Unions, conservationists join forces to protect sporting rights

Embrace Me, You Irreplaceable You

Need more proof that green is gaining steam? Voila: a brand-new partnership between a Republican-leaning conservation group and 20 labor unions that represent nearly 5 million people. Worried that hunters and anglers are being barred from prime playgrounds, the Union Sportsmen's Alliance will push for increased federal conservation funding and for access to public lands. "We can make the union movement and environmentalism compatible," says International Association of Machinists President Tom Buffenbarger. Beyond that, says Jim Range, board chair of the alliance-building Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, "It opens up a tremendous amount of territory for us to work on both sides of the aisle." In a divided country, says Phil Brick, environmental politics professor at Washington state's Whitman College, "these kind of alliances are the only way anything is going to get done over the next 10 to 20 years in American politics." Annual dues: $25. Actual progress: Priceless.

straight to the source: The Washington Post, Blaine Harden, 16 Jan 2007

straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Lynn Marshall, 17 Jan 2007

see also, in Grist: New green/labor alliance unites Sierra Club, Steelworkers

see also, in Grist: Phil Brick answers Grist's questions

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Comments: (3 comments)

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Priceless?

I am surprised at the characterization of the union of hunters and conservationists as "progress," without any acknowledgement of the former's motivation for seeking this end. For the sportsmen, it is, at heart, an endeavor rooted in bloodthirsty selfishness -- namely, to protect animals long enough so that they can enjoy the pleasure of killing them. There is nothing priceless about this sort of "progress," and to declare so belittles the altruistic aims of the true conservationists -- those who seek to protect the natural environment for its own sake, including the animals that are of its very essence.

As the great John Muir once wrote: "The murder business and sport by saint and sinner alike has been pushed ruthlessly, merrily on, until at last protective measures are being called for, partly, I suppose, because the pleasure of killing is in danger of being lost from there being little or nothing left to kill."

by evanvoo at 11:47 AM on 17 Jan 2007

The Partnership and the Farm Bill

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership is also going to be active on the Farm Bill, pushing for expanded funding of conservation funding (and thus helping to prevent the entire nation from being covered by corn for ethanol plants). Here's a link to journalist Keith Good speaking with Lynn Tjeerdsma of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (T.R.C.P.) about the next Farm Bill.

by meander at 1:06 PM on 17 Jan 2007

we must...

kill the wildlife to save it?

What's next? Donate $10,000,000 toward rebuilding Iraq and you get to ride through Anbar Province with a sniper rifle, just for sport?

In a heavily armored vehicle, of course. Nothin' flimsy like our penny-pinching Uncle Sam makes our brave men and women ride around in.

by wackatalpidae at 2:34 PM on 17 Jan 2007

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