Don't be Afraid to Stand Your Ground
Advocacy, activism, protest, and dissent have long been methods to work for change. It is a good thing to stand up and say “This is Wrong” when organizations, governments, and other people have done something that has let us down or done harm to another person, our environment, our health, and our planet. It is a very good thing to hold our leaders, companies, and organizations accountable for their actions.
It seems that it is impossible to avoid all of the controversy swirling around right now about the fact that the National Wildlife Federation has teamed up with Scotts Miracle Gro. Admittedly, I wrote the first post that set all of this passion into action.
Over the past week I have met some amazing passionate advocates for protecting wildlife, restoring habitats, and working to improve the health of our environment. I am so thrilled to see all of the many ways that people are working to make the world a better place: in their neighborhoods and communities, in their regions and states, and in the country and even around the world.
But there is also a dark side to all of this passion — from both sides.
Reduce Your Lawn and Create Welcoming Habitat for Wildlife
Don’t Be Ugly
Passion and activism are great. Speak your mind. Tell the NWF how you feel about this decision. Choose to take your Certified Wildlife Habitat down and send it back to them, or choose to leave it up. Choose to continue to support NWF with your donations or choose not to (and let them know why). Tell Scotts how you feel about their products. Hold these companies accountable.
But don’t be ugly!
Telling them how you feel, asking questions, presenting facts, asking for clarification, responding to other’s points of view, are all wonderful ways to engage in conversation, and work to advocate for a change in this decision.
BUT, personally attacking an NWF employee or a person with whom you disagree is not acceptable. Hate speech is just as bad in my opinion as are Scotts chemicals. I do not condone any of this behavior from any person, whether they are on my “side” or not.
There has been a lot of ugly and disrepectful hate speech happening on the NWF facebook page (you must click “Everyone” on the right side under the row of 5 photos at the top of the page) by both supporters of NWF and people speaking out against this decision.
In the same vein I do not condone nor will I accept the vast amount of hate mail that is filling my inbox. I have tried to be respectful with everyone involved in this. I would ask that you do the same.
STOP IT!!!!
There is no excuse for being a butt-head no matter which side of this debate you are on.
It’s time to get back to the business of working for change to make our world a better place!
So How Do We Do Something that Makes the World a Better Place?
Imagine if we could harness all of this passion and create something new and beautiful and beneficial? What a wonderful way of making change happen that would be!
While I will continue to respectfully disagree with the NWF and point out the flaws in their justification for this misguided decision, I will also be working hard to continue to make change in a way that will have more immediate success.
Change Begins With You
Protecting wildlife and the habitats on which they depend begins in your own backyard. Forget about the “sign” and start creating welcoming habitat for wildlife in your garden. As each of us does just one thing that will help wildlife in our own gardens, the cumulative effect of that will add up to a much better world for wildlife (and for us, too!)
Reduce the Size of Your Lawn Every Year
The less lawn we have, the less need there will be for any of Scotts toxic stew of chemical destruction. The less demand there is for their products, the more they will actually be forced to change their business. This is a total double win. Wildlife will win because we will be creating more habitat. Our environment will win because there will be less of those nasty chemicals polluting the environment and killing wildlife.
Add More Native Plants to Your Garden
Native plants support local foodwebs and are the basis of any wildlife garden. When you add more native plants you are helping many more kinds of wildlife, and also reducing the size of your lawn. And trust me, once you see your first hummingbird sipping from your Cardinal Flower, you will be hooked! And you’ll want to continue to add more natives to attract more wildlife.
Now Help Your Neighbors and Your Community
Change happens most often on a community level, not at the national level, as can be seen just by watching the members of congress (of either party) bicker over ridiculous things while doing absolutely nothing.
Work in your community to reduce lawn, create habitat, protect your watershed, and stop the use of chemical poisons. One neighborhood at a time we can create a much better world.
Who will join me? Let’s Give a Little Back to Wildlife
Breaking News:
The National Wildlife Federation has announced that they are terminating their relationship with Scotts in a statement that reads in part:
“Scotts announced a pending legal settlement related to events in 2008 that predate our partnership, which has made it clear that the partnership is not viable. Therefore, NWF and Scotts will work together to end the partnership in a friendly and mutually beneficial way.”
It is my sincere hope that the National Wildlife Federation will now be able to find a way to channel all of this passionate energy and work for something that they’re good at — protecting wildlife.
I said as much in a post I wrote on their facebook page to thank them:
I hope that NWF will again have the courage to stand up for what is right.
And it is our job to help them do that. Yes, we can go express our displeasure when they’ve done something we think is wrong. But we also need to support them in the important work they do, and praise them for making the choice to reverse the position that started this firestorm. How you choose to do that is up to you.
But please don’t lose sight of the fact that every one of us has a responsibility to make the world a better place. Hold NWF’s feet to the fire, but keep your own there too.
What can you do right now to make the world a better place for wildlife?
© 2012, Carole Sevilla Brown. All rights reserved. This article is the property of EcosystemGardening.com If you are reading this at another site, please report that to us
About Carole Sevilla Brown
You know, Carol, I support you in your efforts but I agree with you about the way many overly-zealous green activists went about it on the NWF Facebook page. Very disconcerting, to say the least and, a real turn-off. It made me reevaluate my position on the matter. I was never ‘comfortable’ with the partnership, it just created a sense of cognitive dissonance for me. But I really dislike harassment and hateful attacks, which is what seemed to happen. I decided to leave my Certified Wildlife sign up, and added it back to my blog sidebar. I felt that being ‘pro’ wildlife instead of ‘anti’ NWF was just a better solution. With the recent news that the partnership is now over, it’s clear that the yelling and harassing had nothing to do w/NWF’s decision to back out. From FB: “For further clarification: this decision is about the recently announced settlement about the legal case – not about the philosophy about whether or not we should be working with companies like Scotts.”
