You don't have to be an environmentalist.
brianlux
Posts: 42,053
Question: What is an environmentalist? A good an easy answer is found here in this Wikipedia link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmen ... mentalists
If you scroll down the article you'll come to a list of many wonder and honorable people who have worked to protect the environment. To be included in such a list would surely be a high honor and I have the greatest respect for most if not all of these people. And yet I find it interesting to note the omission one important name here: Edward Abbey.
Edward Abbey was a marvelous writer and social critic. He is often credited with founding or at least being highly influential in the founding of Earth First!. He made the following statements:
Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.
Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself.
A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled surfaces. We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it.
I am not an atheist but an earthiest. Be true to the earth.
The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders.
etc.
So why is Abbey not on Wikipedia's list of important environmentalists? A Wiki-omission? Possibly, but I'd like to think it's because Wikipedia recognized that Edward Abbey was hesitant to label himself as such. He saw that within the environmental movement there was (and is) a lot of hypocrisy and self-serving going on. Like some others of us, he tended to shy away from being boxed in with labels. He recognized that an “ist” is akin to something like being a “fundamentalist”- the demand for a strict adherence a doctrine- something he wanted no part of.
My point is that some people may tend to shy away from engaging in the act of defense of the wilderness and the protection of the environment because they don't want to be associated with a label. You don’t have to label yourself or align yourself with a designation or label to care for the world in which we live. It’s certainly not a bad thing to do, but you don’t have to "be an environmentalist" to stand up for and help preserve the ecosystems that support us and all of life on earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmen ... mentalists
If you scroll down the article you'll come to a list of many wonder and honorable people who have worked to protect the environment. To be included in such a list would surely be a high honor and I have the greatest respect for most if not all of these people. And yet I find it interesting to note the omission one important name here: Edward Abbey.
Edward Abbey was a marvelous writer and social critic. He is often credited with founding or at least being highly influential in the founding of Earth First!. He made the following statements:
Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.
Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself.
A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled surfaces. We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it.
I am not an atheist but an earthiest. Be true to the earth.
The idea of wilderness needs no defense, it only needs defenders.
etc.
So why is Abbey not on Wikipedia's list of important environmentalists? A Wiki-omission? Possibly, but I'd like to think it's because Wikipedia recognized that Edward Abbey was hesitant to label himself as such. He saw that within the environmental movement there was (and is) a lot of hypocrisy and self-serving going on. Like some others of us, he tended to shy away from being boxed in with labels. He recognized that an “ist” is akin to something like being a “fundamentalist”- the demand for a strict adherence a doctrine- something he wanted no part of.
My point is that some people may tend to shy away from engaging in the act of defense of the wilderness and the protection of the environment because they don't want to be associated with a label. You don’t have to label yourself or align yourself with a designation or label to care for the world in which we live. It’s certainly not a bad thing to do, but you don’t have to "be an environmentalist" to stand up for and help preserve the ecosystems that support us and all of life on earth.
“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.
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Comments
This can be applied beyond people.
I like mr abbey
My favorite line of his writing.
"You can experience more by walking a mile-than driving all over the park."
i recycle my neighbors' plastic bullshit. i could do better i can tell you that
i honestly feel if you are against earth first you should be hung, drawn & quartered. if only i had some authority
cigarette butt littering fuckers would be fined & if tossed down cigarette butts a 2nd time around, jailed & physically slapped around
start researching the great pacific garbage patch if you want to puke, cry & throttle people. it will take a very long time for the oceans to clean themselves but it can happen, but it won't ever happen if people keep on keeping on with plastics & other bullshit materials. yes i know tsunamis sweep/suck out entire villages, houses & cars floating thousands of miles across the way
deforestation drives me out of my mind. i feel most humans are carefree & do not give a fuck about this planet. a great number of these kinds of people run governments.
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
I may not be all for labels Chadwick, but if I were to describe you by what you said here I would say you are an Earth Warrior. We are at a point where more of us need to stand up and be Earth Warriors.
As for cigarette butts, I heard this story about a lady who saw a guy throw a butt out his car window. He was stuck in traffic so she ran up, grabbed the extinguished butt, tossed it in his window and said, "Excuse me, you dropped this." So yesterday I saw I guy throw a butt on the ground as I walked passed and said, "Excuse me, I think you dropped something." He ignored me so I said it again, pointing to the butt. This guy was about twice my size and glared at me but I just stood there looking at the butt and he finally picked it up. I guess I'm lucky not to be a Wounded Earth Warrior.
fish eat plastic believing it to be tiny fish foods. marine birds eat plastic believing it to be tiny fishes. let us use our heads to imagine this cycle/food chain
DANGEROUS
it may be possible that if we are consuming wild ass fish today, tomorrow or have consumed wild fish yesterday we have most probably consumed some form of plastics. hell, i guess the chinese are putting plastic (filler) pellets in dog food & have been caught full on using plastic (filler) in those microwave bullshit sandwiches
i am glad you didn't get into a violent conflict w/ the cigarette butt litter bug
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
For the most part I do, though I'm not quick to label myself an environmentalist, just as I'm hesitant to label myself anything (although if others choose to slap one on me, so be it). The term, to me anyway, discounts the beautiful nuances, internal conflicts, and natural hypocrisies of who we are as human beings.
