The conference is awesome. My favourite feature is the extremists. They range from proselytizing vegetarians -- "You can't be a meat-eating environmentalist." -- to voluntary human extinction advocates who distribute bumper stickers that say "Thank you for not breeding." and "Vasectomy prevents Abortion." The extinction people also have a double-sided handout with 3 columns: reasons people say they want to have babies; the corresponding *real* reason they want to have babies; and suggested alternatives. There are over 30 reasons listed, such as "Pregnancy and childbirth are life experiences", which *really* means "My life choices have been limited by social indoctrination", to which the suggested alternative is "Rent a pregnancy simulator and choose different life experiences."
I like extremists because they make me think "I wouldn't do that, but I guess I could do this" -- "this" being something moderate along the same lines. Extremists give me ideas I would never have otherwise.
Today's lunch time keynote speaker is Derrick Jensen, who -- if I understand correctly -- thinks we should bring an end to our current industrial civilization because it's unsustainable. I genuinely can't wait.
-Mike
Nice way to put a positive spin on extremism!
ReplyDeleteKind of related... Both a pro and con of this conference for me is that there is (almost) no 'opposition' voice. This can be great because it allows the time and space for the public interest/enviro/indigenous or 'activist' side(s) to be fully aired. However, it can also lead to unproductive rants about all that is wrong, who we should blame, and how we should violently protest.... but without any hope, solutions or alternatives. The 'we have to shut down the UN climate change talks' conclusion from a panel this morning was a frustrating example of the latter.
Thanks for this great post. I love the VHEMT people and I actually have the bumper sticker Vasectomy Prevents Abortion. It really does!!!
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