Course Teaches Activism

For environmental activists, a new course at the University of Montana promises help in fighting the good fight.

But for logging contractor Bruce Vincent of Libby, UM’s planned course in environmental organizing raises concern that the university is running a boot camp for environmental attack troops.

“I wish we could have a class to teach what life is like for rural people impacted by environmental regulation gone bad,” said Vincent, president of the pro-industry Communities for a Great Northwest.

The course in grassroots environmentalism begins in January at the Missoula campus, under the tutelage of seasoned activist C.B. Pearson. His background includes work for Ralph Nader, Common Cause and the Clark Fork Coalition. Pearson wants students to learn “the real politics of … organizing and civic involvement.”

“There’s a large group of folks out there who are interested in making a difference, and don’t have the civic skills,” he said.

The undergraduate course will be a joint project of Pearson and the UM environmental studies program, but no public money is involved. The Boston-based Green Corps is putting up about $65,000 to pay Pearson and cover other expenses, and Pearson said the course should be self-supporting eventually.

He plans hands-on environmental projects, case studies and guest lectures. Speakers include representatives of Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and the Center for New Democracy.

Pearson said Missoula is the ideal place for the course.

“Within a day’s drive, you can have contact with the major debates on environmental issues,” he said. “It’s a good laboratory.”

The course, in a two-part format that runs through the spring semester, is open to 25 students. They are being recruited nationwide.

“If they’ve found someone who is going to contribute money, I guess that’s wonderful for them,” Vincent, a recent guest speaker in the environmental studies program, said.

He said that in Libby, where the timber industry is in decline and plans for a big silver mine are on hold, “people have a tough time finding someone in a place like Boston who wants to give us money to fight for sustaining our resource-based communities.”

But other UM programs are underwritten by the timber industry. Plum Creek Timber Co., for example, gave UM a $500,000 endowment this year that supports a fellowship and lecture series in the School of Forestry. Lecturers have included Forest Service Chief Jack Ward Thomas.