It's only recently that I've realized I am an environmentalist. Prior to this year I thought, unfairly, that environmentalists were unrealistic and idealistic—people who cared more about trees than humans. I certainly didn't understand why people stood outside buildings and yelled. This year, however, I've learned much more about the environmental movement and its tactics. As it turns out, environmentalists, or at least the sort I identify with, are thoughtful and are opposed to the destruction of our natural resources, which affect humans, animals and plant life alike. That is the sort of destruction a group of nine Grinnell College students protested this past weekend at the Sears in the Coralville Mall.
Our group, comprised mostly of Free the Planet! members, protested Sears in conjunction with a national campaign organized by ForestEthics, a San Francisco-based environmental group where I worked this summer. Sears greatly contributes to forest destruction by sending out an estimated 425 million catalogs a year. These catalogs are printed on paper with almost no post-consumer recycled content, and the company refuses to make real commitments to protect endangered forests. Obviously, then, Sears' policy—or lack thereof—effects plant and animal life.
However, the logging also directly affects humans in that it destroys land currently and historical inhabited by Canadian First Nations' groups and contributes to global warming by chopping down our world's first defense against warming gases—forests. Basically, we have a lot to protest when it comes to Sears paper policy, and it's been proven that the best way to get corporations to change their ways is to attack their brand image and get to their consumer base on board.
To that end, the nine of us bundled up and headed to Coralville with home-made catalog pom-poms in tow, to chant, cheer, and generally make a fuss in front of Sears. We chanted about Sears' part in forest destruction and performed cheers to the tune of "Hot In Here"that accused Sears of contributing to global warming by destroying forests. It was only a little ridiculous, given the outside temperature of approximately 25 degrees. It turns out Sears, despite its status as the fourth largest corporation in the country, is not a particularly popular store, so foot traffic was sparse. I think we all wondered if we were really doing any good.
After a bit we decided to up the ante and head inside the mall. Based on my experience protesting in San Francisco I figured we would get kicked out within a minute, but apparently mall security at the Coralville mall is not as well-equipped for protesters. We held our big sign that stated "Sears has been naughty”—hopefully Santa gets the message—and chanted in the mall for close to 10 minutes before mall security approached us. They were, as fellow protester Ali Sargent '10 put it, "excited but not amused."Kicking a bunch of college kids out of the mall was probably the most exciting thing they would do all month.
We left red-faced and enthusiastic. I have to admit that having the security guards shuffle us off the property was a little exciting. I got old folkie songs about direct action and protest stuck in my head. It capped off the action well. Later I found out that John Burrows '10 had hidden our fliers in catalogs around the store. I wish I had been there to see the Sears manager find them.
Although we did our action on Sunday, this Tuesday was ForestEthics's official day of action against Sears. I received an email stating that over 70 actions were planned on that day alone. It's thrilling to be a part of something that big. It may not seem like a few activists in Iowa getting kicked out of a mall would really inspire a big corporation like Sears to help protect Endangered Forests, but in conjunction with hundreds of other activists across the United States and Canada, as past campaigns have proved, we have a good shot.
