Sierra Club Director Paul Watson Resigns to Protest Hunting Prize
From: Ronda Roaring
Date: Wed, Apr 19 2006 8:41 am
http://groups.google.com/group/AR-News/bro...d87f54ddcb/14de
66650e3d6245#14de66650e3d6245
Sierra Club Director Paul Watson, one of the 15 National Directors of the
Sierra Club, has resigned today from the National Board of the Sierra Club.
He was elected to the Board of Directors in 2003 for a three year term. His
term ends May 17th, 2006.
Saying, “I won’t fade quietly into the night,†Watson tendered his
resignation on April 17th, which is a month before his term expires to protest the use
of Club resources to finance a sport hunting trip to encourage hunting.
Watson was not notified of a contest posted in January 2006. The contest is
an essay competition entitled Why I Hunt?
The first prize is a $12,700 hunting trip to the Sportsman’s Lodge in Alaska.
Additional prizes totaling $3,000 will also be awarded.
“It appears to me that the Sierra Club should have better projects to spend
$15,700 on than sending some nimrod to Alaska to shoot wildlife,†said Watson.
“Last year they turned down my request for a $5,000 grant to assist the
rangers in the Galapagos National Park deal with poachers.â€
Watson last year protested the posting of pictures of Sierra Club leaders
posing with their trophy kills on the Sierra Club website. Each year, the Club is
spending over two hundred thousand dollars on hunter outreach programs
despite the fact that less than 20% of the Sierra Club membership are hunters.
Watson, who has been a Sierra Club member since 1968, thinks the Club is
forgetting its role as a conservation organization. “This is John Muir’s Sierra
Club,†he said, “It is not supposed to be the Sahara Club. You can’t love
nature with a gun.â€
Watson will not be attending his final Board meeting in San Francisco on May
17-20th.
“I have no intention of attending a meeting of a hunting club,†said Watson.
“I wonder how many of the Sierra Club’s 750,000 members know and approve of
killing animals with their contributions?â€
Additional information about this subject is posted under the Commentary by
Paul Watson entitled “Loving Nature with a Gun.â€
Full Version: Watson disturbed ,resigns. To bad ,so sad.
Loving Nature with a Gun
Commentary by Paul Watson
Founder and President of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
To what dark depths of immorality is the Sierra Club USA prepared to go to suck up to the “hook and bullet†crowd?
The Sierra Club clearly embraces the slaughter of wild animals proclaiming that 20% of the membership are “hunters or anglers.â€
The Club hosts a web page showing Club leaders posing with macho smiles of triumph with their slaughtered, bleeding trophy victims. We see them proudly gazing at the cameras with pitiful corpses of elk, deer, antelope, geese, ducks, and fish.
And just to show you that the Sierra Club is an equal opportunity organization when it comes to slaughter – there are women hunters featured like bow hunter Jean Legge of North Dakota. She appears all smiles over a dead deer and proudly states that “hunting is more enjoyable when you have the right equipment.†I think the men agree, Jean.
Link: http://www.sierraclub.org/huntingfishing/whoweare.asp
Even in death the animals look nobler than the smirking, cruel clowns posing with their corpses.
It was a goddamn embarrassment to discover that as a National Director of the Sierra Club, no one told me anything about the tens of thousands of dollars we had allocated for “hunter outreach†programs.
Not only are we posting snuff snaps, we are actually spending money to promote the murder of wildlife and enticing more of the sadistic death deviants into joining the Sierra Club.
The Club even has an essay contest entitled; Why I Hunt?
Link: http://www.sierraclub.org/huntingfishing/whyihunt/
I wonder how many Sierra Club members realize that the Club is offering a grand prize of an all expense paid trip for two to the Alaska Sportsman’s Lodge. The value of the prize is $12,200.00.
Hard to believe, but, the Sierra Club is actually spending donated funds to send some sadistic bastard up to Alaska to kill a grizzly or whatever else he stumbles upon. Yep, that’s the way to protect nature – shoot it.
I notice this sick little excursion was never brought before the Board of Directors for approval.
