Negative Environmentalism
30/07/08 12:47
Here’s an example of something that strikes me as
totally counterproductive to the mission of greening of
America.
The new baseball stadium for the Washington Nationals has been built with every consideration being given to make it a show place of green building. As the New York Times reports on Sunday July 27th,2008, this stadium is outstanding as “the country’s first certified green major sports stadium with energy conserving lights and water conserving plumbing”. You’d think that environmentalists everywhere would be doing all they can to applaud all the costs and effort that has gone into the planning and building of the new stadium in the hope of encouraging other major new projects to be designed with the sustainable environment in mind.
You’d think reasonable environmentalists would want to use The Washington Nationals commitment to green building as an example of what can be done when the mission to incorporate the best of current environmentally sensitive design meets with a very visible major project.
And yet . . .
Guess what? There are environmental groups who are now criticizing the Washington Nationals for allowing ExxonMobil to advertise in the stadium.
Here is a sad-even tragic- example of a business entity that goes out of its way to do the right thing environmentally and yet because it does not do everything the way that environmental activists may want, it becomes the preferred target for extra criticism. What a shame! Many businesses across America are stepping up to the plate and starting to move to first base with genuine green initiatives. Yet they fear that if they start to do a few significant things right for the environment, instead of getting acknowledged for their commitments, they fear that they are likely to draw criticism from environmental extremists for the remaining 99 things that some will claim they are not doing.
It goes against common sense to criticize those who deserve our praise for positive steps .
Sure, beat up on the environmental performance and the old arrogance of Exxon, but do it directly. It makes no sense to deter other companies who are thinking of make a major commitment to greening of America. This will be see this as yet one more example of Enviro Extremists Gone Wild!
The new baseball stadium for the Washington Nationals has been built with every consideration being given to make it a show place of green building. As the New York Times reports on Sunday July 27th,2008, this stadium is outstanding as “the country’s first certified green major sports stadium with energy conserving lights and water conserving plumbing”. You’d think that environmentalists everywhere would be doing all they can to applaud all the costs and effort that has gone into the planning and building of the new stadium in the hope of encouraging other major new projects to be designed with the sustainable environment in mind.
You’d think reasonable environmentalists would want to use The Washington Nationals commitment to green building as an example of what can be done when the mission to incorporate the best of current environmentally sensitive design meets with a very visible major project.
And yet . . .
Guess what? There are environmental groups who are now criticizing the Washington Nationals for allowing ExxonMobil to advertise in the stadium.
Here is a sad-even tragic- example of a business entity that goes out of its way to do the right thing environmentally and yet because it does not do everything the way that environmental activists may want, it becomes the preferred target for extra criticism. What a shame! Many businesses across America are stepping up to the plate and starting to move to first base with genuine green initiatives. Yet they fear that if they start to do a few significant things right for the environment, instead of getting acknowledged for their commitments, they fear that they are likely to draw criticism from environmental extremists for the remaining 99 things that some will claim they are not doing.
It goes against common sense to criticize those who deserve our praise for positive steps .
Sure, beat up on the environmental performance and the old arrogance of Exxon, but do it directly. It makes no sense to deter other companies who are thinking of make a major commitment to greening of America. This will be see this as yet one more example of Enviro Extremists Gone Wild!