It's like having to choose a political party. Why can't I just vote for whom I think is best? I've been registered as a Democrat, as a Republican, currently as an Independent, and have been thinking of heading down the Libertarian road.
Labels and ugliness have been attached to each one. Which again goes back to how ultimately, they're useless to me.
(If you have one) Let your conscience be your guide. Tried and (trite but?) true.
a basketball player is a basketball player
a math professor is a educator
a mountain climber is a mountain climber
a hunter is a hunter
a fisherman is a fisherman
a environmental scientist is a environmental scientist
a baby is a baby
a butthole is a butthole
a ant is a ant
a radio dj is a dj
a artist is a artist
a farmer is not a golfer
a steel worker is not a bartender
a hiker is not a volleyball player
a bicyclist is not a motorcyclist
a rain storm is not a snow storm
thunder aint lightning
if someone climbs towers they are not an apple tree
if someone is into helping out the planet & wildlife, they are an environmentalist/conservationalist
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
I agree, Chadwick. If you are helping plants, animals, the planet, you are doing the work of environmentalism and conservation (love that word, conservation!) What I'm trying to do, I guess, is give "an out" for those who want to help with planetary wellness (oooh, there's a p.c. sounding term
For the record, I don't mind being called (or not) an environmentalist, conservationist or even briansux.
But I don't really care; I may not like labels, but at the same time, I simply don't care what anyone else thinks. As the saying goes: "What anyone else thinks of me is none of my business".
Nothing, as far as I know. But what's interesting is that Paganism is not easily defined and the definitions vary. Just to start with, it can be broken to classical paganism and neo- or modern paganism. One definition states: Paganism encompasses a diverse community with some groups concentrating on specific traditions, practices or elements such as ecology, witchcraft, Celtic traditions or certain gods. That's a diverse group of pagan foci!
How do you define paganism and what aspect of it do you emphasize?
The ticket was reduced to $100.
My dad didn't make him pay up on the bet.
pagans are pagans
i am amazed ppl have issue w/ being labeled as what they believe themselves to be
it is called being weak
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
I just find labels...confining.
Sure Buddhists are Buddhists. But aren't they - and we, by the same token - also so much more?
labels are not confining unless you allow that
are the colors blue, yellow, green & red confined to being blue, yellow, green & red? no they are not. they are colors created by nature & they are alive & well doing what they do & they do a lot
endless actually
confining starts inside very far from a label
as a matter of fact, labels do not exist outside a library of catergory. throw a labeled human on the sidewalk & they are invisible as it does not matter
to me... stop worrying about labels & focus on the inside, the inner voice, feelings, the songs of the earth & sky, it is so simple to just be
but no matter what we will be under labels of some kind because we are.
until we are not, the great, violent & turbulent black holes of the universes breathe & exhale
do not show weakness until it is time to love, then and only then will we battle in labeled hearts
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
"Hear me, my chiefs!
I am tired; my heart is
sick and sad. From where
the sun stands I will fight
no more forever."
Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Oh boy, feeling pressured here...
I'm not exactly a practicing anything (Agnostic), but if I were, I classify myself closer to Paganism and even Buddhism than anything else. Put me down with a closeness to ecology. Not necessarily witchcraft or honoring certain gods.
Earth-centered religion or Nature worship is a system of religion based on the veneration of natural phenomena.[1] It covers any religion that worships the Earth, Nature, or fertility gods and goddesses, such as the various forms of goddess worship or matriarchal religion. Also most Indian religions can be included in Earth religion. Some find a connection between Earth-worship and the Gaia hypothesis. Earth religions are also formulated to allow one to utilize the knowledge of preserving the Earth. - Wikipedia
No pressure at all!
"Earth religions are also formulated to allow one to utilize the knowledge of preserving the Earth." I like that!
You might appreciate and enjoy a book by Tom Hayden called The Lost Gospel of the Earth: A Call for Renewing Nature, Spirit and Politics
"...I changed by not changing at all..."
I agree, I walk my dog every night and I live in the country. I carry a bag with me and pick up garbage all the time. There is also a park right by me and I walk my dog there too. It is full of trash, it pisses me off so bad. When I am with my husband walking, I get on my soapbox about it. He always tells me to calm down, but littering is just total laziness and uncalled for. I love nature, I have an extremely stressful job and when I get home, I immediately surround myself in nature, my own beautiful backyard, walking etc. It brings me such serenity, so when I see it polluted, I wig out!!! Also, I have those aluminum water bottles that I drink out of everyday and wash and reuse. All this plastic is destroying the oceans.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WrahQpIWD08
Good god, I love me some Louis.