During the movie “Bidder 70,” environmental activist Tim DeChristopher disrupts an auction of land to prevent the selling of it to a large oil/gas company. Many people saw this act as an act of environmental activism as it was an “ethical and direct” decision to stop the exploitation of this country’s beautiful lands. Following this act, many fellow environmentalists banded together to form the “Peaceful Uprising” group which used theatre and art tactics to try and spread awareness and make change in the world. While I think this does a good job of spreading awareness, especially to the youth, it still begs the question: is this how we are going to make immediate change? According to fellow environmentalist Bill Mckibben’s article “Do the Math,” http://www.billmckibben.com we need to act and change now. Not tomorrow, not in ten years, but now. If our most promising way of enacting social and political change is through caricatures and ironic plays, will we really be able to put an end to the corrupt oil companies? Will we really be able to reach our goal (limit) of 350 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere? If you ask me, no. The answer to our problems is money and getting people who have the right intentions and mindsets in the positions of power. While that’s easier said than done, I think it’s in everyone’s best interested to work towards getting into the top positions of these companies and changing them from the inside-out, rather than the outside-in. Theoretically it sounds good to keep protesting, but we need changes now and that will only come with power.
Author: Kevin Coward (Page 2 of 2)
With all discussions about the book Monkey Wrench Gang stemming in one way or another from “Environmental terrorism,” it begs the question, what is “true” activism? Can the actions these characters did in the book be justified as activism? To me, no. Activism, in my opinion, is promoting or impeding something with the intention of improving society throughout. “True” activism has a cause for the greater good of society and does not give a reason to not support the cause at hand. In other words, true activism brings justice to the injustices of society. While I’m sure the characters in this book were firm believers that what they were doing was necessary to change the direction in which society was headed, I would argue they crossed the line. On top of vandalism and other ruthless acts, the thing that stood out for me the most was the amount of hypocrisy these characters displayed. In between blowing up bridges and pushing bulldozers off the sides of cliffs, theses characters were littering, tossing cigarette butts on the ground, framing Native Americans for their actions and constantly arguing. While the littering is an obvious example of contradiction, their group dynamic dysfunction is what makes their actions in this book not “true” activism. True activism takes a united group, working as a team for a common goal for the improvement of society. In order for this book to be “true activism,” they have to make me believe and trust the message being made. However, i find a hard time trusting the cause that these characters are fighting for when they can’t even trust themselves. Imagine if the women during the women’s suffrage movement in the early 1900’s were constantly fighting and acting disorganized, would they have accomplished what they did? Or more recently, the people fighting the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline? Activists, throughout history, have accomplished what they have by acting as a cohesive unit and making others believe in their cause. Monkey Wrench Gang‘s acts of mass destruction and constant displays of poor-teamwork make their cause and actions not only insupportable, but also acts of “improper” activism.
The question “What is Climate Change?” is something that we ended class discussing and I believe something that is worth expanding on. In class, we came to a consensus that climate change is one of the few things on this earth that can affect every aspect of life (besides dance, of course). We agreed that climate change has a negative affect on everything from ecosystem services and functions to the air we breath. However one thing that we did not put enough emphasis on is its unfair and uneven affect it will have on the people less fortunate than most. The fact of the matter is that those who do not have the money and resources to adapt to the effects of climate change will be affected much more than those who do. Yes, in the next 50 years every single person on this earth will be affected one way or another. However, the extent of who is affected will be unevenly distributed amongst the poor. For example, when the sea continues to rise, cities across the US will begin to flood like Miami and even New York. At the same time, cities across third world countries like Thailand, Indonesia, and Cuba will go under water. The difference between these cities and the ones in the US? Money. Residents of Miami and New York will have access to media and will have the resources to be able to pick up their belongings and move to higher altitude and continue to live their lives. In those third world countries, there will be no one where to go. They will not have the luxury of just grabbing their things and leaving. Similar to those dystopian pictures in the article It’s Not Climate Change, It’s Everything Change, streets will be flooding, diseases will spread, and yes, people will inevitably die. If there’s one main thing that will change and that we, as privileged college students, should focus on is the state of inequality in an already unequal world.
Name: Kevin Coward
Hometown: Key West, Fl
Major: Economics and Environmental Science
Topics that interest me: Corporate sustainability, Acting locally, thinking globally movement, Frequency of Environmental Disturbances
Interesting news: The company Nestle was accused of “Greenwashing” for bottling Californian water during their extreme drought.
