Judging from their ability to hold rallies, gather one thousand signatures, and to stage protests, Greenpeace is alive and well in the Southern Tier. As with most advocacy groups, the question is whether their sound and fury signifies anything productive.
The Greenpeace energy plan is heavy on solar and wind, against drilling in ANWR, and anti-nuclear. With the exception of wind, which is an important local issue, Massa and Greenpeace are pretty closely allied. Randy Kuhl's energy plan, which mentions alternative energy but puts domestic drilling in the drivers' seat, is far from what Greenpeace wants.
So why they would choose to picket Massa's office, while staging a friendly grip-and-grin with Randy Kuhl, is baffling. Massa's made a point of his availability to local groups, so presumably a Massa/Greenpeace meeting could have been scheduled fairly easily. This is an unforced error on Greenpeace's part.
In an area that already has a negative predisposition towards Greenpeace, it takes only one error to lead to more grief. The action of the Urbana town board, which used the Massa protest as a flimsy pretext for denying a permit for the harmless "Rolling Sunlight" display, demonstrates this fact.
Imagine a deft publicity campaign by an organization working to rebuild a tarnished reputation, and you've imagined the opposite of Greenpeace's actions in the Southern Tier.
Comments
Thank you Rottenchester for your feedback, as the global warming field organizer for Greenpeace in the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes I take your comments to heart. Global warming is changing our planet, not just in the arctic, but right here this beautiful part of New York. Greenpeace is working with citizens all over the country to urge candidates for Congress to commit to solving global warming. Community members here did recently deliver those messages to both candidates, and in both cases their offices were contacted and a date and time planned. We really appreciate both offices accepting the messages and were happy that the Congressman happened to be available and could meet with us. Both Candidates have expressed their appreciation for our efforts to bring the voices of voters to their attention on such an important issue. I encourage all to visit www.projecthotseat.org to find out more about our efforts to encourage congress to take action on global warming. type in your zip code to find your representative and you will also find my contact information. Together, we can stop global warming.