Background: Virginia Tech has come up with a campaign where each Virginia Tech member, faculty, staff and alumni will promise 10 hours of community service as a tribute to the victims of April 16, 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech. Different people have promised community work in several organizations in and around Blacksburg and elsewhere. I also promised 10 hours of community work. To utilize these 10 hours, I wanted to set up a stall in a grocery shop talking to people about buying reusable grocery bags and stop using petroleum based plastic grocery bags. I also wanted to use that occasion to talk to people one to one about several environmental issues as well.
Now what happened: I chose Kroger grocery store for this place as they have started selling reusable bags recently and it generally has crowds of lots of young students. I went to talk to the Kroger Manager today and he outrightly rejected the proposal. He did not like the fact that I was being supported by Sierra Club. He said the organization was too political. He added on to that I will be talking about environmental issue specifically "Global Warming" which is a political issue. He said this might (or definitely will) annoy some of their customers and he didn't want his customers to complain.
"Global warming, a political issue?" I was really surprised to hear that. I have always considered that to be an environmental issue. As per as normal IQ goes global warming is a phenomena by which the greenhouses gases absorb heat which makes this planet inhabitable. The balance of greenhouses is delicately maintained by several natural processes. However, several human activities increase these greenhouses gases in atmosphere and are causing the increase in global temperature. There are several serious repercussions of this increase in temperature and I have discussed some of them in my previous posts related to environment.
I have followed several discussions and read several articles but I am not convinced that global warming is a political issue and it should not be taken that way. It's an issue of screwing up the mother nature which inhabits us.
On a positive note, a grocery store at Blacksburg agreed to my proposal instantly. They will get reusable grocery bags so that I will use this occasion and convince people to use them. The grocery bags will be sold at cost price as well. The store manager also gave me several ideas to organize that stall. At the end of the day I was able to convince one store of my idea. I will let you know how that goes.
Let me know what do you think,
Raag
Posts
The viewpoint that you look at the issue is not the same as many others look at and this has become more of a political issue, which is a shame. As you may have heard the controversies about Al Gore winning noble prize. I believe that was the fuel to the fire. People are trying to use it for their political benefits and neglecting the real issue. Now some people who do not want to support the other party are the ones sounds like you met.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you are working on the issue and not playing it political. Good Luck!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteissue made political! i think the things would have been better if it was publicized/raised by anyone one other than Al Gore.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, everyone should contribute their 2 cents understanding that it may or may not change anything in the grand scheme of things.
The issue of Global Warming was raised long before Al Gore came up with his presentation. IPCC was formed in 1988 to understand the global climate change. It has been coming up with this reports regarding Global warming since then.
ReplyDeleteReceding glaciers has been a topic of discussion for last 25-30 years. Al Gore brought up these issues into the eyes of common people.
As per our 2 cents may or may not contribute to the grand scheme of things, I will write another post regarding that very soon. So keep checking this place.
Cheers
Anurag
i know you would catch the 'RAISED' word and make an issue out of it. thats exactly why i deleted my previous comment.
ReplyDeleteno more comments...you shut me up with your knowledge of the issue.