The Death of Environmentalism

From the authors of the The Death of Environmentalism:

Shellenberger and Nordhaus have now launched an effort to expand the frame of political environmentalism to encompass core American values. Earlier this year the dynamic duo issued a new book, Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility, in which they attempt to outline a positive vision for the future. Shellenberger and Nordhaus identify an emerging faultline that they argue will divide the environmentalist movement of the 21st century. On one side stand the traditional anti-immigration, anti-globalization, and anti-growth greens. They believe these neo-Malthusians “will seek to establish and enforce the equivalent of an international caste system in which the poor of the developing world are consigned to energy poverty in perpetuity.” Eternal limits to growth for the already impoverished.

One the other hopeful side, according to Nordhaus and Shellenberger, stand “those who believe that there is room enough for all of us to live secure and free lives. It will be pro-growth, progressive, and internationalist.” Nordhaus and Shellenberger see this new positive environmentalism as embracing markets and technological innovation in order to create prosperity and protect the natural world. Central to their positive pro-growth version of environmentalism is the development of cheap low-carbon energy technologies. Not only will such technologies prevent dangerous global warming, but they will also lift billions of people out of poverty by the end of the century. But how to get there? [Techno-Optimistic Environmentalism. Reason Magazine. November 27 2007]

Yup. Red green and blue green.

But emerging? I have always taken it for granted, meaning it is already there, here, now and real.

[1072] Of rebirth of environmentalism

Not too long ago, an essay entitled Death of Environmentalism was published. It is influential among greens for so many reasons. Now, like a phoenix, environmentalism, if it had died, is experiencing a rebirth in the United States. The green movement is regaining the popularity it once had.

One of the contributing factors for the rebirth is the support coming from the Republican party in the United State. According to The Economist:

Many factors lie behind the party’s shift. Most have to do not with sudden sentimentality in the face of Nature, but with national security (a motivation that lies, too, behind Ms Pelosi’s new committee and Mrs Clinton’s patriotic posturing). Fiscal hawks fret about the impact of growing oil imports on the dollar. Military types fear global conflict for dwindling resources in the event of catastrophic global warming. Neoconservatives worry about America’s dependence on oil imports from unstable if not openly hostile countries in Latin America and the Middle East. Some think the solution is simply to pump more oil at home, but others argue that America needs to move away from oil altogether. One such figure, Jim Woolsey, a former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, pointedly drives a Toyota Prius, a famously fuel-efficient car.

At the same time, a growing number of evangelical Christians are beginning to see global warming as a moral issue. They argue that mankind, as steward of God’s creation, has a duty to protect the environment. One outfit, the Evangelical Climate Initiative, encourages prominent pastors and theologians to sign a “Call to Action”. Another group, the Evangelical Environmental Network, runs a website called “What would Jesus drive?” Last year Pat Robertson, a prominent televangelist, told his flock, “We really need to address the burning of fossil fuels.”

I think modern environmentalism have undergone three revolutions. In my opinion, the three revolutions could be associated with certain personalities.

The first: John Muir.

Second: Rachel Carson.

Third and current: Al Gore.