{"id":357,"date":"2009-02-10T15:36:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-10T15:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2009\/02\/10\/get-angry-for-the-right-reasons\/"},"modified":"2009-02-10T15:36:00","modified_gmt":"2009-02-10T15:36:00","slug":"get-angry-for-the-right-reasons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2009\/02\/10\/get-angry-for-the-right-reasons\/","title":{"rendered":"Get angry for the right reasons"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is my contribution to the February APLS carnival. This month’s host, The Purloined Letter from the Green Phone Booth<\/a> blog, has chosen a wide-ranging topic under the title “A Carnival of Nature<\/a>“. I have chosen to focus on the following part:<\/p>\n

“How has your experience with the natural world shaped your own environmentalism? Is love of the natural world an essential motivation for sustainability?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To participate in February’s carnival, please submit your posts to <\/span>aplscarnival (at) gmail (dot) com<\/span> by February 13.<\/span><\/p>\n

————————————<\/p>\n

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) <\/a>runs a high-profile advertising campaign that focuses on the annual seal hunt in Atlantic Canada. A series of very thought-provoking posters regularly appears on our local bus stops:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>(Photo credit)<\/a><\/div>\n

It was this kind of campaign that drew me into the environmental movement as a child. Raised on a diet of James Herriot and David Attenborough<\/a>, I loved all things furry, feathery and blubbery. Before the 80s pop stars took over, my room was covered in posters of birds and beasts. On one of our regular Sunday family hikes on the North Yorkshire Moors, a glimpse of a falcon or a fox would make my entire week. And I would literally cry at images of whales and dolphins being slaughtered in Antarctica.<\/p>\n

I joined the RSPCA<\/a> when I was about eight, and Greenpeace<\/a> when I was ten. I read all their newsletters avidly, and joined in their letter-writing campaigns. I had a Greenpeace t-shirt with a diving whale’s tail on it, and a sweatshirt with a picture of the Rainbow Warrior, and proudly wore the latter on a trip to France. For a time, I even wanted to grow up to be one of the Zodiak heroes who interfere with the hunt.<\/p>\n

I’ve never lost this passion for the natural world. I love to get out into the mountains or onto the ocean<\/a> and submerge myself in the sights, sounds and smells of the wild. The sight of an eagle or seal from a kayak is still a visceral thrill, and I was delighted to see a coyote in Whistler on Sunday. (The family of raccoons who constantly try to get into my roof can bugger right off though, I don’t care how cute they are).<\/p>\n

Other things have changed though.<\/p>\n

I’ve become much more aware of the importance of an animal’s habitat and ecosystem. The glamorous, photogenic species are just the tip of the iceberg – we can’t save the whales while ignoring the plankton. Systemic changes such as the warming of the air and acidification of the oceans are a threat at all levels. And, while I would have been cheering him along when I was a kid, who is multi-billionaire Paul McCartney to jet in to Newfoundland, telling people on welfare that they should give up their main source of income for the year? Yeah, that’s great in an ideal world, but it ain’t the solution in this one.<\/p>\n

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of the seal hunt. And conservation efforts that focus on one superstar species do benefit the entire ecosystem; how much habitat has been preserved in Asia due to sanctuaries set up to protect pandas, or tigers?<\/p>\n

But I think the true battle lies elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The kind of poster that would really attract me these days might read as follows:<\/p>\n

The entire planet is in crisis<\/span>
And you’re worrying about a few seals<\/span>
Get angry for the right reasons<\/span><\/p>\n
(Cath presses “Publish” and waits to be flamed by animal rights activists. For the record, I’m sure the people who use cute cuddly critters as a call to arms are fully aware of the bigger picture. And I still think the Greenpeace dudes on zodiaks are heroes).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is my contribution to the February APLS carnival. This month’s host, The Purloined Letter from the Green Phone Booth blog, has chosen a wide-ranging topic under the title “A Carnival of Nature“. I have chosen to focus on the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,47,32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-carnivals","category-environment","category-nature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}