Quote:
Originally posted by RipCurl
So I'm taking this public speaking class right now, and I chose the Sierra Club as a persuasive speech topic. I am speaking against it. I am currently doing research, and I was wondering if anyone had any good resources that I may not be aware of.
I think I am going to base my speech on the Blue Ribbon Coalition, Tread Lightly, and I might even go so far as to include some other organizations such as Ducks Unlimited, etc.
I have visited the websites of these organizations and have books on them, but I figured that this would be a good place to ask about it as you may have resources/experiences that relate to the Sierra Club that I do not.
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You bring up a topic that has me currently baffled. I realize that much of what follows will not be viewed correctly by most, but I am hoping for a bit of insight as to correcting the problem. I don't have the answer, I'm not sure anyone does, but until they do, I'm not so sure the Sierra Club is the bunch of bastards everyone thinks they are.
This past Thanksgiving holiday was beautiful, quiet, serene and just outright awesome in giving us the opportunity to enjoy the desert and all of it fresh snow cleansed scenery. That is until the crowds of small OHV's and their considerably inconsiderate pilots arrived.
I ask in all seriousness, is it really necessary to arrive at 11:30 at night, start up your very loud dirt bike and ride around the campsite? And, after that, was it really necessary to arise at 6:30 the next morning to do it again. I'd a figured if you arrived that late, the least you could do is sleep in to at least 7.
Is is really necessary to use my campsite as the playground for perpetuation your bad manners to your children on their miniature bikes and quads?
It is really necessary to start up your unmuffled wannabe desert race truck and run up and down the only flat road out there?
If you build a little circle track through the wash right behind our camp, is it really necessary to ride it continously with 4 quads for 2 hours non-stop?
If we have two vehicles parked close enough together so that a quad won't fit between them, is it really necessary to ride your dirtbike between?
Is it necessary to make so much motorized noise that conversation in my camp is useless?
Starting Wednesday night and continuing until we finally moved our camp to a very remote location, this is exactly what happened.
On more than one occasion after a particularly stupid display of ignorance, be it riding at speed with no helmet or just zipping through the edges of our camp, it occured to me that perhaps the SC had a point in trying to limit that behavior. I know if someone had of identified themselves to me as a SC member, asked for a donation to make the morons go away, I would have gladly dug deep into my pockets for that.
Please don't misinterpret, I truly despise the closure of any OHV area and the reduction of my freedoms and liberties that ensue, but do I really want to fight to enable access and promote the very behavior I had to move away from?
Once again, I am baffled as to why we fight, only to lose in the public's eye by getting tossed into the same trash pile as those who lack respect for others and the land they use.