Spartan Daily

Baums Away: Greenpeace needs to change approach

Margaret Baum is the Spartan Daily Features Editor. Her column "Baums Away" appears every other Tuesday.

Every day, I purposely avoid walking by the Student Union, especially in the afternoons.

I take the other route to class — walking by the Seventh Street garage and the Event Center, so I don't have pass by the Greenpeace volunteers asking students, staff and walkers by to donate money.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not against helping the environment or saving the dolphins.

Before I decided on journalism as a major, I actually wanted to be a scientist studying in the rainforest in Costa Rica someday.

Preserving nature and the environment is something I'm really passionate about.

I wouldn't say I'm opposed to the idea of actually donating to Greenpeace or any other organization, for that matter.

It's the methods of the volunteers that really bother me.

I have had several experiences while walking past the Student Union during the past year, and the majority of them have been unpleasant.

I think I have only made it past one time without being stopped while rushing to class or work.

The very first time I was really nice about the whole situation.

Maybe that's the problem — I am way too nice.

During this first encounter, a volunteer approached me as I was rushing to class.

"Do you want to save the rainforest?" he asked.

"Of course," I said.

The volunteer explained that if I made a donation that very day, I would be saving the rainforest.

I kindly explained that I didn't have any money and that I was sorry.

The volunteer followed me as I walked away, begging for me to let him tell me a story.

I tried to tell him that I really needed to get to class and that I really didn't have time today.

He began to tell me the story anyway.

This particular story was about tuna and the way in which the tuna industry was covering up using fish aggregating devices and how it was endangering the environment.

According to an article on Greenpeace's website, "Fish aggregating devices (aka FADs) are floating objects that tuna vessels cast adrift in the open ocean."

The article also said these small floating objects are used to attract fish in the open ocean and can eventually develop an entire ecosystem around the object, which is then entirely wiped out when the tuna picks it up in its net.

Many of the tuna being picked up are young tuna usually of the yellowfin and bigeye variety, which are two species in major trouble as far as endangered tuna go, the volunteer explained.

"Basically, if we don't stop using these devices, these varieties of tuna will completely disappear," he said.

I thought about this really hard in those few moments, before responding to the volunteer.

I eventually told him that I just didn't have the money to donate at the time.

Every time I pass by the Student Union, I see students turning down the volunteers left and right.

I started really thinking about what bothered me so much about my experiences with Greenpeace, and I came to the conclusion that it isn't the fact they are asking students for money — it was more the way they approached the whole idea.

Maybe they need to try a new approach.

I know several students that donate to Greenpeace, but from the talks I have had with some of these students it isn't because they were followed while walking to class or stopped to hear a story about Greenpeace's efforts, it was because they thought about it long and hard.

Most students don't seem to have the extra money to donate to causes such as these, and even if they do, maybe they would do it more often if organizations on campus gave out flyers or simply told students to check out their website when they turned them down.

I would be much more likely to donate to an organization I could research on my own time, rather than because I heard a story that made me want to donate.

Although that approach can be effective, most students are rushing around and don't have the kind of time to stop to actually pay attention to the stories that could make them want to donate.

With a new approach, Greenpeace could find itself with many more donations, especially when it comes to college students. If Greenpeace wants to get more donations they need to change their strategies. If Greenpeace wants to get more donations they need to change their strategies.