Environmentalism Is The Establishment

On the fifty-something anniversary of Earth Day it’s time for the environmental movement to grow up. More accurately, it’s important to admit that we have grown up and grown into the establishment.

Today, environmentalism isn’t some scrappy, radical movement. Environmentalists are no longer banging at the castle walls. They run the castle. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Council on Environmental Quality, a good chunk of the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, elements of the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service… I could go on, but my point is that environmental advocacy is now either the very reason for the existence of these agencies or an important force within them. While some parts of these agencies are there to work with industry, even those must be balanced by environmental advocates who are employees of the agency and embedded there. People move back and forth from environmental groups and think tanks to powerful government agencies all the time.

Sure, Donald Trump is trying to turn back the clock on this, as he is on everything else. But even that tells you something. MAGA is about revolting against The Establishment, against The Man. And environmentalists, these days, are The Man. Or, to put it in terms that won’t be offensive to the Sierra Club, The They.

And yet, the movement mostly clings to its old ways and the romantic perception of itself as it once was. Like petulant children, it refuses to accept realistic compromises — Wisconsin Republicans offered $28 million a year for the state Stewardship Fund, but environmentalists stamped their feet, refused the offer, and got nothing. Like campus activists, it fights dramatic, heroic-feeling, but ultimately doomed and wasteful court battles — like the Line 5 pipeline rerouting which will result in 12 miles of pipeline risk that will be replaced by… 41 miles of pipeline risk. And like an ego-centric teenager, it too often refuses to acknowledge that there are other legitimate interests — like jobs in the fossil fuel industry — that need to be considered.

As people age they tend to become less idealistic. This makes sense. Aging is, in part, your body figuring out how to most efficiently use its energy. Dramatic fights for losing causes might be energizing in the short run, but they’re not a good investment of resources. Working within a system — that by the way you mostly control — and making the necessary compromises that allow for steady, incremental change gets you to your goal much faster. And it leaves room for a nice nap after lunch.

So, that’s my hope for the movement on this Earth Day. Trump will pass and his damage to the castle walls will be repaired in time. The long-term project for environmentalists is to start acting like the responsible establishment they now represent and not the dashing outsiders they once were.