but here’s something for today: Adam Werbach, former president of the Sierra Club.
Got an hour? Listen to this.
Don’t? Read this.
Even less time? Try this.
The point, in fewer words than I normally would because I’ve been sitting at the computer all day, is this: environmentalism needs to get bigger. We need to stop saying “save the polar bears” or “save the bald eagle” and start pushing a holistic way of looking at the world. Werbach calls it a “blue” movement, in addition to the “green” movement, which advocates sustainability (although he doesn’t use that word) in everything. Not just the environment. He talks about a lady he knows who was part of some Wal-Mart program to set sustainability goals, and one of hers was to lose weight. (she was very overweight, it wasn’t just a vanity thing) She said, yeah, the environment is important, but she is important too, and a healthy environment and an unhealthy her is not a good situation to strive for. Being green is an aspect of it, but it’s too narrow-minded on its own.
Want a good political analogy? Look at fundamentalist Christianity. They have a goshdarn unified vision of the future, and they get a lot done. And they’re nuts! Imagine what a movement with a unified vision of the future that ISN’T nuts would do!
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