Engaging Voices: Tales of Morality and Meaning in an Age of Global Warming

2. Choose

41 The room was shabby, but Richard was used to it—and a dozen rooms just like it. Old wooden chairs, political posters on paint-peeling walls (“Save the Bay,” “Universal Health Care,” “End the Occupation,” “Eat the Rich”), scuffed linoleum floor, and, this was a definite plus, a large blackboard covering one wall. Why, he wondered, do we always have the crappy rooms, and the people we are fighting have carpets, beautiful desks, and the latest computerDVD -Internet-TV consoles with recessed push-button controlled track lighting and a seven-foot screen? Oh well, if we had them, we’d be the people we were fighting. Despite the room, he was, for the most part at least, thoroughly happy. The sudden, unexpected pardon from the governor after the new evidence had surfaced had been a joyful shock. The day he left Smithfield, smelling the late April flowers and feeling the sun on his face, was one of the happiest he had ever known. To walk out of that place, to never see any of those horrible people again. 2 Choose 42 * Engaging Voices And now he was back to work. The local National Environmental Coalition organizer had left to go to law school. The job didn’t pay much, but this was, after all, what he lived for. He had gotten right into it—contacting several people who had experience in progressive politics, setting up tonight’s meeting. He had the perfect issue. And if things went right, in a few hours there would be a functioning coalition of activists under his direction. He just had to handle it, and watch his temper. He took a large piece of red chalk and wrote on the board: National Environmental Coalition, Binghamtown Chapter, Possible Issues. He would list a bunch of things, but he knew which one he wanted them to choose. A little preliminary organizing had gotten him, he believed, some allies. They would all support the same thing, it would seem spontaneous, and then the group would be moving in the right direction. Over the next twenty minutes, people straggled into the room. Richard was thankful that there were several women and at least a few people of color. It wouldn’t do to be all male, and it really wouldn’t do to be all white—even if black people often didn’t get the importance of environmental issues. “Welcome, folks, welcome,” he began, speaking loudly to get their attention. As they quieted, he softened his tone and smiled— he’d learned to handle people at meetings years ago, and this sort of thing always worked. “My name is Richard, and I’m the local organizer for the N.E.C.” He gestured to the board so they’d see what it meant. “Thanks to all of you for coming. We’re here to start a new campaign, something we can all support and hopefully put some real muscle behind.” He paused and looked them over, broadening his smile. With any luck, these would be his comrades for some time. Not forever, that was for sure. He’d done enough political organizing to know that every group would fall apart after a while. People burned out, or disagreed too much, or nothing worked. Or something worked for a time, and then stopped working. But this was the start, and the start could be beautiful. Choose * 43 He took a deep breath, calming his nerves. “Let’s begin by introducing ourselves. Who are you, and why are you here? I’m Richard, and I’m here because I love the earth, and want to save it from the disaster people have been creating for the last hundred years. I want to save the wetlands and the rain forests and the polar bears—and in doing that, we’ll be saving people too.” He stopped and nodded at a short, stocky young woman with a red bandana wrapped around her close-cropped black hair, wearing faded jeans and an oversize sweatshirt with a “Fair Trade NOW” logo on it. “I’m Wendy. I saw an e-mail about a new political group here, and this campus has been politically dead for so long, I thought I’d check it out. I’ve been an activist for a while—did some things in my high school, helped organize for better wages for nursing home workers, mostly immigrant Haitian women...