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Originally Posted by boatin
I run in a group of friends that consider themselves rabid environmentalists.
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I consider myself an environmentalist too.
I recall a class I had on water ecology in 1993. For some reason the professor was late, but in grad school where you have a class size of about 10-20 people maximum, you don't apply the 15 minute rule like you did as an undergrad.
I recall it quite vividly for two reasons. It was early spring, and a the first real warm day. I discovered the girl I thought was pretty cute, and would have hit on if I was not already dating my future wife didn't like shaving. She was wearing some sort of stockings/dress combination, and her hair was such that it was sticking out all over the stocking. For some reason, that image sticks in my mind. The other reason is as follows.
Well being we had nothing better to do, we started to talk about the environment, problems, and how to fix them. The conclusion reached among those of us who were talking was that the problem for the environment was specifically people. We had too many of them you see. The solution was we needed less of them, and perhaps something like an engineered virus was the best way to achieve this lower number. There was much agreement in this concept.
To me this was a turning point of such, a last straw, and a time to redirect my studies. This incident alone is rather minor, but after years of discovering the nature of the 'environmentalist' the lies, the politics, and in many cases the ignorance of the people involved, I had enough. (I could go on writing about the ignorance and lies that made up Earth Day 1991)
These types of people form the core of groups like Green Peace these days, and other organizations. I have a feeling they are now in charge of the Sierra Club as well, but thats just a hunch based on what I'm reading from them.
On the other hand there are plenty of 'good' environmentalist out there. Hunting and fishing groups have done a lot for habitat restoration, as they have a vested interest in seeing a healthy environment. Unlike some self proclaimed environmentalist, these groups don't view people themselves as the cancer on mother earth.