Why I am, and probably always will be, a canvasser.

            My job is hard.  I go door to door in my hometown, attempting to reach out to people about an issue very important to me: destruction of the environment.  It is a job which most people I know neither appreciate nor respect.  They remind me I have a college degree, I could get a “real” job.  What they fail to understand is that I am called to do this job, from somewhere deep inside me, my heart or soul or guts, maybe my conscience.  It is my duty, my obligation.

            More specifically, I work for a small grassroots group dedicated to protecting one particular National Forest from illegal and destructive logging.  This forest is where my entire hometown gets drinking water, some of the cleanest in the country.  It is also a forest where federal agencies who were designed to be stewards and caretakers of these great lands have gotten away with breaking the law for a long time, and few people seem to notice.  Luckily, those few people have done a lot, and inspired more people to get involved.  My job is to educate the public, one at a time, and hopefully inspire more people to get involved.  On a typical night, however, I see more apathy, complacency, and laziness in people than I do inspiration or any other kind of emotion.  The most common response I get is, “What does that have to do with me?”  I want to reply, “Do you drink water?  Do you breathe oxygen?  Do you know where those things come from?”  Instead I say, “Everything.”  This issue has everything to do with you, and this is why:

National Forests are public land.  They belong to me, and to you, and to every citizen of this country.  They do not belong to the government.  The US Forest Service and other agencies were created to manage these lands in the public interest, yet somewhere along the line the public forgot that and the forest became a commodity for private interests, such as logging and energy companies.  Put simply, the government is destroying MY land, YOUR land, for corporate gain.  Old growth is clearcut, water is poisoned, and endangered species are eradicated.  That land and everything on it belongs to us: soil, water, flora and fauna.  If a government agency broke into your home, took your belongings, sold them to the highest bidder, and kept the money, you would be pissed.  If they then cut down all the trees in your yard and did the same thing, you would again be pissed.  So why not get pissed when they do that in our public forests?

I am pissed about it.  I am mad as hell.  They have no right to do that.  And we have no right to sit idly by and let them.  The reason I go door to door and tell people about this is because I want them to get angry.  I consider my night at work a success if I can get one person riled up about this.  Most nights, however, I end up feeling defeated because no one I spoke to all night gave a crap about the water that comes out of their tap or the air they breathe.  I wonder if what I do is worth it at all.

I have sat and cried on more curbs in this city than I care to tell.  I have been called every name in the book, as they say.  I have had the police called on me, been threatened with guns, chased and bitten by dogs.  I have been stalked and physically attacked.  I have passed out from heat stroke and broken my foot.  I have screamed and pulled my hair out because I could not take the apathy any longer.  I believe in this cause so strongly that I have put my mind and body on the line, all so I can hear the majority of people say, “What does that have to do with me?”  “I’m not interested.”  “I’d rather not get involved.”  My favorite of all time was, “Oh, you must be from the Too Little, Too Late Committee.”

My mom asks me from time to time why I keep going back if it is so distressing for me.  I tell her it is because I have to.  I refuse to believe that people do not care.  I know they do.  And each new door is an opportunity to connect with people who care and want to do something about it.  Sure, most people out there are assholes, but a few are not.  I am looking for the few.

I have worked for this particular group on and off for over seven years.  In that time, I have built up my fair share of canvasser horror stories, but there have been some really positive, moving, inspiring moments as well.  I have met some incredibly passionate, caring, generous individuals, along with some activist grannies, awesome little kids, and adorable pets.  I have been given cocoa and warm meals when I was cold, ice water and air conditioned breaks when I was hot.  These are the moments that make my job worthwhile, and part of why I keep coming back.  It is also pretty nice to come home from work knowing I did something good for the world.

But the main reason I do my job is that I am mad, and I want other people to be mad too.  I want them to be mad enough to stand up and do something.  It is our land.  It is our problem.  And, whether people like it or not, it is our responsibility.  So, if you are reading this, get angry!  Maybe not about this exact issue, but about something!  And use that anger as fuel to go out there and change the world!