Chris Barnard writes on The American Conservative about how the environmental movement lost America.
- The environmental movement has ostracized those closest to nature such as farmers, ranchers, and landowners by promoting emotional rhetoric over pragmatic solutions.
- Eco-environmentalists seek to control our economy and daily lives rather than promoting substantial ways to lower emissions.
- Meaningfully curbing the effects of climate change will only occur when we fully unleash the power of markets and empower local, bottom-up solutions that reduce our carbon footprint.
“On a macro level, this change signified a larger shift within the environmental movement toward a more emotional and political message. Rather than the salt-of-the-earth image of country folks as environmentalists, the modern movement came to be dominated by mostly metropolitan voices that valued idealistic notions of ‘natural’ preservation over pragmatic conservation. The image of the polar bear surfaced, conveying Rousseauian notions of fuzzy natural beauty untainted by humans, as opposed to those meddlesome farmers and sportsmen.”
Read the full article here.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.
