Wednesday, June 20, 2007

You Must Think I'm Someone Else

While walking back from the teriyaki takeout restaurant last Tuesday, a representative from the Washington Environmental Council asked if I was interested in joined his organization.


"I think you may have the wrong person."


He looked puzzled for a moment then so I asked, "Are you taking a survey."


He clarified, "Oh no. We are looking for new members. Those who are concerned about the environment. We lobby Olympia [the Washington state capitol] to fight global warming."

"Hmm."

"You're not on our side?"

At this point I am thinking of how much to throw at him. Should I throw the science, the data, or the politics or perhaps some combination of the three? "The totally opposite side."

We wished each other a nice day. He stayed in his place trying to recruit and I walked back to the office with my lunch.

While eating my environmentally conscious chicken and rice, I researched his organization. They have a few good points. I especially like the electronics recycling ideas and possibly the water use that protects individual farms.

The problem that I have with this organization is that they are married to communists who use "environmental causes" to stifle and control businesses. They create shortages when there is plenty and famine with there is little. They talk about regulating the timber industry to ensure sustainable growth. As I read their initiatives and their site, what they really mean is that they want to exact control over the timber industry.

I am sure that having "sustainable forests" is important to the timber industry. They do not need to have those who would just a quickly destroy their livelihoods telling them where and how to run their businesses.

They want to exact control over water sources too. I will not begin to discuss the problems with that at this time. Perhaps I will in the near future.

All told, I find them to be another worthless organization who obscure facts and data to fit their own political ideologies. The fact that they are on the "opposite side" of me makes them all the more deplorable.

I should have driven a Hummer to lunch.

6 comments:

Weetabix said...

It's a difficult thing sometimes to separate the wheat from the chaff in an organization, isn't it.

I believe in responsible stewardship of the planet and conserving resources. But it comes from an engineer's love of efficiency and a belief that waste should be avoided rather than some idea that humanity is a parasite infecting mother Gaia.

But when you try to talk about some of the issues, people think you're a druid and want you to join them or want you to get away from them.

Where's the rationality & balance?

*sigh*

Weetabix said...

PS Glad to see you back. I'd only been able to see your posts from before 6/18 for quite some time.

You're among the top of my daily read list, and I was having withdrawal symptoms.

Shawn McManus said...

The whole baby / bath water analogy might apply but if it does, that really is one ugly baby.

We have to be responsible stewards and I too am always trying to think of better, more efficient ways of doing things.

Of course, where I butt heads with many "environmental organizations" is how to be responsible.

Take WWF for instance. I believe that drilling ANWR is the responsible thing to do. Oil swells in underground pockets. Wells that have been "pumped dry" usually fill again. (The real risk in wildcatting today is not in the finding but in the amount of time a well takes to refill.)

I believe it to be irresponsible to have oil sit in the ground until it seeps into the water table causing a much worse disaster.

Most of the folks at WWF believe the latter would be acceptable as long as it were "natural."

I liken that to letting one's house burn down because it was struck by lightning.

Thanks for the comments. I don't get to blog everyday. Work and travel often get in the way.

Spring said...

At this point I am thinking of how much to throw at him.

Certainly not your lunch.

Shawn McManus said...

Certainly not. Unfortunately, I was too mature to flick a booger on him too.

Weetabix said...

ANWR is one of the buttons that sets me off. I lived in Alaska for 8.5 years in the interior. I can tell you, it's [u]easy[/u] to put in a road, set up a pad, and drill without causing any harm to the environment. When the ground is frozen harder than the hubs of hell, you can do just about anything you want.

And the wildlife don't even notice, or if they do, they like it. They use the pipeline like their own highway.

These people need to spend a few years up there, summer and winter, before they get to have a say.