Well it would hardly be news if we were to write about greed in Chiang Mai considering some of the lifestyles we observe here but how else do we describe this picture from the Post Office 50000 taken today?
Maybe you have seen them before, paid canvassers from Bangkok coming to Chiang Mai to beg money for the international environmental organisation GREENPEACE . I saw some outside a nearby convenience store in the evening cool some months ago and when I asked them about environment issues affecting Chiang Mai they had no answers. This time in the air-conditioned comfort of the Mai Chiang Mai 50000 post office, away from the smoke blanketing the city, the story was no different. When asked what activities for the environment they were involved in here the answer was – “None we work in Bangkok”.
They seemed oblivious to the fact that the north is burning. Indeed some eight years ago I visited the Greenpeace director in Bangkok to raise this issue and was told that Greenpeace did not have a South east Asia forest campaign operating at the time but may in the near future. The near future still appears to be in the future. Pity they use their resources only to milk money from our community instead of working with local groups such as Breathe Campaign for mutual benefit.
You are indeed the oracle for negativity; now you’re down on Greenpeace. Surely there are a lot worse organizations that you could focus on for defamation of character.
If you feel that GP’s programs don’t fit your local agenda, why don’t you join them and offer to direct and fund a local program. But don’t undermine the work that they are doing on an international scale.
A negative approach does not gain public support and positive change, as the Occupy movement in the US that you promoted has found out. dc
There is now a link to the Greenpeace South East Asia, Thailand website above.
For Thai language see: http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/th/
For a more positive response to the Occupy Movement from the UK Guardian see:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/22/occupy-arab-spring-political-protest
I ‘ve got mixed feelings about these guys. On the one hand I do really enjoy seeing photos of them fighting whaling, deforestation and coal power stations. On the other hand, they are annoying when they ear bash you at shopping centres, and they apparently couldn’t give a shit about little guys from other aid agencies trying to make a difference. I emailed them in BKK for advice on starting a campaign against the air pollution here in Chiang Mai. Did I get a reply? Zero.
thank you.