Trophy hunters argue that hunting is a natural instinct of man. We come from a hunter-gathering background they say, yet I don’t see any acorn or root gathering going on. In fact, I don’t think there is a single gathering club in the country. So, if hunting is a natural part of our instincts, then how come gathering isn’t?
And there are few predators in nature that would target the biggest and the strongest animals. Humans do so, only because we have devastating weapons of mass wildlife destruction. Targeting the biggest and the strongest is not natural or ecologically sound.
Behind all the chit-chat of conservation and tradition is the plain simple fact that trophy hunters like to kill living things. Many, like Vice President Dick Cheney, like their victims helpless therefore they patronize canned hunts and safaris parks to snuff out defenseless captive animals.
The Sierra Club webpage posts an essay by Rick Bass entitled, Why I hunt? – Stalking wild game in a rugged landscape brings one environmentalist closer to nature. Link: http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200107/bass.asp
Tell me Rick, how does a gun bring you closer to nature unless you enjoy the sight of red blood splattered on green leaves?
Is a camera not enough? Is it so hard to look at an animal without wanting to kill it or is it only the fact that you kill it that makes you so excited?
Bass has a book promotion on the Sierra Club website where it describes how he went to Alaska to investigate the threats to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. An excerpt describes how “he now pursues game with a primal passion coupled with an environmentalist's conscience, providing nearly all the meat his family consumes. He hoped to kill one caribou and bring home its meat.
Link: http://www.sierraclub.org/books/catalog/1578051142.asp
If I understand this right, Bass went to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to kill a caribou in order to write about the threats to the caribou. What part of the words “wildlife refuge†did he not understand? The meaning of the word “refuge†is a place of shelter and protection from danger. I guess Bass does not think that caribou need any refuge from his rifle.
And do we really want to promote “primal passion?†I thought this was a term for rapists and serial killers.
Aldo Leopold is considered the father of wildlife ecology. In the early part of the 20th Century, he shot a wolf and wrote the following about his experience:
We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes – something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.
Nor do I, but as a director of the Sierra Club for the last three years, I have encountered a great deal of hostility because I don’t hunt or fish. In my life, have disrupted hunting, and as a child I sabotaged trap lines, releasing animals and destroying the vicious leg-hold traps. But living compassionately with nature is not considered admirable by the Sierra Club. They don’t post our essays on vegetarianism or anti-hunting despite the fact that many Sierra Club members are vegetarian and eighty percent of the members do not hunt.
The Sierra Club has decided that nature is best loved with a gun, and bunny huggers need not apply. Apparently, there is little room for compassion and plenty of resources to promote violence, exploitation, and cruelty in the wilderness.
Paul Watson turned in his resignation to the Sierra Club board of directors on April 17, 2006 – read more.
Commentary by Paul Watson
Founder and President of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
To what dark depths of immorality is the Sierra Club USA prepared to go to suck up to the “hook and bullet†crowd?
The Sierra Club clearly embraces the slaughter of wild animals proclaiming that 20% of the membership are “hunters or anglers.â€
The Club hosts a web page showing Club leaders posing with macho smiles of triumph with their slaughtered, bleeding trophy victims. We see them proudly gazing at the cameras with pitiful corpses of elk, deer, antelope, geese, ducks, and fish.
And just to show you that the Sierra Club is an equal opportunity organization when it comes to slaughter – there are women hunters featured like bow hunter Jean Legge of North Dakota. She appears all smiles over a dead deer and proudly states that “hunting is more enjoyable when you have the right equipment.†I think the men agree, Jean.
Link: http://www.sierraclub.org/huntingfishing/whoweare.asp
Even in death the animals look nobler than the smirking, cruel clowns posing with their corpses.
It was a goddamn embarrassment to discover that as a National Director of the Sierra Club, no one told me anything about the tens of thousands of dollars we had allocated for “hunter outreach†programs.
Not only are we posting snuff snaps, we are actually spending money to promote the murder of wildlife and enticing more of the sadistic death deviants into joining the Sierra Club.
