Green Living Tips 03.01.10
How to Be an Activist: 5 Ways to
"Pay Our Rent" For Living on This Planet
1. Become a Voice for the Voiceless - As the Lorax proclaimed: "I speak for the trees." On a planet dominated by a profit-driven culture, trees, animals, children, etc. are typically assigned less importance than the numbers of the next fiscal quarter. As long as 80% of the world's forests are gone, animals are tortured in labs, and child labor is commonplace, the concept of justice does not exist.
2. Make the Tough Personal Choices - Two examples: Most Americans consume animal products but a plant-based diet is best for the environment. Most Americans rely on cars but the eco-system is begging for more bicycles.
3. Opt Out - When faced with a "ubiquitously destructive" culture, some opt out. This can mean voluntary simplicity: Not participating in the endless cycle of consume-and-dispose, the treadmill of manufactured needs. The alluring charm of material goods is rendered impotent if humans define themselves as citizens and comrades instead of consumers.
4. Use Traditional Methods When Needed - Protests, marches, petitions, strikes, candlelight vigils, and so on can all play a role in raising awareness, creating solidarity, and connecting comrades.
5. Engage in Direct Action - There are billboards to be liberated, seed bombs to be detonated, whale killers to be stopped, monkey wrenches to be utilized, and other forms of direct action waiting to be created - because here's the most inconvenient truth of all: its time to embrace a darker shade of green.
Source: www.treehugger.com.
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