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Greens at a Crossroads: Environmentalists Strategies Look
Old and Tired in Light of New Realities

Book Review of
Jonathan Adler, Environmentalism at the Crossroads
(Washington, D.C.: Capital Research Center, 1995)

by

H. Sterling Burnett, Environmental Policy Analyst,
National Center for Policy Analysis

Organized environmentalists have long portrayed themselves as political outsiders defending environmental values shared by the most Americans. They have cast themselves in the role of David, defending the helpless environment and the general population against the Goliath of corporate America bent on ravaging the environment and pursuing profit heedless of the costs to human health and well-being. Until recently the mainstream media had yet to challenge this heroic self-portrait. However, cracks have begun to appear in the grassroots facade of major environmental organizations, exposing them as among the most entrenched of Washington insiders

Jonathan Adler's book, Environmentalism at the Crossroads, is a solid contribution to the growing body of literature shedding light on the funding and insider status of the modern environmental movement. In the process, it also demonstrates that the values of the leaders of major environmental organizations fail to correspond with the beliefs and values which most Americans hold -- values such as individual liberty, personal initiative and responsibility, and beliefs in the importance of private property for happiness and human well-being.

One central argument of this work is that modern environmentalism is increasingly driven by ideology rather than careful analysis informed by sound science and widely shared values. This ideology, premised as it is on alarmist beliefs concerning ecological doom caused by America's economic and social structure, rejects economic progress as a valuable social goal. During the 1980s, Chicken Little-like cries of "the earth is warming," "the ozone is disappearing," "biodiversity is in cataclysmic decline," filled the coffers and expanded the membership base of environmental organizations. Currently, the combined budget of the 12 largest environmental organizations is more than $500,000,000.

There is, however, a growing body of scientific evidence disputing environmentalists' doomsday scenarios. In addition, legislators and the public increasingly note the enormous costs and ephemeral benefits of environmental regulation. In the face of these challenges environmentalists have resorted to name-calling when a more useful response would have been to address these concerns head on. This has led to public cynicism about the true goals of major environmental organizations. These groups appear to be more concerned with expanding their pocketbooks and their power in Washington than with carefully examining the nature and evidence of environmental decline or with finding fruitful solutions to environmental damage. Fear that the largest environmental organizations have "sold out," or at least become too cozy with Washington's policy elite has caused a general decline in organization membership, budget short-falls and a schism within the environmental movement itself.

Perhaps the strongest feature of Adler's study is its careful analysis of each of the major environmental organizations. He takes us through the organizations' founding, their gradual shifts in guiding philosophies over time and their legislative successes and failures. In the process, he carefully documents the non-profit and for-profit institutions which have funded these organizations' efforts. The names on the list of corporate funders are disappointing if not surprising. Adler shows why, at least in some instances, corporations in pursuit of competitive advantage have conspired with environmental organizations to shape and support legislation which has been good neither for the economy nor for the environment. The book's extensive appendices provide a detailed look at important features of each organization (i.e., revenues, expenditures, sources of corporate and non-profit support, board members, membership, publications, etc.).

In light of its goals, it is understandable that the book is weakest in its discussions of the history of the environmental movement, and the substantive differences in the competing philosophies guiding the various groups. I also found its discussion of the growing wise-use movement, property rights organizations and free-market environmental organizations lacking. However, this is not a book on history, environmental ethics or free-market environmental theory.

Environmentalism at the Crossroads makes a strong case for believing that the environmental movement has strayed from its roots -- from conservationism to preservationism and beyond. Though the movement still exerts a powerful influence on the course of environmental legislation, Adler persuasively argues that the farther it strays from the widely shared value of economic progress through the wise use of natural resources the more it risks becoming a marginal participant in future environmental policy debates. Economic progress founded on private property rights is compatible with and perhaps necessary for improved environmental quality. Preservationism, the movement to protect natural resources from human use, is only compatible with high unemployment, increased human misery, and long-term environmental decline. As such, it is a philosophy alien to most Americans. The longer environmentalists refuse to recognize these facts the greater the chance that in the future their spokesmen will be treated like religious doomsayers carrying signs on the street-corner proclaiming that "the end of the earth is near." They will be shunned by the vast majority of the people, and their message will be increasingly ignored.