The Club even has an essay contest entitled; Why I Hunt?
Link: http://www.sierraclub.org/huntingfishing/whyihunt/
I wonder how many Sierra Club members realize that the Club is offering a grand prize of an all expense paid trip for two to the Alaska Sportsman’s Lodge. The value of the prize is $12,200.00.
Hard to believe, but, the Sierra Club is actually spending donated funds to send some sadistic bastard up to Alaska to kill a grizzly or whatever else he stumbles upon. Yep, that’s the way to protect nature – shoot it.
I notice this sick little excursion was never brought before the Board of Directors for approval.
Trophy hunters argue that hunting is a natural instinct of man. We come from a hunter-gathering background they say, yet I don’t see any acorn or root gathering going on. In fact, I don’t think there is a single gathering club in the country. So, if hunting is a natural part of our instincts, then how come gathering isn’t?
And there are few predators in nature that would target the biggest and the strongest animals. Humans do so, only because we have devastating weapons of mass wildlife destruction. Targeting the biggest and the strongest is not natural or ecologically sound.
Behind all the chit-chat of conservation and tradition is the plain simple fact that trophy hunters like to kill living things. Many, like Vice President Dick Cheney, like their victims helpless therefore they patronize canned hunts and safaris parks to snuff out defenseless captive animals.
The Sierra Club webpage posts an essay by Rick Bass entitled, Why I hunt? – Stalking wild game in a rugged landscape brings one environmentalist closer to nature. Link: http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200107/bass.asp
Tell me Rick, how does a gun bring you closer to nature unless you enjoy the sight of red blood splattered on green leaves?
Is a camera not enough? Is it so hard to look at an animal without wanting to kill it or is it only the fact that you kill it that makes you so excited?
Bass has a book promotion on the Sierra Club website where it describes how he went to Alaska to investigate the threats to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. An excerpt describes how “he now pursues game with a primal passion coupled with an environmentalist's conscience, providing nearly all the meat his family consumes. He hoped to kill one caribou and bring home its meat.
Link: http://www.sierraclub.org/books/catalog/1578051142.asp
If I understand this right, Bass went to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to kill a caribou in order to write about the threats to the caribou. What part of the words “wildlife refuge†did he not understand? The meaning of the word “refuge†is a place of shelter and protection from danger. I guess Bass does not think that caribou need any refuge from his rifle.
And do we really want to promote “primal passion?†I thought this was a term for rapists and serial killers.
Aldo Leopold is considered the father of wildlife ecology. In the early part of the 20th Century, he shot a wolf and wrote the following about his experience:
We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes – something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters' paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.
Nor do I, but as a director of the Sierra Club for the last three years, I have encountered a great deal of hostility because I don’t hunt or fish. In my life, have disrupted hunting, and as a child I sabotaged trap lines, releasing animals and destroying the vicious leg-hold traps. But living compassionately with nature is not considered admirable by the Sierra Club. They don’t post our essays on vegetarianism or anti-hunting despite the fact that many Sierra Club members are vegetarian and eighty percent of the members do not hunt.
The Sierra Club has decided that nature is best loved with a gun, and bunny huggers need not apply. Apparently, there is little room for compassion and plenty of resources to promote violence, exploitation, and cruelty in the wilderness.
Paul Watson turned in his resignation to the Sierra Club board of directors on April 17, 2006 – read more.
YEAH! Can anyone address this? As usual, Paul is profoundly right on:
Trophy hunters argue that hunting is a natural instinct of man. We come from a hunter-gathering background they say, yet I don’t see any acorn or root gathering going on. In fact, I don’t think there is a single gathering club in the country. So, if hunting is a natural part of our instincts, then how come gathering isn’t?
Trophy hunters argue that hunting is a natural instinct of man. We come from a hunter-gathering background they say, yet I don’t see any acorn or root gathering going on. In fact, I don’t think there is a single gathering club in the country. So, if hunting is a natural part of our instincts, then how come gathering isn’t?
QUOTE
So, if hunting is a natural part of our instincts, then how come gathering isn’t?
