What's your wrench?

If you are anything like I am, you at times question whether hands-on environmental activism takes environmentalism a step forward or a step back. Does putting yourself in front of a tree or dressing up as a polar bear at a climate rally, make the average person disconnect even further from the environmental cause, pushing it off as just for the "environmentalists?" I am constantly pondering these questions. More recently, I had a conversation with Karen Topakian, a head of Greenpeace, and she made the point that it depends on what your goal is.

For Greenpeace, it is not about compromising their values to win the public's support. On the contrary, they take certain actions like chaining themselves to the White House or trees to shine light on an urgent issue.

The film DamNation does an incredible
 job of exploring the history of Dams in America

Edward Abbey, who started the Monkey Wrench Gang was a leader in the direct action movement. After letters to the editor, and pleads to the government weren't heard, he decided to take action into his own hands. As a Park Ranger in the west, he saw the destruction of his own home as the Glen Canyon Dam destroyed the waters he once swam in and the rocks he once climbed on. The Monkey Wrench Gang aimed to prevent as much environmental destruction as they could with any means they needed. There was one exception however; they were to never hurt a person. They would take down signs, push over bulldozers, but no case harm to a fellow man. They felt they needed to take these actions because they didn't have any other alternatives.

After watching, Wrenched, a film about the life of
Edward Abbey, I better understood why direct action needed to be taken at times. I can't imagine my home being ripped out from under me, and having no say about it. The living leaders of the Monkey Wrench Gang emphasize that now more than ever people need to demand action. With Climate Change's ability to dramatically affect everyone in the world, we have no other choice.  If direct action isn't for you, find your own "monkey wrench;" this is the tool that you think you would be most useful with. Whether you are a writer, teacher, film director. You all play a different but vital role in environmental progress and social change.