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Show THE ZEPHYR/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2008 POINBLANK ~ MAINSTREAM ENVIRONMENTALISM’S ENVIRONMENTAL OFFENSES _ Twenty-five Theses for Nailing the Green Door By David Cremean _ Whenever reform in anything becomes necessary, a central question emerges: reform within or reform without? Regardless of the approach, reform is a messy business. Either method can be effective, either method dangerous, psychologically if not physically. “Friendships” dissolve. Moorings and identities become lost. The world and one’s corner of it change, radically. Martin Luther, for all of his flaws and wrongheadedness probably the greatest reformer Western Civilization has known, initially tried reforming from within, and only then more successfully moved to reforming from without. Luther needed 95 individual theses to make his holistic point, and while I probably could use that many, too, I'll more simply start with 25 here: 25 theses modestly proposing how to begin re-forming the capitalistically cadaverous Frankenstein’s Monster that Mainstream Environmentalism (ME) has become into a vital, living, and yes, human creature. Since I’ve already removed myself as a ME-ower, this is an effort at reform from without, so I'll avoid talking about “we” and emphasize “it” and “they.” and her ilk, from ranchers to small businesspeople, not the big dollar control-freaks or the fascistic union of corporation and state or of multinational corporation and no state. Environmentalism must not trust grubberment (government) to do what's right, but take it back and hold it responsible and accountable—if hold (to) it at all. What, if any, truck can we have with Caesar? Is anything really rightfully Caesar’s? It also needs to break up with “Miss Management.” This includes its efforts to “manage” wildlife by collars and such and itself as big business and bureaucracy and corporatism. When one tries to manage the wild, it is no longer the wild. But ME needs to work on managing what really need managing: that huge elephant in the little room, human population. “Sustainability” is a misleading, feel-good lie without reducing the human population to a sustainable level, by most accountings far fewer than one billion people. Likely at some point nature will do that for or to us, though quite possibly beyond the point of humankind’s continued existence. ME must exercise great—and much more--care about jumping on bandwagons and into bed with its enemies. Thus, it must return to being anti-ideological, pro-idealism. It must re-recognize that the law needs fighting, resistance. - The Sugar Daddies control the wealth and the courts and the systems, and i t point is, well, my first point; i.e., it is utterly foundational if unjust laws don’t outnumber just ones, they likely come close. Mr. . Dylan again: “To live outside the law, you must be honest.” Arguably the most significantly American Heritage is its outlaw. one. NEEM a . Enviros need to abandon both preservation and conservation and GREE PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE, MUST BE. ECOLOGICAL IN A MEANINGFUL SENSE—THEY MUST OPERATE UNDER HOLISTIC APPROACHES LIKE ECOSYSTEMS THEMSELVES DO, NOT ONE THAT SPLINTERS AND FRAGMENTS AND DIVIDES AND SUBDIVIDES INTO ALL SORTS OF SEPARATE CAUSES AND COMPETING GROUPS. _ for that matter wilderness as useful concepts. They have become as ambiguous and denatured and devalued as “freedom,” “democracy,” and the like. j ME must give up soundbites and spin and silly slogans. Altogether. It must discontinue all “cheap” practices, ranging from. printing All else is striving after wind. It is philosophically and pragmati~eally abstracted and anti-life, as it cannot but fail to meet life on its ed Sally Struthers-like mere emotional appeals in fundraising letters to _ glamorizing the “sexy”.animals or locations. own terms. pictures of captive animals.as if they are wild ones to the pathos-infest- Eco- PRLS at least for the most part, is an oxymoron. ene quently, in “experiencing the wild,” ME must move away. from the ~ concepts of created and commercialized “adventures” in order to * ¢reate anything even verging on true adventure. So it must abandon The part only has its place in the whole; can only take:its shape and definition and uniqueness out of the whole. ‘The problems are systematic and systemic, not individual and isolated. Everything connects —EVERYTHING. Somewhat paradoxically, at the same time, as do ecosystems, en- “luxury and easé in the outdoors” in order to create true experience of and true comfort with the wild without, the wild within. It must move away from “Sloughing It” and back to “Roughing io Enviros must further watch their own language: they should avoid “harvest” and other softening euphemisms at all costs. vironmentalism must allow for diversity within the unity. The only healthy system is an unpredictable, life force one. ME must accept questioning and arguments, and honestly consider and respond to them, not ignore or ridicule or merely dismiss them. They must It needs to remember change and adapt when necessary, though there must be non-negotiable stances.(and even these should remain open to fine-tuning). Monocrops and monocultures are to be resisted, deplored. Until ME recognizes Theses # 1 and # 2, it’s merely playing at any meaningful envi- ronmentalism. Jumping from cause to cause, from minor “victory” to pyrrhic victory to crushing “ loss,” is but a game, a childish one at that. that all people, individually and collective- ly, identify themselves by who their enemies are—and by who their friends are>~As part of this process, it must humanly damn “move- Oh, even with the devaluing dollar the money’s not play money, but the Grating American Way is to play with real money and everything else, part of why Vega$ is the most American of cities in any number of ways, from unmerited optimism to denial of reality to money. to water to appearance ever-over reality. As the late singer John Stewart wrote, “I was standing in line at the Bank of America/Nobody spoke, they were in the house of God.” : Whenever reform in anything becomes necessary, a central question emerges: reform within or reform without? Regardless of the approach, reform is a messy business ment” malfeasers. Classical Conservatism and Mark Twain are right about “the damned human race.” Humans are irrefutably not inherently good creatures in any sense, though some few among them reach sainthood. But we must hold those among us with whom we break bread — ourselves included — accountable. They must admit that energy is needed (remembering Maslow’s hierarchy includes fuel as a major human need), and every form we currently know has its dangers. ME must emphasize the human—every other species emphasizes itself. By this I don’t mean mere specie-ism, but it must focus in its arguments on how it will benefit and assure for a better world and more for humankind to have “biodiversity” and the like. Environmentalism must be tied in with other social causes and reforms; it can’t be merely a separate beast. As Wendell Berry asks in one of his book titles, “What Are People For?” But it is neither pro-human nor pro-life to be anti-environmental, to be feel-good environ- Enviros must be willing to pay the consequences of Civil Disobedience, but try like hell not to get caught. Connectedly, ME must come clean and admit it cannot possibly compete with the Big Boys when it comes to money—and has been egregiously wrong in attempting to. Oh, it has managed to raise Big Money, but at the cost of its soul and meaning. Big Business has always known how to co-opt and by co-options control everything, and it's done and is doing so again, including with environmental groups. As Bob Dylan wrote, “Money doesn’t talk, it swears.” It must realize there is absolutely no moral or ethical defense for the me aih or for their ancillaries: oppression, most if not all war, hoarding, excessive Sey ad infinitum ad nauseum. “Unto whom = is given, much is required.” Consequent to # 5, it must truly go “grass roots” and be Localist in Orientation only here should money comes into play. The widow’s mite is might. We need many of her mental, or to continue to allow the human population to run rampant. Enviros must be willing to pay the consequences of Civil Disobedience, but try like hell not to get caught. Each individual should operate under his or her own conscience’s guiding, however Jiminy Crickety that may chirp. But they should do so while also reading Edward Abbey’s “Eco-defense” as often as possible. At the same time, they should respect and not merely criticize those who possess and use different, less public or less (apparently) active gifts within the movement. Ancillary to # 19, action-oriented Enviros must return to their roots and act individhally or at most only in small, trusted groups. They must resist and defy the mislabeling of |