[pct-l] blue collar support

[wpsnotebook at charter.net (Richard Woods)]

It's not that you're not needed, like me, you likely don't have the  
skill set to mount/manage/support multi-million dollar legal  
protection campaigns. That's what it takes to stand toe-to-toe with  
Big Timber and Big Mining year after year to protect the wilderness.  
Ever written a grant for, say, half a million? Ever made it your goal  
this month to find a couple dozen new donors in the seven figure  
income bracket?
PCTA is well intentioned, and they are getting some attention, but  
does the organization have the horsepower to   fund an office in  
Washington D.C. indefinitely, not to mention the wherewithal to do  
anything effective with that presence? Very few .orgs do. Sierra  
Club, Nature Conservancy, and a couple of others.
I've worn blue, white, green and military collars. Took me over 20  
years to earn my degree. I might get a foot in the door with my PR  
background, but I'm a bush league player at best. Unless I want to  
sign with a big corporation.
However, you've got a very good point and one that has been made  
recently. Environmentalists and  loggers/miners really share the same  
interests in the long term. The sticking point is that the loggers  
and miners who still have a job are mostly working for big  
corporations and have to as long as possible. Everything we have  
depends on something that grew or was dug out of the ground. My beef  
is with the companies that leave a mess behind because cleaning up  
after themselves doesn't contribute to their bottom line. I consider  
empty aquifers, depleted oil reserves, monoculture forests as a 'mess.'

I've been a Sierra Club member for a long, long time and sometimes it  
seems like I'm tossing my annual dues down a dry hole. But there  
wouldn't be as many wild places without them.

On Feb 18, 2006, at 10:08 AM, pct-l-request@mailman.backcountry.net  
wrote:

>
> I'm not sure just how wide spread the professional or college educated
> only attitude is among environmentalists; however I think the enviros
> definitely need to be open to all who share their passion for the
> environment. However "it takes two to tango"; that is everyone must  
> come
> forward and participate; not just wait to be asked.
>
>
>   I agree with your opinion that the movement should be open to  
> all,and i wish it was ,but it`s not.are there any paid positions in  
> the p.c.t.a. open to non college grads?why not? how about the  
> sierra club?wilderness society? it`s not that we don`t come forward  
> but that weve been pushed aside in favor of "professionals"which in  
> my opinion is detrimental to the movement.passion has been replaced  
> in favor of career  opportunities.
>   remember Mark Rey,Bushes point man on this initiatives first job  
> application was to the wilderness society.