|
The
Death of (Liberal) Environmentalism
by Michael G. Livingston / April 2005 issue of Socialist Action
It is rare for someone in the capitalist media to report on a debate
within the environmental movement, so you can imagine my surprise when I
opened the
Saturday, March 12, New York Times to find an op/ed piece by Nicholas
Kristof on“The Death of Environmentalism.”
Kristof’s piece was commenting on the controversial essay by that
name by two young environmentalists, Michael Shellenberger and Ted
Nordhaus. Shellenberger and Nordhaus released their essay in October 2004,
and
it has been making waves within the environmental movement ever
since.
If you want to read the essay itself, and some of the criticisms of
it by such leading environmentalists as Carl Pope, the executive director
of the Sierra Club, visit Grist Magazine, the on-line environmental magazine,
at www.grist.org. Check it out—you will learn a lot about what is wrong
with the environmental movement and some suggestions for how to fix it.
It’s difficult to summarize Shellenberger’s and Nordhaus’ critique
of the current environmental movement. In a few words, they provide a
political critique of the goals and approach of the mainstream environmental
movement toward the problem of global warming. In terms of goals, the
policy goals such as
the Kyoto Protocol and improved CAFÉ standards are inadequate to
solve the global crisis we face.
In terms of approach, the movement acts as a special interest that
narrowly defines what constitutes an environmental issue while pursuing
technical fixes.
Shellenberger and Nordhaus argue for a political approach (similar to
the approach that has brought such success to the right) combining a broad
social
vision, basic values, and political solutions that can unite a broad
base of people while dividing the opposition.
There is much of value in “The Death of Environmentalism”; it should
be widely read and discussed by activists. As an example of their approach,
they cite the Apollo Alliance (see www.apolloalliance. org), a project they
both worked
on and helped to formulate.
The Apollo Alliance is made up of environmental groups, civil rights
and social justice groups, labor unions, and business groups who call for
investment in
alternative energy to create jobs, break America’s dependence on
oil, and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
Curiously, Kristof’s op/ed piece in The New York Times has very
little to do with the essay itself. Other than his title (“I Have a
Nightmare”), taken from a
reference in the essay contrasting King’s “I Have a Dream” speech
with typical environmental rhetoric, and a few quotes, Kristof mostly
ignores or misconstrues the arguments of the controversial essay.
At first I thought he had not read the essay, but after re-reading
both his op/ed piece and “The Death of Environmentalism,” it is clear that
he had read it
carefully and has some major political disagreements with it.
Instead, Kristof uses his column to launch an attack on the
environmental movement from the right, arguing that environmental groups
are too alarmist. After establishing his bona fides as an environmentalist (the
essay “resonated” with him because he “was once an environmental groupie,
and … still share[s] the movement’s broad aims”), he cites a couple of weak
examples from the 1970s to show how the environmental movement is alarmist,
and then delivers his coup de grace, the urgent call for “reasonable environmentalists.”
Kristof concludes by calling for a “credible, nuanced, highly
respected environmental movement.”
Kristof’s position is far from the ideas presented by Shellenberger
and Nordhaus. The latter are absolutely opposed to the small-bore,
special-interest politics currently practiced in the environmental
movement, an approach that Kristof finds too radical.
Kristof’s New York Times op/ed piece provides us with a wonderful
example of attacking someone while pretending to agree with them.
Unfortunately, millions
of people will have read Kristof’s piece while only a few thousand
have read “The Death of Environmentalism.”
Don’t be manipulated by the capitalist press: Read Shellenberger’s
and Nordhaus’ “The Death of Environmentalism” yourself. Then we can start a
real
grassroots debate on program and strategy within the environmental
movement on how to resolve the global environmental crisis we face.
The author can be reached at livingstonmiguel@hotmail.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Click here for info on how to subscribe to
Socialist Action newspaper.
|
