My hippie roommate (a sweet girl, a good friend, and an endless source of amusement) just returned from that climate control conference they had in the Hague last week. She met a wonderful hippie guy from Stanford there, and in order to prove his worth to me, said, “oh, he’s cute, he’s very nice, and he’s RICH!”
Aaargh. Does ANYBODY here know an environmentalist who isn’t white and doesn’t come from a wealthy background? I find it so damn frustrating to argue with my roommate’s friends about protecting jobs when they’ve never known life without an SUV and a five billion square foot house in Grosse Pointe.
(A side note: I asked who a certain girl was in one of her photos. My roommate called her a “fat ugly dyke”. So much for peace, love, and understanding.)
Well, I would suppose that would depend on your definition of environmentalism. My father is a lower-middle-class (or is that upper-lower-class?) dairy farmer who’s a fanatic about keeping the land in as good of shape as it was when he started - using chemicals only when absolutely necessary, protecting the wetland on our farm.
In his spare time he’s an officer in an organization (Pheasants Forever) that works to protect and preserve nesting land for ringneck pheasants, and also supports and organization that does the same for wetland birds (Ducks Unlimited).
I’m guessing that wasn’t what you were looking for?
I’m an old, far-from-wealthy ‘redneck’ who is a member of two conservation organizations, does wild animal rescue and rehab (mainly specializing in reptiles), and educational seminars at schools and Scout camps. I’m pretty rabid about it and I like to think I’m doing some good.
I guess I’m thinking of the people you see at those “save the fucking polar bears, you assholes” rallies, and kids like my roommate says attended this climate control conference with her.
Listening to her, it seems like the greatest thing they accomplished last week was leaving stockings stuffed with coal at the hotels where some of the more ornery delegates were staying. They got the coal when a Greenpeace ship hijacked a barge carrying coal to a Dutch power plant.
“So, how’re all those people going to have heat in their homes?”
“Um… um… well, they were trying to make a statement.”
“Yes, but how will they heat their homes?”
“Uhh…” subject changes
I guess I’m thinking of the people you see at those “save the fucking polar bears, you assholes” rallies, and kids like my roommate says attended this climate control conference with her. "
I and many others feel that Greenpeace is actually hurting us with some of their more outrageous tatics. However, a peaceful demonstration, within the law, at some of these meetings is good. However, the only way to accomplish our goals is to change peoples attitudes, as was done with the American Alligator.
Aw shit! I’ve gone and hi-jacked it! I told ya I was rabid!
Well, it depends on whether you think pretty much the rest of the world is white and wealthy. I have no idea how your media is reporting what happened but there are a lot of unhappy people and Governments around the world at the moment:
"Sir Crispin Tickell, the former British ambassador to the UN, told BBC News Online: "We have a real problem in so far as the biggest industrial country in the world has not even submitted the (Kyoto Protocol) agreement to congress.
“The Americans in this area are very much the villains of the piece. They’ve not gone along with Kyoto and yet they are unquestionably the largest polluter with 4% of the world’s population and 25% of greenhouse gas emissions,” he said."
“If these bloody polar bears would be fucking a bit harder, they wouldn’t need saving. So there :D”
Hahaha! Good one, Coldy!
London, I entirely agree and am highly pissed that this country insists putting profit ahead of the welfare of the world. There’s an old saying: Ya don’t shit where ya eat."
our own juniper200 had some nice things to say about you at our annual Thanksgiving bash last Saturday; unfortunately, I had to reply with “Coldfire WHO?” I’ll never make that mistake again…
No. We qualify as white but certainly not rich. FWIW I’ve known many, many environmentalists who are not white, not rich and not college kids.
I am guessing that it has a lot to do with your social circles Do you mostly know white college kids? I don’t and I certainly don’t know many rich college kids if any.
Animal rescue is a bitch. I’ve been clawed and bitten by everything from raccoons to beavers. And yes, I’ve had to deal with skunks. Fortunatly, most of my rescues are snakes. Even the venomous are easy to deal with.
But what I do, even with the seminars, is a miniscule drop in the bucket; no, sea. One animal here and there amounts to little more than nothing. All of my fractured verbage is only a microscopic bit more. I’d like to see environrmental classes taught at both grade and high school levels, and required for credit at college.
By next year at this time I’ll (hopefully) qualify as a white college kid, but I’m missing out on the rich part, although I’m sure my family is wealthier than an unfortunately large number of others. My parents are hard working teachers who’ve earned every cent we have, and I certainly havn’t lived in the lap of luxury.
I’ve also worked my but off these last few years volunteering for local environmental organizations (sorry, no taking over coal-carrying ships here, mostly just trying to raise awareness and influence legislation and the like).
The environment was tainted in the story. How many POOR environmentalists from the US will travel to the Hague to attend a conference? Some will, but many attendees, while maybe not rich, have enough money to go to Europe when they want to.
Are the only people who go to Florida for spring break rich white college kids?
They are the ones with the spare time and spare cash to travel around and do the stuff that gets in the papers.
Or…since they don’t have to make a daily struggle to survive. They are not worried about paying all the bills this month or thinking ‘we can let that bill slide but we have to pay this one now’. Because they don’t have to do those things on a daily basis they can look at the big picture.
BTW Do you think that polluted river runs by rich peoples houses or poor peoples houses?
They really are looking out for everyone’s best interest, not just trying to make some people lose their jobs.
