau would surely approve. We hope Adrian stamps the bills or check he sends to pay his taxes. Maybe the government will take the hint and use the tax dollars for a green boost.
I see this as the ultimate act of free speech. I applaud you!
This takes voting with your money to a whole new level.
This is fantastic. A non-judgmental, not-inflammatory message that will potentially see millions of people.
I'm tempted to procure my own stamp and join in his cause.
Adrian -- if you put this on a shirt I'll buy one and help cover that potential fine. It's a great slogan and one I can see many MANY people sporting.
Go You!
its green to rid the world of paper money but also very dangerous...
without paper and actual currency than we are in the dangerous world of strictly havin all money be digital, which is an obvious disaster... i m all fo recycling and redusing, but money get reused,... and any "dead" bills get recycled... if anything this guy in his attempt to help is creating more trash,.... I dont think too many paper bills are blowing around the streets and if they are then they are gonna get picked up.... ALL OF US ECO AWARE PEOLE NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE OTHER PARTS OF THE MOVEMENT, AND MAKING ALL OF OUR DOCUMENTATIONS DIGITAL IS HIGHLY DANGEROUS.... IT HELPS SUPPORT THE MICROCHIPS, IT MAKES EVERY MOVE YOU MAKE WITH MONEY TRACEABLE, THEREFORE EVERYTHING U BUY WILL BE WATCHED... PAPER
MONEY SHOULD STAY IN ROTATION, AS LONG AS WE ReUSE THE MATERIALS FROM IT AND ALWAYS RECYCLE OLDER BILLS.... EVERYONE HAS TO REALIZE THE WORLDS ELITE ARE FINALLY FOR THE LAST 3 years admitting to the GLOBAL WARMING problem, BEFORE THEY FLAT OUT DENIED IT..... LEtting us worry soley about the enviroment is their focus, as it takes us away from paying attention to the economy, them taking away ourrights to be free and have privacy, them putting microchips in people.... IT distracts us from all the other aspects of a GREEN MOVEMENT...
Paper trails are key to block corruptions.... look how bush stole 2 elections... now he is implementing electronic elections.... hmmm that seems green doesnt it. ???? no paper gets used.... it must be good right ??? ... WAtch out my fellow green heads , we are being fooled.,... they are using the green movement against us ...
Really? Graffiti on money is somehow going to raise awareness of taking care of our planet? Hate to be the pessimist here, but the energy could be much better spent actually doing something to improve the planet rather than putting words on money. For those of us that are already green-minded, we might applaud if we saw this on cash. For those that are not, they might think this silly (or worse).
I guess my concern is that we want to work within the law to spread awareness. Or, better yet, just do whatever we can personally rather than trying to force others. By setting an example we can change the world one person at a time. This is not likely to change anyone's perspective.
It's time to mass produce that stamp...
There's a difference between being able to express your thoughts and damaging something that does not belong to you.
How would you feel if someone were to spray paint their message on your car, your favorite coat, your forehead, ...?
Seems to me that this action is more likely to piss off people than convince them that they need to change their ways.
(Speaking from experience. I received a twenty printed with a racist message.)
Taking on quite a risk to get your point across is certainly commendable. There are only a few people who would be courageous enough to do what Adrian Saker has started to do.
But the fact of the matter is, if the government will not take heed on what they see, perhaps what people may be saying can do the dirty work and wake them up.
Risky but at least you can see the number of people who are committed to make sure that the world needs dire attention as far as saving the environment is concerned.
It is cool to protest and be responsible of the consecuences. It needs a lot of courage.
Congratulations.
Indeed. =D
Might as well stamp on it, "please raise my taxes to pay for more currency pointlessly destroyed"
Banks pull these out of circulation, and they are shredded and replaced with new bills.
Why doesn't he at least attempt to do it for a while in anonymity? I think it's great that he wrote the note, but shouldn't he do it in a place where he might get away with it for a while while they track him down?
I think this is a super idea.
It'll be incredible if one of those bills passes through MY hands.
Sounds like another person looking for fame through the green movement.
I believe this is absolutely stupid! Graffiti is a method for drawing attention to self and never represents much else. Defacing money that people will have to suffer with isn't the way to reach the government. I ask you knowing the answer - have you ever written to your congressman or representative stating your views? No? Well give it a try.
For all those who think this is a wonderful idea I can only image that you see very few $20 bills and feel that you will be immune to this defaced money.
And I am deeply concerned that Treehugger would promote this story of civil disobedience. I'm unsubscribing because you just showed you true colors!
Okay first off to the person with the big rant against getting rid of paper money, I think you misread the story. It's about sending a message, not getting rid of paper dollars.
To the person who recieved racist bills, I'm sorry that happened to you, but this message is a lot different, and while people may think the idea is stupid, this is not a hateful message.
In general I think this is a great idea. However JC's comment concerns me because it is the most legitimate complaint against the project. That is unfortunate that they would shred these bills I understand why they would do that, but it is unfortunate.
However does the amount of currency produced actually change year to year or month to month, because somehow I was under the impression a standard amount was printed?
Still I think that before the government or banks got their hands on all of these, they would go to a lot of people, and a lot of people would continue to pass them on. I think this message would spread pretty well, and bills would slip through the cracks, just because people can only be SO vigilant, and this is not really a threat, or counterfeit.
I can't wait til i see one of these bills. I hope he does produce T-shirts, and stamps for others to join in producing these bills.
From what I understand, it is not illegal to write on money as long as it doesn't destroy its use as legal tender (such as cross out the serial numbers)
As for U.S. 18 U.S.C. 331:
§ 331. Mutilation, diminution, and falsification of coins
This code has to do with coins, not cash..
---auth. note---
I believe Adrian has a typo in his blog. He must be referring to section 333, which has to do with paper currency.
I think Adrian Saker should make a business out of it and sell the stamps online. It's a very good idea.
I'm impressed.
---auth. note---
FYI, www.wheresgeorge.com used to sell stamps online and discontinued that practice because of the risk of prosecution under Title 18, Section 475, which forbids marking US currency with any notice or advertisement. Of course, if Adrian is looking to reinforce the public awareness of his campaign with a jail sentence, then another section of legal text may not be an obstacle.
I think the commenters who claim some digital only cash or that these bills will instantly be destroyed are delusional and not reading the article. (It says nothing about going to digital money only, and banks very obviously do NOT pull the money out of circulation as many of us posters have commented on having seen some notes on our bills. And please, do not shout at us when commenting. We are not deaf, even in type!)
I think what this guy is doing is great! (Adrian, I'll help pay your fine, too! Thanks for inspiring me - we all need a bit of that every day so we don't end up with nothing but depression and end-of-the-world predictions to make us stop dead in our tracks and hang it all up!)
While the government may not listen, seeing the message (where not expected - on their cash) may be enough to make one person look at the world and their own actions a little differently. (Though green goggles, perhaps?)
And as Margaret Mead once famously said...well, you know the rest!
Great slogan. Morally maybe its not right to deface currency, but it sure will get into the hands of a lot of people.