Last week, there were stories in the newspaper about the growing number of hate groups in America. The experts found this unusual because unemployment is low, the economy is chugging along and the book of conventional wisdom says a poor economy is required for hate groups to flourish. Unable to account for this turn of events, the experts blamed it on the Internet.
This week, the papers are full of stories about an imminent vote by Sierra Club members on whether the club should lobby the government to restrict immigration.
At the heart of this issue is population – about a million legal and illegal immigrants arrive in the U.S. every year. Some Sierra Clubbers pulled out their slide rules and calculated that more people means fewer acres of wilderness per person. The question before the Sierra Club is: Is limiting immigration the correct response to disappearing wilderness?
I think this week’s news about the Sierra Club is related to last week’s news about hate groups. People who study animal behavior will tell you that when animals are placed in confinement under stress, they begin to engage in uncharacteristic behavior. Chickens peck each other’s eyes out, rabbits eat their young, otherwise sensible people join hate groups and the Sierra Club polls its members about limiting immigration.
That these things are happening should surprise no one. Individuals in our society are increasingly under strain, and in more than just the economic sense. I’m sure we’ll see more irrational behavior as time goes on.
Put yourself in the place of the Sierra Club member. Ten years ago, someone sent you a book called “50 Things You Can Do To Save The Planet.” You read the book and got busy. You recycled, you started a garden, built a compost pile, added insulation to your house, planted trees and started eating lower on the food chain. You did all those things – which are noble and important things to do – but the planet has not been saved. For 10 years you have accepted responsibility for our besotted and besmeared planet on your own shoulders and nothing is better. It’s worse now than ever.
The rank and file at the Sierra Club know our actions as individuals are not destroying the planet, just as they know composting and recycling alone will not save it. As long as the oil companies, chemical companies and nuclear utilities continue to operate with a free hand, things will get worse, not better. The Sierra Club knows this and has lobbied long and hard to rein in corporate polluters. Unfortunately, fighting the good fight against corporate polluters in this country has been about as effective as “50 Things You Can Do To Save The Planet.”
So now members of the Sierra Club, feeling trapped and powerless as we all do watching nature dying before our eyes, are turning on immigrants. But blaming immigrants will not save the planet, either.
The Sierra Club is perhaps the most democratic of environmental organizations – even the worst proposals get to strut and fret their hour on the stage. I have faith in the Sierra Club and am confident that when the votes are counted, its membership will choose not to harden their hearts against their fellows. I’m sure the majority of Sierra Clubbers know our only hope is in unity, not division.
But if we are to take something of value from this incident, I think we should take a warning. When we begin to hear the words of interposition and nullification from the mouths of the birdwatchers and backpackers of the Sierra Club, the hour for action is getting late indeed.
Confinement Under Stress
Last week, there were stories in the newspaper about the growing number of hate groups in America. The experts found this unusual because unemployment is low, the economy is chugging along and the book of conventional wisdom says a poor economy is required for hate groups to flourish. Unable to account for this turn of events, the experts blamed it on the Internet.
This week, the papers are full of stories about an imminent vote by Sierra Club members on whether the club should lobby the government to restrict immigration.
At the heart of this issue is population – about a million legal and illegal immigrants arrive in the U.S. every year. Some Sierra Clubbers pulled out their slide rules and calculated that more people means fewer acres of wilderness per person. The question before the Sierra Club is: Is limiting immigration the correct response to disappearing wilderness?
I think this week’s news about the Sierra Club is related to last week’s news about hate groups. People who study animal behavior will tell you that when animals are placed in confinement under stress, they begin to engage in uncharacteristic behavior. Chickens peck each other’s eyes out, rabbits eat their young, otherwise sensible people join hate groups and the Sierra Club polls its members about limiting immigration.
That these things are happening should surprise no one. Individuals in our society are increasingly under strain, and in more than just the economic sense. I’m sure we’ll see more irrational behavior as time goes on.
Put yourself in the place of the Sierra Club member. Ten years ago, someone sent you a book called “50 Things You Can Do To Save The Planet.” You read the book and got busy. You recycled, you started a garden, built a compost pile, added insulation to your house, planted trees and started eating lower on the food chain. You did all those things – which are noble and important things to do – but the planet has not been saved. For 10 years you have accepted responsibility for our besotted and besmeared planet on your own shoulders and nothing is better. It’s worse now than ever.
The rank and file at the Sierra Club know our actions as individuals are not destroying the planet, just as they know composting and recycling alone will not save it. As long as the oil companies, chemical companies and nuclear utilities continue to operate with a free hand, things will get worse, not better. The Sierra Club knows this and has lobbied long and hard to rein in corporate polluters. Unfortunately, fighting the good fight against corporate polluters in this country has been about as effective as “50 Things You Can Do To Save The Planet.”
So now members of the Sierra Club, feeling trapped and powerless as we all do watching nature dying before our eyes, are turning on immigrants. But blaming immigrants will not save the planet, either.
The Sierra Club is perhaps the most democratic of environmental organizations – even the worst proposals get to strut and fret their hour on the stage. I have faith in the Sierra Club and am confident that when the votes are counted, its membership will choose not to harden their hearts against their fellows. I’m sure the majority of Sierra Clubbers know our only hope is in unity, not division.
But if we are to take something of value from this incident, I think we should take a warning. When we begin to hear the words of interposition and nullification from the mouths of the birdwatchers and backpackers of the Sierra Club, the hour for action is getting late indeed.