Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Do not call me an Environmentalist

I do not want to breathe poisonous air.

I do not want to drink foul water.

That does not make me an environmentalist.

That makes me a normal human being.

Don’t call me an environmentalist because I want to breathe clean air and drink clean water.

That’s like calling a boy who wants to read an “aggressive pro-reading radical.”

That’s like calling a girl who does not want to be raped a “hardcore anti-rape protester.”

That’s like calling a family who does not want to become human slaves “unyielding anti-slavery partisans.”

That’s like calling a starving baby an “anti-hunger activist.”

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Photo: 3,000 year old agate spear point from the Sebasticook River, Winslow, Maine. Found by Ricky Churchill of Manomet, Massachusetts after the removal of the Fort Halifax Dam. August, 2008.


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 16 Comments

16 comments

  1. John Allen

    environmentalist is a dirty word. I don’t see it that way.

    Teddy Roosevelt was an environmentalist. Jane Goodall is an environmentalist. Rachel Carson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. belong to that group. There’s nothing wrong with being an environmentalist.

    environmentalist:

    1. an expert on environmental problems.

    2. any person who advocates or works to protect the air, water, animals, plants, and other natural resources from pollution or its effects.

    I’ll proudly accept the term environmentalist. I’ve been a fisherman and hunter for most of my life. There was a time when camping, canoeing, hiking, backpacking, fishing, hunting, wildlife and landscape photography were my most treasured pursuits. Those activities give you a real appreciation for a clean, natural environment.

    I understand where you are coming from with the following statements. I just don’t agree with the viewpoint.

    That’s like calling a boy who wants to read an “aggressive pro-reading radical.”

    That’s like calling a girl who does not want to be raped a “hardcore anti-rape protester.”

    That’s like calling a family who does not want to become human slaves “unyielding anti-slavery partisans.”

    That’s like calling a starving baby an “anti-hunger activist.”

    It’s more like calling someone who likes to read ‘pro-books’.

    It’s like calling a woman who is against rape ‘pro-safety’.

    It’s like calling people who don’t want to become slaves ‘pro-freedom’.

    It’s like calling a starving baby a ‘victim’.

    Environmentalists are not anti. They are pro. Pro-health, pro-clean air, pro-clean water, pro-wildlife, pro-quality of life.

  3. Chris Blask

    you have to look pretty hard to find anyone “pro-death”.

    In fact, some of the most active environmentalists are Conservatives (hunters, anglers), so “environmentalist” even has an incorrect “liberal hippie” ring to it.  Just another problem with Labels…

    The key is whether we do anything about it.

  7. KLRinLA

    All people want clean water and clean air, regardless of any conscious thought about it, as it is a function of life/physiological need.  

    What you are stating is that you are not an environmentalist.  If you are not an active in improving the environment, then you are  not an environmentalist.  If you appreciate the environment and want the government or companies to do something about it but do nothing yourself, then your still not an environmentalist.

    Why you have been offended by Drew’s diary is beyond me, unless you think, as others have pointed out, that environmentalist is a word with which to denigrate someone or use it as a label to describe some atypical behavior (or freaky behavior) as weird or dumb.

    I respect environmentalists, I do not use that word to denigrate someone.  I may use it to describe someone who does atypical behavior, like avoiding any consumption of products that contain plastic, because, that is currently atypical behavior, but there is nothing negative about it.

    Sitting in a tree to keep it from being cut down, is a bit radical, no?  Is that negative? No.

    Assholes,  some lobbyists, some politicans, and people with vested interests use that word negatively.  Lets not let those people define the meaning or tone of the word.

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