A couple of intersting articles
here and
here.
You might also find
this to your liking.
While you and I are often on opposite sides of the socio-political divide, Lexi, I'm always happy to encounter and encourage free thought, especially up here in the hills.
Those are great articles, thanks! The comments presented in the first article are also worth a read.
I haven't looked thoroughly at the link yet, but it looks like a worthwhile pursuit.
I've never really thought of environmentalism as a political stance, (I'm speaking of your common garden variety environmentalism and not that of fanatics), yet many people do. I don't like to put myself into boxes and I try not to put others into boxes either.
I have this great story about what happens when you put other people into boxes, which is a lesson I sometimes find myself having to re-learn, or at least be reminded of on occasion. Back just before the millennium, I belonged to a couple of email groups, one being a political debate group and the other an offshoot of the misc.survivalism usenet group.
Anyway, there was an older man that was also a member of both groups who, as you put it, had views that placed us on opposite sides of the socio-political divide. We argued just about every subject under the sun for months and months on the political group, every once in a while breaking down into some really heated exchanges. So one day, someone posted a link about something to do with the environment and a couple of the group members jumped in to debase the view. I read through the exchanges that were going on and prepared myself for a fight, since I was waiting for Gene to hop in there and try to pluck me to pieces. But much to my surprise (and to the surprise of pretty much the rest of the group) Gene jumped in and
defended me. Turns out that as right leaning as he was, he was also an avid environmentalist. So much for boxes.
My take on environmentalism is simple. It's like I tell my kids everyday. You drop it, pick it up. You dirty it, clean it up. I don't think we can all be super heroes, but we can do little things to make a difference. Recycle. Take your batteries to the hazardous waste collection. Don't buy things that you really don't need. And I'm guilty too, even though I try. It's easy to be wasteful. It's much more difficult to be personally responsible. I've been slacking. I admit that I haven't yet bought my reusable shopping bags. But I try, and I keep trying, and I expect that it's all anyone can do.
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