That’s way too myopic. Focusing on gathering/collecting seeds. Looking from a broader perspective, gathering stuff is a latent personality trait in us all.
There are thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of gathering clubs. They just gather together stamps, cars, statues, baseball cards, concert tickets, etc. The list is endless. The focus of our inherent gathering instinct has simply changed from a pastoral activity to one of consumerism in response to our society’s lifestyle change from a pastoral to a mechanized one.
QUOTE (XXMag @ Apr 20 2006, 09:18 AM)
That’s way too myopic. Focusing on gathering/collecting seeds. Looking from a broader perspective, gathering stuff is a latent personality trait in us all.
There are thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of gathering clubs. They just gather together stamps, cars, statues, baseball cards, concert tickets, etc. The list is endless. The focus of our inherent gathering instinct has simply changed from a pastoral activity to one of consumerism in response to our society’s lifestyle change from a pastoral to a mechanized one.
There are thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of gathering clubs. They just gather together stamps, cars, statues, baseball cards, concert tickets, etc. The list is endless. The focus of our inherent gathering instinct has simply changed from a pastoral activity to one of consumerism in response to our society’s lifestyle change from a pastoral to a mechanized one.
I may have to borrow your logic for the debate on Enviro. 
QUOTE (XXMag @ Apr 20 2006, 09:18 AM)
QUOTE
So, if hunting is a natural part of our instincts, then how come gathering isn’t?
That’s way too myopic. Focusing on gathering/collecting seeds. Looking from a broader perspective, gathering stuff is a latent personality trait in us all.
There are thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of gathering clubs. They just gather together stamps, cars, statues, baseball cards, concert tickets, etc. The list is endless. The focus of our inherent gathering instinct has simply changed from a pastoral activity to one of consumerism in response to our society’s lifestyle change from a pastoral to a mechanized one.
We're not talking baseball cards. You're completely out of context.
QUOTE (Grace @ Apr 20 2006, 09:22 AM)
YEAH! Can anyone address this? As usual, Paul is profoundly right on:
Trophy hunters argue that hunting is a natural instinct of man. We come from a hunter-gathering background they say, yet I don’t see any acorn or root gathering going on. In fact, I don’t think there is a single gathering club in the country. So, if hunting is a natural part of our instincts, then how come gathering isn’t?
Trophy hunters argue that hunting is a natural instinct of man. We come from a hunter-gathering background they say, yet I don’t see any acorn or root gathering going on. In fact, I don’t think there is a single gathering club in the country. So, if hunting is a natural part of our instincts, then how come gathering isn’t?
http://www.ethicdiscussion.com/discuss/ind...showtopic=11319
QUOTE (Amy7779311 @ Apr 20 2006, 10:39 AM)
QUOTE (Grace @ Apr 20 2006, 09:22 AM)
YEAH! Can anyone address this? As usual, Paul is profoundly right on:
Trophy hunters argue that hunting is a natural instinct of man. We come from a hunter-gathering background they say, yet I don’t see any acorn or root gathering going on. In fact, I don’t think there is a single gathering club in the country. So, if hunting is a natural part of our instincts, then how come gathering isn’t?
Trophy hunters argue that hunting is a natural instinct of man. We come from a hunter-gathering background they say, yet I don’t see any acorn or root gathering going on. In fact, I don’t think there is a single gathering club in the country. So, if hunting is a natural part of our instincts, then how come gathering isn’t?
http://www.ethicdiscussion.com/discuss/ind...showtopic=11319
The point of Paul's statement WAS - why are there not any GATHERER CLUBS like they're are hunting clubs? I know we gather - people that grow herbs, tomatoes, corn, gather. I'm not denying that as I've stated such at Enviro to Ori. And to use XXMag's lame analogy with baseball cards, we also hunt for our keys, a missing sock, etc. So, again, since there are hunting clubs, why are there no gatherer clubs?
