Environmentalism and its discontents

Welcome friends, family, peers and fellow environmentalists. This blog was created for the purpose of sharing ideas, perspectives and opinions on the various topics that revolve around the environment including economics, geography, politics and current affairs. This idea was put forth by my friend and co-administrator Chris, who figured that discussing topics around the environment would inform and educate others about the importance of this issue. I chose the title "environmentalism and its discontents" because there is still a lot of skepticism and cynicism regarding the environment from climate change policies to international agreements like Kyoto to general doubt about this whole global warming thing, and if it's actually real and caused by humans. For instance, something as simple as conservation or reducing your energy use or driving a more fuel-efficient car may not be as appealing to people because A) it may be more expensive (for some odd reason) B) it may be more inconvenient and C) you may come across as a hippie or hardcore environmentalist. Both former and latter arguments are not very strong but in reality, this is the mind-set of a vast percentage of North Americans. Environmentalism is all about change. We will bring many different perspectives to the table explaining concepts and common ideas that are hovering around the environment today. Feel free to contribute. We all have lots to learn and share and what better way to do this in the form of blogging. To kick-off our blog for 2009, we leave you with this quote from John F Kennedy that symbolizes change and progress, two central components of environmentalism: "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future" John F. Kennedy