Are environmentalists dangerous?

It seems China thinks they are. According to a New York Times Article (from Reuters):

"A Chinese court on Saturday sentenced a Tibetan environmentalist who

organized villagers to pick up litter and plant trees to five years in jail for

inciting to split the nation," his lawyer said.

Also according to the article, the arrested man, Rinchen Samdrup, ran an

environmental group in Tibet. The group organized about 1,700 local villagers

to reforest the area and report poaching. After Mr. Samdrup accused a local

police officer of poaching, he was arrested.

There is more to this story though. Part of it was they found a favorable article about the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, on this man's website. The problem? The Chinese government forbids all worship of the Dalai Lama, and all photos of the Dalai Lama are banned. A recent New York Times article touched on this when covering recent statements made by Tibetan Monks who went through "Re-education" by the Chinese government after shouting things like, "Tibet is not free" to foreign journalists as they toured a Tibetan temple. To read more on that story Click Here.

Now I don't believe the U.S. would ever go to this level to stop an environmental movement from happening, this is just interesting. But the road to a cleaner, greener economy in the U.S. still isn't going to be easy. And the challenges we will face will most likely be unique to us.

-Brendan