So im freakin up at freakin 5 in the morning still writing my freakin paper, and it hit me. I mean besides the fact that this paper is hard, everyone that we are reading about in this class is SUCH A HIPPIE! It made me wonder how many of them walked the streets and protested against tree cutting and what not. Or how many of them even did. Are they just writers that act like they care and want to give off that image but really didnt get of their a** and actually try to change the world? Or were they all crazy and chained themselves to trees and threw bombs at logger companies or something. So i guess the question is, are any of these writers even for real or are they posers? Acting like every other American? Want to change something in the world but is way to lazy to try? And think they can get off the hook by writing some fake heart felt essay…? As i go crazy here my peers, ASK YOUR SELF!!!!!! WHAT WOULD A REAL ENVIRONMENTALIST DO!?!?!?!?
Im tired, and couldnt category this…
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September 23, 2009 at 1:23 pm |
This is an interesting question for the end of the block and since I have a pretty good sense of these writers’ lives, I thought I’d offer some perspective. I’d really only call one of them a hippie, and that’s Gary Snyder. He has lived pretty much in line with his writings since the mid-50s. Since the early 70s he has lived in an intentional, eco-tribal community in the mountains of California and he has been one of our leading activists, working with communities to work toward more environmentally sound practices and with local and national political efforts to reform environmental law. In his writing, Scott Russell Sanders pretty much lays out his lifestyle for us to see, which is nothing radical (and he doesn’t believe we need to be) but involves some crucial decisions on how he lives a simpler life. Terry Tempest Williams writes about her first activist involvement, getting arrested at the nuclear testing site and she has gone on to become a leading activist, spending a great deal of time both in jail for her actions and speaking before Congress. She works with a variety of organizations, such as most recently serving on the board of “Round River Conservation Studies” group. Bill McKibben is currently one of the most important scientific/political leaders working for legislation to curb global warming. In 2006, he organized the largest demonstrations against Global Warming in history. Then in 2007, he founded Step It Up a nationwide grassroots environmental campaign to demand action on global warming by the U.S. Congress, and followed with “350.org.” He’s also written a handbook for activists on how to organize within communities. Barbara Kingsolver has documented her efforts to live a “local” life–only eating products she has either grown or that are produced on farms within a 50-mile radius. Kathleen Dean Moore has been important in land conservation in the Pacific Northwest and founded/directed the “Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word” which is part of an experimental forest in Oregon with a 200-year long range conservation plan. Edward Abbey gives us a pretty good portrait of his life and attitudes in Desert Solitaire, but he also was very active in conservation and was known for fights for a variety of causes, most notably his stand against the damning of wild rivers (which we get in Desert Solitaire) and against “open” grazing practices that are destroying habitat in the southwest. The only writer we read that I wouldn’t really say is an activist is Annie Dillard, but then again she doesn’t really espouse activism in her work. Not all the writers we read here, but a wide range of approaches to living environmentally. No one’s really suggesting we chain ourselves to trees (except maybe Snyder) or bomb anything (ok, except maybe Abbey). I don’t think there is such a thing as a “real environmentalist”–there are only individuals trying to live a life they can believe in. And that’s all we ever have, and that’s what Terry Tempest Williams was talking about in her comments about Democracy: you decide the values most important to you and live according to them. We may not, or should not, agree, but if we all stand behind our lives and engage then we can still work toward the common good.
September 23, 2009 at 2:55 pm |
I don’t understand how writing a book makes you a “poser,” even if you aren’t out there chaining yourself to trees. First of all, you must have a passion in order to write a novel or even an essay discussing preservation. Second, Sanders states plainly that most of the small bands of resistance are quiet and unnoticed. People using less, buying less and supporting the local economies. So how do the rest of us find out about these people? Through writings like these. Without widespread communication, there will never even be a hope for change. Without writers (and other activists), we are doomed.
September 23, 2009 at 3:38 pm |
As Glenn pointed out, many of these writers did live the life that they wrote about. And Kelsey brought up a good point that whether or not they did live this life they are still writing for the good of the environment. The words they write can be passed along to people unaware of their actions, giving them a basis of living. Though, i agree, if these authors just wrote they don’t believe, it would be a little unnerving. Each of us just wrote our idea of environmental ethics. How many of us will make an attempt to follow these ideas?