The fire next time

I think the pbs film "the fire next time" pretty much summed up my thoughts on my experience in ENG3100J Environmental Sustainability by showing how difficult and complex the subject of environmental sustainability can be. The film described a less then wealthy town in the flathead valley of Montana. The people that lived their was people who lived off of the land, had jobs where they used the land and they planned to spend most of their lives on this land. Now these types of people, as portrayed by the film, had a split in them. One group fought for the jobs and economic growth and sustainability of the local economy. The other group was a strong willed group of environmentalists, scientists, and outdoor lovers a whole. The groups existed peacefully in the valley until a man named John Stokes bought a radio station and sparked a fire. This man had radical view points supporting the working "american" class man and was not quite about his opinions. He constantly would make threats towards people who he felt stood in his " and the american peoples" way. His bandwagoning tactics provoked many people to join and follow in his footsteps and when John Stokes said the environmentalists were to blame for the loss of jobs in the Valley, people took drastic action towards the accused. In the wake an all out political war arose following in death threats, slashing of tires and even a suspected murder of a lesbian environmental activist. The valley battled over political agendas such as logging, weapons holding and opinions on what is state and public land. The result of this documentary, as portrayed by pbs, was that everyone was singing koombaya at the end, and everyone could settle their differences. The reality of the matter in this movie, and in environmental sustainability starts and ends with 7 words. NOT EVERYONE IS GOING TO BE HAPPY. The bulk of the matter resides in the sad inevitable truth that not everyone is going to be happy with the choices and outcomes that rule. I feel thats why our system is so great. That if you like the way things are, you can vote to have the best candidate lead and make choices. But if you feel extremely strongly about an idea, you can fight that till your blue in the face and with every muscle you have. because that is your constitutional right. I feel by having choice, opinion and a voice, not always are you going to be heard, but if you feel so strongly about something, and you speak loud enough, you can be heard.