Who are the real environmental terrorists??? Part 2.

 

An estimated crowd of 35-50,000 gathers near the Washington Monument on Feb 17, 2013 to protest the Keystone XL pipeline and support action on climate change.
Image by Jmcdaid and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Identifying the real environmental terrorists, the despoilers of planet earth, the greedy deniers of climate change who toss the future of our world to the smoggy winds, is not such a difficult task. The more critical question right now is who will take them on? Who will work to end the madness?

A recent report from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication reveals that there are a lot of Americans who say they will take action.  Based on their research, the program reports that nearly 30% of Americans have joined or would join a campaign to convince elected officials to take action to reduce global warming.

And, perhaps most important, “One in four Americans would support an organization engaging in non-violent civil disobedience against corporate or government activities that make global warming worse (24%) and one in six (17%) say they would personally engage in such activities.”

Certainly Americans and others around the world are personally engaging in protests against Big Oil, Big Coal, Gigantic Corporate Media and other mega-groups too big for their britches.

In a recent Truthout article, Jeremy Brecher gives us some cause for optimism. From May 4-15, 2016, just a couple of months from now,  environmental groups from around the world, including Greenpeace, will hold a global week of action called Break Free From Fossil Fuels.

The profiteers who wreak havoc on our environment will want to call the protestors environmental terrorists if they put a foot over the wrong line, but the environmentalists are not going to let the power brokers define them.  As Brecher says, “Break Free From Fossil Fuels participants will define themselves to the movement, the public and the courts not as criminals but as law-enforcers trying to enforce legal rights and halt governments and corporations from committing the greatest crime in human history.”

Those of us who want the earth to survive would do well to support that movement.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Who are the real environmental terrorists??? Part 1.

Anti-fracking demonstration outside New York Governor Cuomo’s office, Third Avenue, Manhattan, NY. 9 Oct 2012.
Image by Adam Welz and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Terrorism is bad, right? Anyone labeled a “terrorist” should be avoided at all costs, treated like a pariah, knocked out, locked up for life, right? Well, not necessarily. It depends on who is using the label and why.

People in power, particularly powerfully abusive people, eagerly throw the terrorist designation at anyone who confronts them, however non-violent the confrontation may be.

One blatant misuse of “terrorism” is perpetrated by exploiters, abusers, and destroyers of our environment. This particular group of environmental evil doers revels in its zealous application  of the terms “environmental terrorism” and “eco-terrorism”  to anyone they don’t like.  Do they unleash those epithets to describe:

  • The freaky frackers that violate health and safety rules and regulations, poison the atmosphere, pollute the soil, endanger drinking water, and dispose of waste products improperly? 
  • The coal companies, financed by big banks, that blow off entire mountaintops, clearcut thousands of acres of forest, and pollute drinking water with their waste?
  • The industries contributing to the ever-increasing dangers of global warming?

No.

How do members of the military industrial complex and corporate media use the term “environmental terrorism”?

They apply it to groups and individuals such as the following, classified by the FBI as special interest domestic terrorist groups

What do you think? Who are the real environmental terrorists? What groups are threatening our survival?

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology