https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/2...
Before I met Tammi, videos of far-right conspiracist radio host Alex Jones foaming at the mouth and claiming “they are spraying poisons on you†served as my prime example of what a believer in chemtrails might look like. I’d read articles that called such believers “idiotsâ€, but I had never actually talked to one.
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Tammi isn’t a caricature of a tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracist, and she’s not an idiot. Instead of crazy walls full of newspaper clippings, her house is decorated with dreamcatchers and her grandchildren’s drawings. After getting degrees in Applied Information Technology and Architectural Drafting from Capilano College in her hometown of Vancouver, she helped pioneer the “girl games†movement as a multimedia producer for game developer Purple Moon. In 2012, a biodynamic farming course at Rudolf Steiner College inspired her to quit her six-figure job as a financial controller and go back to the land.
Now, when she’s not laboring outside, she sells upcycled furniture, bakes pumpkin muffins and supplements her income with financial consulting services. She rarely discusses her beliefs unless prompted, though she occasionally reposts articles by so-called anti-vaxxers on Facebook.
She’s an example of how conspiracy theories, once a fringe obsession, have gone mainstream – and how “alternative facts†aren’t just for the right wing.
Before I left Lincoln Hills, Tammi and Rob let me interview them about their beliefs. I wanted to know how these socially progressive, educated and entrepreneurial organic farmers came to reject the authority of science – and what it would take to redirect their concerns toward real and dire environmental threats.