The Need to Fight to Protect the Environment

Author of The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas, states “You just have to find your activism, and don't let anyone tell you what that should look like. If you're doing the work, and you're getting someone to think, you're on the right path.” I find this quote very inspiring as someone who has never considered herself an activist but has always been enthralled by those I see as “real” activists and while I currently feel that activism is a necessary part of life it is my hope that in the future there will be no need to fight for things like equal rights or environment protections.

Merriam-Webster defines activism as “a doctrine or practice that emphasizes direct vigorous action especially in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue”, and in my opinion this is a fitting definition. Every case we studied during this unit of class has involved some form of “vigorous action” be it tree-spiking, marching, or sinking whaling ships; and despite what many people think there is more to those considered activists than destroying things in the name of their cause.

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As Kate Rawles explores in “The Missing Shade of Green” there is a link between philosophers and activists, suggesting “that philosophy may prompt people to take action on various issues by raising awareness of these issues, by encouraging people to take a critical look at their beliefs and values, and by offering support for sets of values which will have implications for action and ways of living” (Rawles, 647).

Does this mean it is an activists duty to educate those around them that may not know about issues in their world? In a sense, yes, and most activists accomplish this fairly easily even if they must use unconventional methods such as graphic documentation or demonstrations. At some point the question of who can be considered an activist must be answered and when it is answered what it means, my opening quote from Angie Thomas suggest that anyone who put in an effort and cause others to think would be seen as an activist and this is also how I feel on the subject. In my opinion being an activists simply means trying to change the world around you, even through something as simple as signing a petition or voting, which means most of the world are activists in some fashion even if they do not seem themselves in that role. I do not believe, however, that if most people are activists that the term loses its meaning as there will always be a certain amount of people that refuse to change their mind on things, thus giving activists something to fight to change.

While I do feel that there are many benefits to be gained from activism, there are certain methods I am more favorable of such as signing petitions and voting, as I mentioned previously, and am happy to take part in. Methods that I am hesitant of would include anything that could cause significant harm to another person, such as tree-spiking or sinking a ship. One case that has really stuck out to me is Bari’s “A Secret History of Tree Spiking-Part 1”, that recounts George Alexander’s experience with tree-spiking (Bari, 264-270), I found this case upsetting for many reasons.

I was upset by the idea that someone could so easily lose their life due to the actions of those hoping to save a few trees and by the way George Alexander was treated by his company after this horrible incident, “And while the company was crying crocodile tears over his injuries in public, they were fighting him tooth and nail over his damage claim” (Bari, 270); both of these points make it very easy for me to justify my version of activism because while saving trees is important, treating people with respect and kindness is also very important. The events of “The Sea Shepherds: Bringing Justice to the High Seas” also worries me due to the risk involved with driving ships into each other, admittedly the Sea Shepherd’s crew did take more precautionary measures to prevent disasters than those involved with tree-spiking, such as knowing when to back out of a mission, “Their desperate dash ended eight miles short of the mark, when a Portuguese naval destroyer demanded that Watson turn his ship around or be fired upon” (Scarce, 633).

Now some may refer to Dave Foreman’s “Strategic Monkeywrenching” as an outline for all environmental activism movements and in part I would agree that without putting much thought into the “principles” Foreman mentions they do seem like a great starting place; yet unfortunately not every group will follow these guidelines. For instance Foreman’s first principle is that “Monkeywrenching Is Non-Violent” and goes on to explain how “Care is always taken to minimize any possible threat to other people (and to the monkeywrenchers themselves)” and in some cases this is true, spiked trees can be marked to alert loggers but it would be better if every group did this or found a different way to protect the forests (Foreman, 630).

Another point of Foreman’s article that I feel could be misconstrued is that “Monkeywrenching Is Fun”, this aspect worries me because something like attending a march and feeling a sense of community is fun, but “creeping about in the night resisting those “alien forces from Houston, Tokyo, Washington, DC, and the Pentagon,”” seems as though it could be quite dangerous and cause many problems if something went wrong (Foreman, 631). Activism is absolutely something I encourage, yet I do not feel that it is a requirement to be a responsible citizen or a good person for that matter because for some people it is simply not within their abilities; for those that can partake in this practice at any level it is my hope that it is done carefully and intelligently to truly reduce the risk for activists and bystanders alike.

In the previous paragraph, I expressed my worries regarding certain methods of activism, namely tree-spiking and the sinking of ships, and many of those same worries apply to the practices discussed in Derr and McNamara’s cases “Monkey-wrenching” and “Reykjavíc Raiders”. The list of cases involving tree-spiking in “Monkey-wrenching” only solidified my feelings against this method of activism, between the cost of damages and the extreme risk to everyone involved there is no way to justify this practice in any capacity (Derr and McNamara,117-118). It should also be mentioned that tree-spiking is against the law since as it was added to the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, which would hopefully deter people but I am unfortunately not surprised that this did not work (Derr and McNamara, 119). In the case of the Reykjavíc Raiders, I also do not support their actions, despite how important I feel the cause is, again due to the amount of risk involved. While more extreme measures of activism have been portrayed as the most effective or most exciting I am very much against this idea, breaking laws, endangering others or destroying property are never the right things to do because it will cast a bad light upon the cause you are fighting for, case in point being environmental activists that relied on tree-spiking as their form of protesting logging practices.

To conclude, I do not believe that there is anything wrong with fighting to build the kind of world you want, however I also feel that there are right and wrong ways over going about building your ideal world. I cannot support a brand of activism that puts anyone, humans and non-human animals alike, in any kind of danger; there are dozens and dozens of perfectly legal and still very effective methods of activism to partake in. Donating time or money to an ethic and responsible organization that shares your views, educating yourself and others on issues in your world and how you can solve them, supporting politicians that will fight for your views just to name a few more accessible options. Anyone can be an activist, no matter how small you believe your contribution is you can make a difference everyday.