Brooklyn-based artist and environmental activist Lopi LaRoe sees Smokey
the Bear as a friend. As a kid raised by environmentalists, she grew up
with him, she says, and feels a particular connection to the affable,
but informative cultural touchstone invented by the US Forest Service in
1944. "So I thought it was a perfect culture-jamming opportunity to
take this very familiar conservationist and turn him into an
anti-fracking activist," she told the
Voice. The Forest Service, on the other hand, isn't a fan of LaRoe's
representation of a Smokey who tries to prevent "faucet fires." Nearly a
year after LaRoe began carrying images of a newly-radicalized Smokey
Bear to protests, selling t-shirts, and circulating what soon became a
viral meme online, the Forest Service asked LaRoe to
cease and desist. "The feds want to frack our national parks," LaRoe said. "It's not
surprising that they're coming after me to try and censor my political
speech."...
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