Other than Stewart Brand, the U.S. doesn’t have any well-known environmentalist writers who dare to challenge conventional green wisdom. I suppose The Death of Environmentalism authors could qualify, but I consider them more wonky polemicists than writers. Andy Revkin might soon qualify, as he transitions from mainstream science reporter to environmental writer/teacher. In the UK,…Continue Reading…
In recent years, some influential writers have been making noises about the staleness of the green movement. At the Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media, I take stock of an emergent narrative that challenges foundational environmentalist precepts. Will it take hold? Let me know what you think over there.
They capture our imagination. They help frame public discourse on important issues. Just one problem: some of our most famous eco-metaphors have not held up to the test of time. At the Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media, I suggest that some of the more popular ones stick around past their expiration date. Have…Continue Reading…
Henry David Thoreau famously wrote: In wildness is the preservation of the world. Since the late 1800s, the notion of wilderness as nature incarnate has been an animating force in American culture. A host of seminal, hugely influential environmental writers and activists, from John Muir and Aldo Leopold to David Brower and Edward Abbey, have…Continue Reading…
When I lived in the affluent, liberal, eco-friendly universe of Boulder, Colorado in 2007-2008, I noticed that bikes and SUV’s were ubiquitous. Similarly, here’s an observation from a reader who resides in another well-to-do community: I live in a very “˜eco friendly’ community just outside of Seattle. Styrofoam cups have been banned, various street signs…Continue Reading…
If you want to know why the old school, inflexible wing of environmentalism is rotting from within, look no further than this gem of a comment at Dot Earth: Keith Kloor, Mark Lynas, Steve Nordhaus, and Roger Pielke Jr. share several characteristics: rudimentary knowledge of climate change (absent any scientific discipline), a way with words,…Continue Reading…
Greenpeace continues its descent into anti-science oblivion. Last Thursday, the environmental group carried out a destructive anti-GMO stunt that has outraged scientists in Australia. Over at Sustainablog, agricultural scientist Steve Savage describes what happened: On July, 14, three Greenpeace activists dressed in hazmat suits scaled a fence, and used weed whips to destroy a GMO wheat experiment…Continue Reading…
Because Ed Abbey and David Foster Wallace are no longer around, I’m nominating Charles Bowden to attend this upcoming conference sponsored by the European Science Foundation: Eco-Chic: Connecting Ethical, Sustainable and Elite Consumption As anthropologist Adam Fish observes: Eco-chic, like many other socio-cultural manifestations of neoliberalism is rife with contradiction. The fundamental contradiction being that it…Continue Reading…
An intellectually bankrupt, marginalized social movement with an expired shelf life is at a crossroads. (Metaphor mix alert!) On Saturday, a Guardian article asked: Has the green movement lost its way? True, we have heard this tune before. This time, however, there is mounting evidence that more charter members of the club are at last recognizing that…Continue Reading…
Here’s a delightfully salty essay from a fellow Brooklynite (of course!) which you should chew on while pondering the collapse of civilization. Pay special heed to this: There is a good reason that the environmental movement in this country — and those tiny, blonde Northern countries — do not win the hearts and minds of most…Continue Reading…