Environmentaligious

I heard a speaker by the name of Ian Plimer over YouTube comparing modern environmentalists to religious fanatics. He is right. Environmentalists are using the same tactics to recruit people into similar belief systems as Christians recruit people to believe in Jesus. Though I am an environmentalist, I am a careful one, and thus have accepted Ian Plimer's metaphorical theory as a real problem for my fellow greenheads.

It is a giant turn-off when I am a victim of religious group think and am inundated with Armageddon-like claims of a "rapture" and the need to join in on Christianity, giving myself up to a "God" or suffer the consequence. Seeing as such, it is just as much of a turn-off for environmental skeptics to hear of the "environmental" Armageddon and the need for people to act environmentally responsible while accepting humans are to blame for the destruction on order to survive. Bleh.

To my fellow greenheads:

• Be wary of what you are really fighting for.
• Understand the difference between facts and theories of environmental change.
• Do not follow in environmental sensationalism.
• Notice the capitalistic advances into the environmental market. They profit from our ignorance.
• Focus your energy on something specific that can have a calculated, noticeable change.
• Understand the parallels between religion and the environmental movement.
• Do not force people to do things they do not want to do.

We are struggling to be green in a brown world because not everybody believes in what we are trying to do. This is okay! After all, do you even believe all the claims yourself? Recall the instances when people have asked, "why do you recycle?" and you respond by saying, "to save the planet!" That is the same thing as asking a Christian, "why do you pray?" and they respond, "to get to heaven!" We should, instead, respond by saying, "I recycle because I'm trying to cut back on my waste." It would be incredibly refreshing to ask someone about praying and hear the response, "I pray because it makes me feel better psychologically."

You see, non-sect environmentalism focuses on small, universally understood concepts such as volunteering, picking up litter, reusing materials etc. Religious environmentalism, however, preaches global catastrophe and discriminates against those who do not agree with their unwavering beliefs in global warming. Even though the facts of which are inconsistent and complicated to interpret. Sensationalist concepts are too hard to grasp as a whole and, quite frankly, annoy people. Do not be another annoying religion. You can be a good person without being a Christian just like you can be a greenhead without being Environmentaligious.

Check out Ian Plimer here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idYdVQ6nwfA