Environmentalism Is An Issue For The Privileged

16 March 2005 - 5:00am

Dramatizing the death of environmentalism doesn't help people of color.

"For a lot of young people right now, the environment is an issue for the privileged or the issueless. People who feel they are becoming extinct care less about the extinction of owls and oak trees. We sit on buses that pump nasty black smoke into our air, dreaming of owning SUVs. Many of us don't see real, unfenced trees anymore. We don't see stars -- the blue of our skies is unreal. The natural world is becoming a place to visit or dream of, a privilege for those who can find work outside cities, or a trap for those in the migrant worker population who lack fair wages and work situations."

Full Story: Rainbow Warrior
Source: Grist Magazine, March 15, 2005
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All of that only scratches the surface of what's wrong with this study. The idea that complex urban development patterns and human behavior can be meaningfully studied according to one primary criteria — density — is wrong from the start.