What Climate Activists Need To Learn From The NRA And The Gun-Control Wars

Grist:

Supporters of climate-change legislation have much to learn from an organization that is often rated as the most powerful lobby in Washington: the National Rifle Association.

Read the whole story: Grist

Comments

[gfs5541]

02:04 PM on 08/23/2010

What they really need to learn: FIGHT DIRTY!

[PlayTOE]

05:26 PM on 08/22/2010

The article gives some great advice.

Don't give up, don't get discouraged
Get organized and get action.

The NRA isn't just some unfunded gun users, it is a full industry working to promote its products.

~ Green manufacturers for products like wind turbines and solar panels and storage batteries need to become a united lobbying force to get their products funded, encouraged, and given the sort of infrastructure that is needed.
~ Green minded groups need to get behind their manufacturers and unite under international umbrella organizations that do more than just collect money.

Political will is produced at the grass roots.

[BlackbirdHighway]

08:32 AM on 08/22/2010

One big difference is that the NRA is one organization, while AGW has dozens. There is strength in numbers, and having the AGW split into many small groups dilutes its potential power.

[Kenz300]

08:58 PM on 08/21/2010

America needs an energy policy.

Oil and coal are limited resources.
The spill in the Gulf should be enough to make people think about reducing oil dependence.
How about the fact that we are sending money to countries that want to do us harm.

We need to support a transition to clean, safe, distributed, alternative energy.
Wind, solar, geothermal and biofuels all need our support.

Our economic security and our national security depend on our transition
to American fuels produced by American workers.

[rocketman69]

04:35 AM on 08/21/2010

Why not pick a cause that:

1. Is more manly.

2. Won't cost poor people lots of money they don't have.

3. Someone cares about.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

10:23 AM on 08/20/2010

The article makes good points but omits or fails to mention the biggest supporter of the NRA.... The Second Amendment.

AGW supporters have Al Gore and a band of scientists dependent on research funds that will dry up if AGW is NOT advocated to exist. It is not science that is in question, it is the scientists that present us with thier version of science. Firthermore, supporting gun rights does not hurt the economy. Supporting policies that will add regulation and hurt existing businesses and jobs, even if the argument is new green ones will be created makes for a large gamble by politicians easy to paint as a job killer by opponents.

The analogy is not accurate.

[BlackbirdHighway]

08:18 AM on 08/22/2010

You are missing the point. The analogy is not that AGW is anything like the NRA. It is that the NRA is successful and while AGW is not because the NRA has far superior tactics and strategy in politics.

The AGW group foolishly believed that all that was needed was to point out a problem and the public and politicians and business would all join together to fix it. Nope, politics doesn't work like that, and these days in America everything is political.

[ReedYoung]

06:37 PM on 08/22/2010

Research budgets are available to explore the unknown, not to duplicate previous findings. The incentive to fudge or mischaracterize results would be for climate scientists to pretend to be less sure than they are.

[Ireckon]

10:21 AM on 08/20/2010

The Chicago Climate Exchange is owned by the foreign private banks of the Rothchild, the same Rothschild who ran a recycled boat for Greenpeace telling people they need to pay their carbon taxes to the Rothchild. The Rothchild also build masonic temples and have designs for the temple of Solomon for the Antichrist, even though many Rothchild are atheist, they still promote the building of these religious structures.

So while the faith in CO2 is strong, shouldn't there be a separation between church and state?

[rocketman69]

04:33 AM on 08/21/2010

The Bilderbergers already thought of all that and made you ask that question.

[guinganbresil]

09:04 AM on 08/20/2010

Defend liberty rather than attack it?

[Overtone]

01:46 AM on 08/20/2010

This is a very important post and it is much appreciated!

Global Warming may now threaten human survival. The need to reverse it appears to be an unrecognized emergency.

See http://www.aesopinstitute.org for a summary and some supporting as well as strongly dissenting opinion.

Since the propaganda has spread disbelief, the strategy and tactics advocated in this blog are extremely important.

Many millions of lives may depend on difficult action that requires wisdom combined with unusually effective bold decisions.

[BannedNBoston]

01:08 AM on 08/20/2010

Get packed ASAP!!

