Author: Jake Voorhees (Page 2 of 2)

One of the aspects of the discussion that intrigued me this week was the idea of monkeywrenching portrayed by Edward Abbey and Dave Foreman and the contrast to that of Bidder 70 and Tim DeChristopher. Abbey and Foreman depict their type of activism as aggressive and unorganized attacks on the objects that they view as destroying the landscape, while DeChristopher went about it in a peaceful way and was able to galvanize support even though he ultimately went to jail for his actions.

However, one of the differences between Abbey and Foreman and the way they described monkeywrenching was fascinating to me. In The Monkey Wrench Gang, Abbey depicts monkeywrenching as a fun fictional activity that inspires the readers to connect with the characters. I think that by the end of the novel Abbey has created a connection with the readers and made the characters seem like ordinary people that just wanted to make a difference in the stoppage of environmental destruction. After reading chapter 12 of Foreman’s Confessions of an Eco-Warrior, it seemed as if they were describing two very different processes. In chapter 12, Foreman takes the stance of trying to rationalize why monkeywrenching is an acceptable practice by attacking the arguments against monkeywrenching. I found the language that he used during the chapter as self-promoting or downright controversial. One of the lines from the chapter that struck me was when he said: “Monkeywrenching is a proud American tradition, existing happily in the shadows while decorous American bow before the brightly lit Great God Private Property.” I found this statement to be a concerning one for the idea of his activism because it seemed to mock other people who were not participating in monkeywrenching and heap praise on to himself because he has been someone who had been monkeywrenching.

The contrast to monkeywrenching would be the activism shown by Tim DeChristopher. DeChristopher “bought” 2.5 million dollars’ worth of land in Utah that had been scheduled for oil drilling. DeChristopher had no intention of drilling or purchasing the property; instead, he wanted to stop the land from turning into an industrial area near national parks. His actions started a movement towards warning people about the effects of global warming. On the flip side, DeChristopher finds himself in a precarious situation of being prosecuted by the US government for disrupting the sale of land. He then uses that attention to convey a positive message and starts a group called Peaceful Uprising and supported a new candidate for the House of Representatives. DeChristopher wound up paying the price for his actions and was sentenced to two years in federal prison, but the movement that he had created was a positive one for change and remains a powerful message about what activism can create. We need to use the DeChristopher case as an example of what needs to be done in the future and how to be a disruptor, but one that brings a positive and meaningful movement forward.

One of the most difficult characteristics of any activist movement is how to define what is good activism and what is bad activism. Each person has a different definition of what activism is, as well as what qualifies as good activism or bad activism. I thought it was interesting that The Monkey Wrench Gang was such an influential book for the environmental movement because it is what I would consider bad activism.

A frustrating part of being an activist is the painstakingly slow progress that it can sometimes take to accomplish specific goals. For example, DDT was used from the start of WWII until 1972 in the United States, even though Silent Spring was published ten years earlier. However, in Edward Abbey’s novel, The Monkey Wrench Gang, no such action was waited for as the characters in the book sought to make a difference. These characters resorted to destruction and even in some cases the use of explosives to try and make their difference known. This tactic differed from the environmental movement of today; many of the current actions take place in the courtroom or different governmental offices. The juxtaposition to the movements of today, at first made it difficult to relate to the characters. After rereading the passages, I realized that the things they were doing, while poor decisions, were choices that they felt would make an immediate impact. By destroying bulldozers or blowing up bridges, the monkey wrench gang drew attention to the atrocities being committed by humans upon nature. When Edward Abbey wrote the novel, the environmental movement was in its infancy and these acts appeared to have a direct impact on the industries degrading nature.

The environmental movement was spurred onward by this novel and I think this can be contributed to the way that Abbey describes the landscape in the book. Abbey used elegant and descriptive language to depict the nature around the gang. Abbey writes, “the cool twilight of dawn. Jaybirds crying in the pinyon pines. A band of pearl and ivory spread across the east.” Abbey’s figurative phrasing illustrated how Abbey makes the readers feel as if they are in the wilderness with the gang. The vivid imagery creates a romantic feel that the readers cannot escape. The way he depicts nature creates a feeling of beauty and love for nature, which leads the reader to condemn the destruction of it by man.

Even though I think what they did was bad activism, The Monkey Wrench Gang illustrates the beauty of nature, and it brings the conversation of the morality of destroying nature to the forefront.

In Margaret Atwood’s article “Its Not Climate Change- Its Everything Change,” I thought the range of pictures highlighted the different scenarios that the world could be approaching if we do not address climate change. I was struck by the conversation that we had in class about who controlled the story in the media. The words “realistic” and “normal” really stood out to me because they stem from the definition that I have of climate change from the different news outlets. When I looked at the pictures from the first two scenarios, I thought those were unreasonable. In the first scenario, the idea illustrated with the images and the words accompanying them seem like a far-fetched reality where houses are using better materials and the fibers used to make clothing comes from hemp instead of cotton. Scenario two was no more believable with carnage and chaos abound, and the world seemed like it would ultimately be ruined. However, I think that Atwood did this because she wanted the reader to believe scenario three. Scenario three shows a world in which some countries have abandoned oil and find alternative energy sources while others show little to no change.

I think Atwood did an incredible job leading us into scenario three because she talked about events that are happening in the world right now. Germany’s Energiewende has promoted renewable energy that covers 32% of the electrical consumption. However, the United States refuses to change their base load and continues to use coal and natural gas to supply energy.

The other class conversation that resonated with me was when we were talking about what the definition of what climate change is. When the question was posed, I just sat in my seat dumbfounded because I did not have an exact answer. Once we began to break down all that encompasses climate change, I realized why it is such a difficult concept to explain because it is incredibly multifaceted. However, once we started researching the different factors of climate change, it was apparent that there were even more elements that I had never thought of that would be impacted. Species are going extinct at 10,000 times the background rate. More and more species are going extinct, and species are becoming more homogenized. The loss of biodiversity is incredibly concerning because the species that are coming in and filling the niches of extinct organisms are typically invasive. Alien invasive species have contributed to the Cape Town drought, and Cape Town may be the first major city in the world to lose water. This realization made me hesitate a little more when I scoffed at the idea of the worldwide chaos. Atwood may have been a little far-fetched but perhaps this is the beginning of that world and now is the time to end that reality.

Name: Jake Voorhees

Hometown: Sacramento, CA

Major: Political Science and Environmental Science

Three topics that interest me:  Western states water rights laws, megafauna conservation, and demarginalization of indigenous groups from protected areas.

Interesting exciting bit of news I read today:  I was just in Cape Town so reading about how the city has approximately until April 22 until the city shuts off water and is the first major city to lose all water.