An Unreasonable Woman

Interview

An Unreasonable Woman: An interview with Diane Wilson

Thruth Out
By Kelpie Wilson
March 28, 2006

Diane Wilson is the author of An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas (Chelsea Green, 2005). It is a remarkable book, telling the story of Wilson's life as female shrimp boat captain and an environmental activist fighting devastating toxic pollution from chemical and plastics manufacturers on the Texas Gulf Coast.

But I have to confess, when the book was first recommended to me, I hesitated to read it. As an environmental activist, I have my own personal history of endless hours of research, boring meetings, scary confrontations, nasty intimidation and the infighting that goes along with these struggles, and I wasn't sure that I wanted to hear all the gritty details of someone else's pains and triumphs. Lois Gibbs, the courageous activist mother of Love Canal, said the same thing in her review of An Unreasonable Woman in Orion Magazine. But like Gibbs, I was hooked after the first page. For one thing, the Texas Gulf Coast seems to be unlike any other place on the planet.

Molly Ivins and others have called An Unreasonable Woman a masterpiece of American literature, and I agree. First, there is the poetry of Wilson's language. I can only compare her to fiction writers like Cormac McCarthy and Annie Proulx. She wraps her tender descriptions of her beloved Lavaca Bay around poignant inner reflections, while rendering the home-grown dialogue and emotionally tense social ecology of her community with complete authenticity.

Environmental Fugitives--Diane Wilson and Warren Anderson

Corporate Watchdog Media
November 15, 2005

Diane Wilson and Warren Anderson are both fugitives. Fisherwoman Diane Wilson has been charged with criminal trespass for hanging a banner at a Dow Chemical/Union Carbide facility that said "Dow - Responsible for Bhopal". She received a six month jail sentence for that, which she is due to serve.

Warren Anderson was the CEO of Union Carbide back in 1984 when the Carbide plant in India spewed toxic gases into the surrounding community and killed more than 20,000 people. He visited Bhopal shortly after the incident, and agreed to return for any legal proceedings. After leaving, he was charged, along with Union Carbide, with manslaughter for those thousands of deaths. However, Anderson and Carbide have refused to return to India to face trial. In the eyes of the Indian courts, they are fugitives from the law.

Listen to an audio log of fugitive Diane Wilson's quest to find fugitive Warren Anderson and "talk some sense into him."

Texan Environmental Activist Diane Wilson: Why I Refuse to go Jail

Democracy Now with Amy Goodman
October 11, 2005

Listen to Amy Goodman's interview with Diane Wilson. A transcript of the interview is also available.

The Erin Brockovich of Shrimp

Beyone Organics Radio
Ocotober 5, 2005

Join host Jerry Kay, publisher of the Environmental News Network, as we hear all about Diane Wilson's new book: An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters, and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas. Download available at Beyond Organics.

Diane Wilson on Writer's Voice

October 1, 2005

Writer's Voice hosts Francesca Rheannon and Daisy Mathias talk with Diane Wilson, author of AN UNREASONABLE WOMAN: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters and the Fight for Seadrift, Texas. Download the mp3 from the Writer's Voice web site.

Diane Rehm in terviews Diane Wilson

The Diane Rehm Show
September 28, 2005

A shrimper turned activist turned environmentalist tells the story of how she took on the giant corporations polluting the beloved Texas Gulf Coast bay where she and her family lived. Download the interview at the Diane Rehm Show web site.

Changing the Conversation: Diane Wilson

A podcast from Bioneers

Diane Wilson proved that one "ordinary" woman could force a giant chemical company to change its destructive ways. In this exclusive podcast, Kristin Rothballer of Bioneers talks with Ms. Wilson about how one "unreasonable woman" can change the world.

Life is Not a Spectator Sport

Satya
November 2002

Diane Wilson is a force to be reckoned with, something some of the world’s worst industrial polluters have learned. A fourth-generation shrimper, Diane spent her life in Seadrift, Texas, fishing off the Gulf Coast, that is, until she noticed something. The surrounding area is informally known as the “cancer capital of the world” because of the number of chemical plants that dumped toxic waste into the water, which was killing the fish and making people sick.

After calling meetings, writing letters, etc., Diane realized that she was getting nowhere. The influence of Big Business over politicians was too great. So this small-town mother of five went on a hunger strike, just like that. Two more strikes went unnoticed, so Diane decided to sink her boat on top of one of the pipes dumping record amounts of PVCs into the bay, and demanded a stop to it. That was the beginning of a life of activism and civil disobedience.

Recently, Diane jumped the fence of a Union Carbide plant in her hometown, scaled a tower and chained herself to it for eight hours. She was raising awareness about the victims of the Union Carbide chemical plant explosion in Bhopal, India, which instantly killed between 15,000 and 20,000 people. Hundreds of thousands still suffer serious health problems and have seen no justice—no corporate official was ever held accountable. Dow Chemical recently purchased Union Carbide, yet refuses to clean up the highly toxic mess or stop the poison that still leaks from the plant. Last month, the Indian courts upheld charges of culpable homicide against Union Carbide and then-CEO Warren Anderson, and charges were also brought against Dow Chemical.

Diane also raised eyebrows when she and Medea Benjamin of Global Exchange disrupted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s testimony to Congress and challenged his support for war against Iraq. Catherine Clyne recently spoke with Diane Wilson about her hell-raising.

For those unfamiliar with your story, what would you start off with?
That I’m a fisherman, from four generations of shrimpers in one community, and I think that has a lot to say about what kind of activist I am. There’s all kinds of activists or environmentalists or whatever you want to call them—and I take a great deal of pride in saying I’m a grassroots activist. It’s like from the land and the sea and the people that I live among; it’s an organic thing, because it’s not only your livelihood, it’s your home, it’s your community. I’ve got four generations in one town, so it’s the future as I can imagine it. And that’s why I battle here.

Read the rest of the interview