QUOTE (Grace @ Apr 20 2006, 10:46 AM)
The point of Paul's statement WAS - why are there not any GATHERER CLUBS like they're are hunting clubs? I know we gather - people that grow herbs, tomatoes, corn, gather. I'm not denying that as I've stated such at Enviro to Ori. And to use XXMag's lame analogy with baseball cards, we also hunt for our keys, a missing sock, etc. So, again, since there are hunting clubs, why are there no gatherer clubs?
Uhm Grace.. you stated at Enviro that people DON'T gatheras well. You're either really confuzzled or have giant bunny on the brain.
Are you really sure there are no gatherer clubs?
QUOTE (Grace @ Apr 20 2006, 11:46 AM)
QUOTE (Amy7779311 @ Apr 20 2006, 10:39 AM)
QUOTE (Grace @ Apr 20 2006, 09:22 AM)
YEAH! Can anyone address this? As usual, Paul is profoundly right on:
Trophy hunters argue that hunting is a natural instinct of man. We come from a hunter-gathering background they say, yet I don’t see any acorn or root gathering going on. In fact, I don’t think there is a single gathering club in the country. So, if hunting is a natural part of our instincts, then how come gathering isn’t?
Trophy hunters argue that hunting is a natural instinct of man. We come from a hunter-gathering background they say, yet I don’t see any acorn or root gathering going on. In fact, I don’t think there is a single gathering club in the country. So, if hunting is a natural part of our instincts, then how come gathering isn’t?
http://www.ethicdiscussion.com/discuss/ind...showtopic=11319
The point of Paul's statement WAS - why are there not any GATHERER CLUBS like they're are hunting clubs? I know we gather - people that grow herbs, tomatoes, corn, gather. I'm not denying that as I've stated such at Enviro to Ori. And to use XXMag's lame analogy with baseball cards, we also hunt for our keys, a missing sock, etc. So, again, since there are hunting clubs, why are there no gatherer clubs?
http://www.thegreatmorel.com/info.html
LOL Amy. Touche. Still, one of those clubs is called a hunting club so I'm eliminating it due to a technicality.
QUOTE
So, if hunting is a natural part of our instincts, then how come gathering isn’t?
You lack imagination. Just because it manifests itself in a different way, doesn't mean that it's not an ingrained compulsion.
It makes zero sense that an activity that was essential for survival for so many millennia just disappears. I'm contending that the impulse to gather things is still there as an ingrained and essential instinct; it just manifests itself in a different way because survival no longer hinges on gathering enough seeds.
More importantly, do you know anyone who doesn't collect something, no matter how mundane? I know I don't. If you do, I’d like to talk to them, I’m sure it’ll be a fascinating conversation. So if it's an activity that everyone does to one degree or another, for one object, where does the impulse come from?
More importantly, do you know anyone who doesn't collect something, no matter how mundane? I know I don't. If you do, I’d like to talk to them, I’m sure it’ll be a fascinating conversation. So if it's an activity that everyone does to one degree or another, for one object, where does the impulse come from?
QUOTE (XXMag @ Apr 20 2006, 12:24 PM)
It makes zero sense that an activity that was essential for survival for so many millennia just disappears. I'm contending that the impulse to gather things is still there as an ingrained and essential instinct; it just manifests itself in a different way because survival no longer hinges on gathering enough seeds.
More importantly, do you know anyone who doesn't collect something, no matter how mundane? I know I don't. If you do, I’d like to talk to them, I’m sure it’ll be a fascinating conversation. So if it's an activity that everyone does to one degree or another, for one object, where does the impulse come from?
More importantly, do you know anyone who doesn't collect something, no matter how mundane? I know I don't. If you do, I’d like to talk to them, I’m sure it’ll be a fascinating conversation. So if it's an activity that everyone does to one degree or another, for one object, where does the impulse come from?
It is silly to state that folks have lost the old ways because some idiot stocks his pirate ship at Costco.
QUOTE (Grace @ Apr 20 2006, 07:22 AM)
YEAH! Can anyone address this? As usual, Paul is profoundly right on:
Trophy hunters argue that hunting is a natural instinct of man. We come from a hunter-gathering background they say, yet I don’t see any acorn or root gathering going on. In fact, I don’t think there is a single gathering club in the country. So, if hunting is a natural part of our instincts, then how come gathering isn’t?
