What does it mean to be an activist? A social activist? An environmental activist? Why are activists important and what do they contribute to a cause? These are the questions that circulated my mind as I evaluated my personal thoughts on what was and want activism.
While it was easy to use my raw thoughts and emotions to place my vote with the majority and say that the black community leader who sought to educate and help empower individuals in her community was an activist while the vegan extremists who used violence and threats were not, it is much more difficult to take into consideration the implications of these choices. As a community and as citizens of the earth, it is our job to help protect the environment. It is our job to both preserve and conserve aspects of our wilderness, however at our current rate and using our current methods of environmental activism, our future looks very bland.
Currently our idea of environmental activism revolves around education and policymaking. We rely on socially acceptable nonviolent forms of activism such as protesting and education to enact change in governmental policies. In fact, we chose to confide ourselves within the social norms and boundaries and believe in the idea that “If only there were more educators or policymakers then we could save the environment”. However what is this is not the answer? What if the time for peaceful activism is over and the time for action has begun? Although monkeywrenching may only be a temporary solution to many environmental problems, there is no doubt in my mind that it still works.
However, there is a line between activism and terrorism. While I believe that activists need to take more action and stop relying on an unresponsive government, they must not go so far as to inflict terror on those around them. Activists work through empathy for the good or all, while terrorists work to instill their own will upon others. As a result, the current modes of activism must be swayed farther to the right, however not so far as to be considered terrorists.