Check out the crime syndicate.....

http://www.opinion-maker.org/2010/08/obama-all-in-the-company-part-i/
http://www.opinion-maker.org/2010/08/special-report-the-story-of-obama-all-in-the-company-part-ii/http://www.opinion-maker.org/2010/08/special-report-the-story-of-obama-all-in-the-company-part-iii/

[mandinka]

11:18 PM on 08/19/2010

telling the truth would be a start

[Tom95134]

11:01 PM on 08/19/2010

An article with very good advice. Unfortunately, it will not bee heeded because the environmentalists are way too divided over which is their pet projects and as a result are unwilling to come together on a united from.

[jsarets]

10:51 PM on 08/19/2010

The gun lobby appeals to individual liberty and the Second Amendment.

It's difficult to frame environmental policies in terms of individual rights, and there's nothing in the Constitution than speaks specifically to environmental protection.

Environmental policy places collective responsibility ahead of individual liberty, which is a tough sell given that most people are quite attached to their high-impact lifestyles.

We have to acknowledge the extent to which our environmental destruction is driven by demand-side interests. The corporate media culture and industrial paradigm shape consumer preference to an extent, but consumers ultimately buy into a way of life.

I think we should focus on creating a level playing field where small businesses and entrepreneurs can effectively compete with large corporations and give consumers accessible choices of lower-impact products and lifestyles.

Simple policy frameworks can greatly ease financing for home efficiency improvements, rooftop solar arrays, wind turbines, and combined heat and power generators.

Cooperative networks can help connect small independent farmers with local retail outlets.

Most importantly, I think we have to deemphasize transportation as a top priority. There's much less to be gained by manufacturing millions of new cars or massive high-speed rail networks than by gradually reorienting the economy such that people live closer to workplaces and retail outlets and can choose alternative transportation such as bicycles.

A lot of these solutions will take time that we arguably don't have, but I think we got here by demanding fast solutions that never came about.

[mamababa]

08:55 AM on 08/20/2010

Re: "Environmental policy places collective responsibility ahead of individual liberty,"

The American Way of Life is not negotiable!

[fred 53 99]

01:02 PM on 09/02/2010

And how is that wrong?.

[PlayTOE]

05:36 PM on 08/22/2010

It's difficult to frame environmental policies in terms of individual rights, and there's nothing in the Constitution than speaks specifically to environmental protection.

I beg to differ, the right to clean air is a public good, but also connected to part of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The question to frame, ~ Is it the right of corporations to pollute, or do our rights to clean air and clean water take first place?

[ReedYoung]

06:31 PM on 08/22/2010

F&F #373

[ReedYoung]

10:28 PM on 08/19/2010

So, you're saying, no need to try to be polite to them? That's a relief! And, it's what I'm best at.

Don't fear to be feared. Progressive groups, including many supporters of climate-change legislation, love to be loved. The gun lobby doesn't care if you don't like it, so long as you fear it. The NRA, the most powerful lobby in Washington, is one of the most reviled. Many members of Congress, even pro-gun members, privately bristle at the tactics of the NRA, but that doesn't stop them from voting in lockstep with the gun lobby.

Don't get mad, get even. Bruised, scarred, and brushed aside, no one could blame supporters of climate-change legislation for being angry at a political process that has stymied action on an issue of such great import. When I worked on gun issues, I ran into a lot of activists, particularly the victims and survivors of gun violence, who were incensed at Congress for its failure to adopt sensible gun laws. The key was to channel that anger and frustration into constructive action, and we did that with the passage of the Brady Law and the federal assault-weapons ban.

[PlayTOE]

05:31 PM on 08/22/2010

F & F # 814

[fred 53 99]

01:11 PM on 09/02/2010

Dude in america guns are sexy. When I was a kid the good guy had the biggest gun on tV. Consider this most of the tV cowboys carrier the 1876 colt peacemaker army modle. This gun had at least a 7 inch barrel some had a 10 inch barrel. Johnny Yuma had a sawed off shotgun and the Rifleman , well he had a rifle. To many Americans a gun is like having the big dick, leave my dick alone.

[eyelashviper]

08:48 PM on 08/19/2010

Shoot polluters?