Trophy hunters argue that hunting is a natural instinct of man. We come from a hunter-gathering background they say, yet I don’t see any acorn or root gathering going on. In fact, I don’t think there is a single gathering club in the country. So, if hunting is a natural part of our instincts, then how come gathering isn’t?
You're joking, right? Besides the mushroom hunting clubs (links Amy posted), there are clubs that go out gathering other edibles such as fiddlehead ferns, wild herbs, fruits, etc.
I agree with XXMag that for those that the collection urge part of the hunter/gatherer instinct.
QUOTE (XXMag @ Apr 20 2006, 11:24 AM)
It makes zero sense that an activity that was essential for survival for so many millennia just disappears. I'm contending that the impulse to gather things is still there as an ingrained and essential instinct; it just manifests itself in a different way because survival no longer hinges on gathering enough seeds.
Exactly.
Going to the grocery store, for example, is definitely a case of the individual going to hunt and gather. Because the items are nicely packaged doesn't mean that hunting/gathering is not taking place.
Plus, as you refer to, because grocery stores exist doesn't mean that everyone will lose the desire to hunt and gather food the way it was done before grocery stores existed.
I don't belong to any gathering clubs, but every spring I go looking for morels, ramps and asparagus. It tastes great, and all it costs is a little bit of time outside. Bonus! Oddly enough, I started a thread about gathering morels in the non-debate forum around a week before starting this one.
There used to be a ramp festival every may in Monterey Virginia. People would go out in the woods and gather ramps, then voulenteers would cook them all different ways. You would pay a small fee to come in and eat.
And, what about HONEY. Sure, the bees and hives themselves are usually on farms. But all honey has to be gathered.
There used to be a ramp festival every may in Monterey Virginia. People would go out in the woods and gather ramps, then voulenteers would cook them all different ways. You would pay a small fee to come in and eat.
And, what about HONEY. Sure, the bees and hives themselves are usually on farms. But all honey has to be gathered.
QUOTE (XXMag @ Apr 24 2006, 06:59 AM)
I don't belong to any gathering clubs, but every spring I go looking for morels, ramps and asparagus. It tastes great, and all it costs is a little bit of time outside. Bonus! Oddly enough, I started a thread about gathering morels in the non-debate forum around a week before starting this one.
There used to be a ramp festival every may in Monterey Virginia. People would go out in the woods and gather ramps, then voulenteers would cook them all different ways. You would pay a small fee to come in and eat.
And, what about HONEY. Sure, the bees and hives themselves are usually on farms. But all honey has to be gathered.
There used to be a ramp festival every may in Monterey Virginia. People would go out in the woods and gather ramps, then voulenteers would cook them all different ways. You would pay a small fee to come in and eat.
And, what about HONEY. Sure, the bees and hives themselves are usually on farms. But all honey has to be gathered.
The BOTTOM line is Watson created a strawman fallacy that is unsupportable yesterday today and tomorrow. Grace had the courtesy to admitt her mistake in supporting that fallacy. Hats off to Grace cause she was willing to admitt Watson fallacy wasn't based in fact.
QUOTE (Amy7779311 @ Apr 20 2006, 11:01 AM)
damn I just posted this link in the morel thread in the no debating section lol, yes google is our friend.
Ah, good ole' Gilligan....
QUOTE (XXMag @ Apr 20 2006, 09:18 AM)
QUOTE
So, if hunting is a natural part of our instincts, then how come gathering isn’t?
That’s way too myopic. Focusing on gathering/collecting seeds. Looking from a broader perspective, gathering stuff is a latent personality trait in us all.
There are thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of gathering clubs. They just gather together stamps, cars, statues, baseball cards, concert tickets, etc. The list is endless. The focus of our inherent gathering instinct has simply changed from a pastoral activity to one of consumerism in response to our society’s lifestyle change from a pastoral to a mechanized one.
Shoot them and gather them. Works for me.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.