For Those Simpsons Fans

When trying to describe EarthFirst! to a friend of mine after class today, he said it sounded like something from The Simpsons. Considering the group started in '79, I knew it existed way before the TV series came into existence, but I figured there may see some connection so looking it up was worth a shot.

Turns out that he wasn't that far off. The Simpsons had taken a swing at the environmentalists. In an episode from November, 2000, titled "Lisa the Tree Hugger", Lisa meets a guy from a radical environmental group called "Dirt First", and ends up joining to help them protect a historic redwood tree. On of the jokes of the EarthFirst! spin-off is that the leader of the group named Jesse Grass claims to be a "Level 5" Vegan, refusing to eat anything that casts a shadow.

The writer behind the episode, Matt Selman, is a Simpsons veteran with multiple awards, including a handful of Emmy's, to his name. He was even one of the writers personally courted by Matt Groening to help write the 2007 Simpsons movie. In his own personal blog, Selman uses some interesting techniques, including some made up super villains to make some environmental statements.

He's not quite "Dirt First" material, but he's got a green side to him.

More on EarthFirst!

The following excerpt is from the EarthFirst! website:

Are you tired of namby-pamby environmental groups? Are you tired of overpaid corporate environmentalists who suck up to bureaucrats and industry? Have you become disempowered by the reductionist approach of environmental professionals and scientists?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then Earth First! is for you. Earth First! is effective. Our front-line, direct action approach to protecting wilderness gets results. We have succeeded in cases where other environmental groups had given up, and have drawn public attention to the crises facing the natural world. . . .

Earth First! is different from other environmental groups. Here are some things to keep in mind about Earth First! and some suggestions for being an active and effective Earth First!er: First of all, Earth First! is not an organization, but a movement. There are no "members" of Earth First!, only Earth First!ers. It is a belief in biocentrism, that life of the Earth comes first, and a practice of putting our beliefs into action.

Very interesting group to study if you're interested in environmental organizations.

Debate between "environmentalists"

As a case in point of in-fighting between people who are probably interested in the same end goals, here are Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger on NPR literally saying "look in the mirror" to critics of their strategy for addressing global climate change (the strategy is itself an interesting story).

Gotta be careful calling these guys "environmentalists" though... they made themselves known a few years back with a provocative piece called Death of Environmentalism. A productive critique, or no?