Environmentalism is a strange thing to approach. For most (myself included) it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the plethora of issues that need to be addressed when one stumbles upon this expansive field of activism. What’s more environmentalism today has all sorts of new rigid social connotations about how one should govern their everyday habits to measure up to the ever-elevating and elusively lofty standard of “greenness.”
But what does all of this really have to do with the betterment of mankind? Furthermore why does environmentalism seem so approximate so vague and so detached from humanity?
For me I had a life-changing “environmental epiphany” of sorts while working with physically and mentally handicapped children in the smoggy capital of China during my high school summer vacations.
Most people are familiar with China’s one child policy and their less-than-cheery (yet arguably necessary) methods of population control. However there has also been a recent shift in their orphanage demographics that shows a startling increase of the number of birth defects (40 percent more in 2006 than 2001). I worked with children who have everything from cleft lips to severe and debilitating mental handicaps. One of the most unfortunate cases was a little boy who was born with an extra foot on his left leg (which was later amputated) along with a giant growth on the side of his torso that contained several extra organs that were thought to have belonged to a parasitic twin.
As I became familiar with the children I was working with my coworkers explained to me the inextricable link between the rise in pollution and deformities. Children with similar conditions were usually from the same provinces in China with specific regional pollutants. It was this experience working in Beijing that facilitated an amazing shift in consciousness. Instead of being indifferent and confused about environmentalism I was able to put a human face on the issue that led to a complete change in my lifestyle and even worldview.
I encourage you to find a way to make that imperative connection between mankind and our environment. If you are brave and willing ignore the rampant generalizations of being a “tree hugger” and venture beyond the bonobos and redwood forests. You’ll find that humans are at the very heart of the environmental movement.