By all means love your world. It’s great to feel connected to your environment and to grow teary-eyed when recollecting the last time you swam with dolphins or watched the sun go down on the banks of the Sabie River.
But when the chips are down and you’re engaged in a debate around a specific environmental issue, suck it in. I have seen otherwise very knowledgeable and hard-working activists lose all credibility when they have lost control while arguing their case in the professional arena.
Know your facts, be open to new points of view and look to work towards common ground. Otherwise you run the risk of having your entire position dismissed as eco-babble. A good example of this has been the nuclear debate. Both sides have become so entrenched and emotionally attached to their views that the only true product from both sides seems to be an overwhelming amount of spin and propaganda.
If you find yourself in a room of debating engineers or scientists, you will get far further with graphs, facts and concrete examples than you will ever get with a rainbow beanie and a placard. PowerPoint and Excel may not be as much fun to work with, but they are way, way more effective tools in changing the world.
Source:Going green: 365 ways to change our world by Simon Gear