Beyond Bicycles and Birkenstocks: A Critical Dialogue on Diversity and Environmentalism

Is that chicken local?

Climb mountains and travel the world (in Patogonia gear)

The smug environmentalist

“Staving Off Confrontation While Watching Birds” (NPR.org)

Black Hiker

Marie Gunnoe: Mountaintop Removal

Tyrone Hayes, Ph.D.: Atrazine

Wangari Maathai: The Green Belt Movement

1. In what ways do these representations of environmentalists challenge our preconceptions?

2. How does the way in which we think about the term “environment” influence the ways in which we characterize environmentalists? (environment as “out there” vs where we “live, work and play”)

3. How might we define “environment” and “environmentalism” differently to be more inclusive of the diversity we witnessed in these alternative representations? What might this mean for the way we address “environmental” problems?