Audubon: Frightful Fundraising
9 hours ago
Opinion by Kip Hansen — 3 July 2024 — 2200 words
The National Audubon Society is a foundational conservation organization in the United States: “The National Audubon Society launched in 1905, on the heels of American conservationism and a growing movement to protect birds. As with many efforts to conserve nature, women led the way: The first Audubon Society was organized by two Boston environmentalists, Harriet Hemenway and Minna B. Hall, in response to the widespread slaughter of waterbirds, the gorgeous feathers of which were used to make women’s hats.” [ source ] Yes, that’s right, birds were being slaughtered all over the world to feed the fad of fancy-feathered women’s hats – some even having whole birds on them!
National Audubon has done some terrific work over the last 100+ years but more recently, since the turn of the century (20th to 21st), they have succumbed to the lure of climbing on the Climatism bandwagon – diluting their message and muddying their reputation. Worse yet, their current messaging and fundraising uses a toxic mix of Climatism and rabid Environmentalism – which I call Enviro-Climatism, a word I use to clarify that this movement includes the worst aspects of the present-day environmental movements and the wild apoplectic versions of the climate scare.
I have donated money to Audubon in the past and thus am on their fund-raising mailing list. Every day I get yet another plea for money based on some mostly-false scary claim about the fate of birds like these pulled from the last ten days or so:
“Birds are suffering from the impacts of climate change. Will you help?
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/07/03/audubon-frightful-fundraising/