Whether we agree with their reasoning –that they didn’t know about the toxic bird seed and Scott’s lawsuit — or feel it should have been due to people storming their FB wall, etc., probably doesn’t matter at this point. The relationship is over. They haven’t made clear whether they will stop working with chemical companies, altogether, so you still may feel they haven’t explained their behavior very well. But at least for this one issue, it’s a done deal…or rather, a severed deal. http://www.nwf.org/About/Corporate-Relationships/Scotts-Miracle-Gro-Company.aspx
Jan, sadly that ugliness came from both sides. I hope that we can all channel this energy into creating a healthier planet
I’m pretty sure they backed out of the deal because the internet got mad at them, and this is just an excuse—there’s no way they couldn’t have known. This suit has been pending since ’08.
That said, and as unhappy as I am about the fact that the issue arose at all, I still think it behooves us to praise them for having done good in pulling out. You gotta praise people when they do good, not just yell when they do bad—otherwise you’re just yelling, and eventually people buy earplugs.
I like that about the earplugs Ursula
I agree, there is no point in just giving negative feedback. I hope that NWF are now realizing the power of the internet for getting feedback from those who agree with their purpose. My next question is, “How are they going to fund the songbird initiative?” The birds still need our help. Perhaps they will decide to seek input from their members going forward as they figure out how to fund these kind of initiatives.
Is that PS damage limitation? I’m battling to keep up.
EE, they just announced they are ending the partnership. I don’t yet know anything besides that.
Civil discourse is just that civil..we all lose our tempers sometimes and we can even get into heated arguments, but threatening people and being nasty/ugly has no place in trying to make change…thx for calling a halt to this ugliness on all sides. Your level headed posts have helped to call attention to something that upset many of us…your call to have us work toward better solutions is much better than some of the bullying going on…if you are not happy then come up with a different way…thx for reminding everyone to work for that better way!!
I’ll repeat what I posted on the blog “Was NWF duped” written before this most recent development of the partnership being revoked and I think it is still pertinent:
“I hear the thread beginning here of moving forward. NWF may or may not change their ways. But WE have the power to use this debacle as a teachable moment to show why PERSONAL responsibility for what we have in our yards, parks and golf courses is so very important. As citizens, we can accomplish what increasingly out of touch nonprofits and corporations cannot. Get our children, grandchildren, students, and ourselves out of doors and active with our park boards, golf course committees and school grounds. The incredible network of garden and naturalist writers who have sounded the alarm in this ridiculous partnership have work cut out for them, and I have no doubt from what I have seen the past week that they can effect changes in attitudes and awareness. If it could work in Egypt, is certainly can work in this country on this issue!”
I am deeply relieved by the end of the partnership between NWF and Scotts. Thanks, Carole, for asking for an end to the ugliness. I was upset about it to the point of deleting one of my posts on the NWF FB page because some people used it to post some inappropriate comments. It was my impression that most people behaved with civility. It was just two or three that did otherwise; enough to give a bad impression, though.
In addition to civility, it is important to be well informed and not make exaggerated or unfounded claims one way or the other.
Now, we should start using all the energy we built up in recent days and put it to good use. Our labor of teaching others about the advantages of reducing the use of pesticides and striving to help wildlife continues.
Great news Carol! I was truly pleased to read your post and I agree the energy needs to be put to good use for the betterment of wild life and our environment. I would like to see a % of sales from my 100% natural Soil nutrients support Wild Life causes.
What’s that comic-book superhero vow? Only use your power for good.
Glad to see so many wildlife superheroes come together on this issue to work for what they believe in, instead of just shouting about something they’re against.
Congratulations, Carole, for breaking such an important story.
This is probably my favorite post that I’ve read on the subject, but I was avoiding the posts at first, so I’ve just read a few. I did read a newspaper article that Kylee put a link to, about the relationship ending. I was unhappy about the comments on that article. People got political and were hateful to those who they felt they disagreed with. I’m not sure what this problem has to do with any political party. It upsets me that so many people seem to care more about their political party and opinions than the people around them, including our Congress and House of Representatives.
Like you said, we need to work together to make our own spaces safe and environmentally friendly. People, be nice to each other, too! We are never going to agree with each other on all subjects. Why would we think we should? We need to be able to disagree agreeably.
Congrats and thanks to you.
Great message Carole!
We need to find a way to carve this part in stone:
- Rule #1: “Telling them how you feel, asking questions, presenting facts, asking for clarification, responding to other’s points of view, are all wonderful ways to engage in conversation, and work to advocate for a change in this decision.”
- Rule #2: “But don’t be ugly!”
Congratulations Carole!
A great success and your ongoing encouragement for us all to respect others and hold ourselves to a high standard. May I quote you: “Hold [others] feet to the fire, but keep your own there too.”?
I am working with both sides of politics leading up to the Queensland state and local government elections and your statement exactly captures the position I have been trying to take. Thank you.
Michael Fox
Mt Gravatt Environment Group
I just added this quote to my collection:
“Hold others feet to the fire, but keep your own there too” -Carole Sevilla Browne-
Wise words for sure!
Sometimes I find it difficult to bite my tongue when I get angry about stories like this, but I had a great mentor a few years ago who taught me about the law of attraction and focusing on creating positive change rather than always fighting.
Mother Teresa said “I was once asked why I don’t participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I’ll be there.”
I love this post! As important as it is to stand up to make a difference for our ecology, I’m glad to see you focus on the importance of how we treat each other. Many people seem to overlook this most crucial component of effecting real change. The way we treat our fellow human beings reveals much about our inner nature. Imagine the world we could create if our creative energies were all focused with positive intent !