OPINION/COMMENTARY

Environmentalism, RIP? Not So Fast

Is environmentalism dead? Yes, say environmental activists Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus in a recent essay, “The Death of Environmentalism,” that has sparked serious debate within the green Left. They argue that the movement is losing ground, and that it might need to abandon the drapery of environmentalism to pursue their overarching goal: “progressivism.” Environmental activism may be in transition, but the contention that the movement is losing major ground is belied by its ongoing impact on American life—an impact on both our pocketbooks and our personal freedom. Indeed, Americans who value freedom over the “progressive” nanny state should be very concerned about the scope and power of the environmental progressives today. Shellenberger and Nordhaus are surprisingly forthcoming. They and many other activists are unhappy because they don’t measure success based on whether the air and water are getting cleaner (which they clearly are), but on whether the movement has passed any new, major laws that increase their power. As the authors bluntly note, they evaluate their policy successes “not only for whether they will get us the environmental protections we need but also whether they will define the debate, divide our opponents, and build our political power over time.” And they want that political power to lord over the rest of us. As Shellenberger and Nordhaus plainly state, the greens want to pass a global warming law to “remake the global economy in ways that will transform the lives of six billion people,” which they admit is an “undertaking of monumental size and complexity.”....

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