What makes you an environmentalist?
My thoughts below.
I consider myself to be an environmentalist. That is because I have a deep concern for the preservation of natural resources and the ethics and politics associated with this issue, and a mission of fighting pollution in our world. I see the world from a biocentric viewpoint, and believe that we as humans are stewards of this planet here to preserve this world not only for ourselves and future generations, but also for all of those species who share this world with us who cannot speak for themselves.
However, I could not call myself an environmentalist if I did not set an example. If I did not attempt to achieve progress and preservation by seeking these ends by influencing the political process, by educating others, by activism, and by setting an example for our younger generation. I do all of those things as best I can, but most of all I seek to live my life as I tell others they should and need to live theirs. That I believe is the true spirit of environmentalism.
And just as I now try to impart that spirit upon my own child, so was it imparted to me by my mother at an early age. For she too was a woman who cared about all living things, and who lived a life of peace with great respect for this Earth. It was surely a great tragedy in my life to have her taken from me at 17 by cancer, for she was to me the one person in my life who set my feet on the right path. And ever since her death almost thirty years ago, I have made it my personal mission to live a life that best exemplifies all the beauty she possessed in her soul. The life she surely would have wanted for me. And by that I don't mean a life filled with Earthly riches, but spiritual ones. A life filled with love and truly being able to appreciate and cherish all this Earth gives us, and to protect it to the best of my ability and give that gift to others.
That to me is what being an environmentalist is all about. It is about being a citizen of the world. It is about being an American. It is about being a Patriot. It is about standing up for what you believe in even and especially when standing up is ridiculed by those who don't understand or don't want to hear the truth. It is about a steady burning conviction that goes deep to your very soul that you feel everyday, for you truly understand the symbiosis between this planet and how it all relates to your being here and see the sheer and awesome beauty of it all. It is also in knowing that this Earth for all of its faults and miseries is worth saving, and that is why you continue on.
Environmentalism is not just the reading of graphs and charts, it is understanding the human interrelation to the numbers on those charts, and the moral issues involved in explaining that relationship to others. For many years as a younger woman, I could never truly understand why more people didn't see this relationship, or just didn't want to see it. But that was before I went out into the business world and also became more involved as an activist. It then became very clear to me why more people didn't see this relationship... it wasn't lucrative enough to see it. From politics, to business, to the media, it has been an issue that did not get the coverage or action it deserved because it was either considered over most peoples' heads, an issue too involved for media honchos to care about, or just not politically viable. And they just didn't get that symbiosis.
Well, as Al Gore relates to in his movie, An Inconvenient Truth in quoting Winston Churchill, 'We have entered a period of consequences.' And it is ironically because it was not seen as luctrative or viable in the past, that it is now a spectre that threatens our very way of life if we continue to ignore it. So all of the years I have spent caring about this issue from the time I was a young girl of 11 sitting with my mother on the porch reading Silent Spring, to my days as a teen organizing neighborhood cleanups, signing petitions, writing essays, and joining other organizations to warn people of the impending consequences, have now come full circle for me as well.
And that is why I now continue to be an environmentalist. For we are the stewards, the missives, and the voice of Mother Earth. And I believe that together we can and must all save this world for our children, and will. What a great legacy to have left for me to pass on. Thanks, mom.