It's not a party of environmentalists until the beer bottles are sorted out of the trash and off the lawn for recycling and the hybrid vehicles are checked out. If you think I'm exaggerating, you are right. I only saw one hybrid and all the other vehicles were the usual array of cars and SUVs, some better on gas than others. Hhmmm. These are the people I work with to protect the Musconetcong watershed -- Board, staff and volunteers -- together for our winter party to acknowledge the great volunteers we have. We talked about politicians in the county that help or obstruct environmentalism; we talked about other environmental organizations; we shared work we've been doing with members who might not be aware of everything we do. Might not sound terribly exciting as far as parties go, but in fact it was pretty energizing to us. It's really nice to be with people who share our values of protecting the environment.
Of course, that doesn't mean there is agreement on everything. We had conversations about developers in the region and farmers who view our work with suspicion. But we have a prominent local developer on our Board of Directors and farmers as members. How cool is that? It's never just black and white and where the Musconetcong Watershed Association has achieved much of its success is in listening and dialogues with all kinds of stakeholders. We have a phenomenal Executive Director who is connected, persistent and influential.
The one thing I run into in groups of environmentalists is the assumption that all environmentalists are liberal Democrats who despise the evil Republican party. It does not seem possible to them that one can be a Republican environmentalist (a "moderate" perhaps.) So there were times I just bit my tongue or walked away from people discussing politics. We agree on environmental protection; that is enough for a good party!
Of course, that doesn't mean there is agreement on everything. We had conversations about developers in the region and farmers who view our work with suspicion. But we have a prominent local developer on our Board of Directors and farmers as members. How cool is that? It's never just black and white and where the Musconetcong Watershed Association has achieved much of its success is in listening and dialogues with all kinds of stakeholders. We have a phenomenal Executive Director who is connected, persistent and influential.
The one thing I run into in groups of environmentalists is the assumption that all environmentalists are liberal Democrats who despise the evil Republican party. It does not seem possible to them that one can be a Republican environmentalist (a "moderate" perhaps.) So there were times I just bit my tongue or walked away from people discussing politics. We agree on environmental protection; that is enough for a good party!