My Greenpeace saga

A week or so back I posted the following on Facebook:

“Took the back alleys to avoid the Greenpeace people on the corner. Does this make me a bad person?”

I got some interesting comments from friends and most of them were anti-Greenpeace.

I work at the downtown library which is a block east of Tejon St. Tejon is the main shopping strip of downtown Colorado Springs so most of the places to eat are along there as well. I have become a big fan of the Arabica Café, a Middle Eastern restaurant, which serves really good dishes quickly and at a reasonable price. In order to get there from work, I have to walk down Pikes Peak Ave and turn right on Tejon. It’s just a block and a half so it’s really no big deal except that on the corner of Pikes Peak and Tejon is usually a group of Greenpeace volunteers. These volunteers (I’ll call them GPers for short) regularly become verbally aggressive if you try to blow them off. I’ve seen it many times including a shouting match between a GPer and a woman who was trying to explain that she was on her way to a job interview and would be late if she stopped to talk.

Lately I have attempted to avoid them by cutting across a bank parking lot, going down a back alley and coming up from the other end but last Friday I forgot.

As I came towards the GPers, one young lady spotted me from a 1/2 block away and waited for me. When I was close enough to hear her, she began.

I paraphrase below:

GPer: Excuse me, do you have time to talk?

Me: Not today.

GPer: Why not?

Me: I’m on a very tight lunch schedule.

GPer: Well, that’s some food for thought!

Me: (to myself) Huh?

I kept walking but her attitude and my friends’ comments made me want to know what Greenpeace was really about.

Here are a few quotes from their website:

“Greenpeace is the largest independent direct-action environmental organization in the world.”

“We do not take money from government or corporations. Our only bottom line is a green and peaceful future.”

and:

“Greenpeace volunteers are dedicated, savvy and passionate about the planet.”

 

Now I’m not knocking Greenpeace as a whole. I think their cause is very noble and they seem to have our best interest at heart when it comes to protecting the environment and our natural resources. Check them out for yourselves at http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en

But they really should come down to the ‘Springs and teach the local GPers how to be savvy and peaceful.

 

 

While writing this, I was listening to "Velvet Sky" from "Los Lonely Boys [Or. Music]" by Los Lonely Boys