We can no longer trust greens to save the planet. Their track record and anti-pragmatic approach demonstrates one thing above all else: environmentalism is still dead. It's time to lead or leave, and until greens are ready to grow up, we shouldn't take their marching orders. The moment is simply too urgent.
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Since 2004, greens have risen slowly but surely from "The Death of Environmentalism" pronounced by Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus. "An Inconvenient Truth," a new Democratic Congress, the green marketing frenzy - it seemed that greens had risen from the grave throwing punches, and it was only a matter of time before the final "tipping point" on global warming action was reached.
But this summer, environmentalism's coffin was buried once again. The failure of Lieberman-Warner in June was just the beginning -- two years ago, it would have been inconceivable for Democrats to cave in on offshore drilling, or for greens to oppose an energy bill crafted by Democrats. Environmentalists were completely destroyed by "drill, baby, drill." Indeed, a new era of escalating energy prices and economic crisis has provoked a paradigm shift in the national political climate.
As Environment & Energy Daily reported yesterday (subscription req'd):
The debate over offshore drilling, critics say, has exposed a fundamental flaw in the mainstream environmental community -- namely that it was ill-prepared for a national political fight where its issue registered as the top priority for the majority of voters, particularly in a climate where much of the public lined up against them.
Indeed, the recent history of environmental issues has been that while voters generally side with environmentalists on a wide range of issue, they also place relatively far down on their list of political priorities.
But $4 gas quickly turned that situation on its head this summer. Fueled by an aggressive campaign by prominent Republicans such as presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, polls showed the public both viewed energy policy as their top priority and lined up distinctly against the environmentalists' position.
"Environmental groups by and large in the U.S. have lived by the assumption that their issues are always going to be second-tier for everyone except for them," said Bill Chaloupka...
In this new environment, the eco-centric agenda will continue to fail. High energy prices and economic recession will remain at the forefront of public concern, as will the slow but sure decline of American global competitiveness, the upcoming fights over health care policy, and the rise of new foreign policy crises. Global warming and the environment will continue to rank dead last among public priorities.
Just as the 1969 Cuyahoga River fire represented the birth of environmentalism, historians may one day conclude that Wednesday's massive loss on offshore drilling represented its final death.
Indeed, the utter failure of the modern environmental movement cannot be overstated. In 1988 (the year I was born), James Hansen testified to Congress about the grave threats posed by global warming. Twenty years later, and environmentalists have failed to achieve hardly any notable solutions to the greatest environmental challenge of the century.
But it's even worse than that. Not only have greens advanced astonishingly few solutions, they have tainted climate action with a harmful eco-ethic that has consistently doomed it to political failure. As a result, climate change continues unabated, and my generation's prospects for a secure and prosperous future are quickly diminishing.
We can no longer trust greens to save the planet. Their track record and anti-pragmatic approach demonstrates one thing above all else: environmentalism is still dead. And at this point, that's a good thing. But what's the way out of this mess?
The new pragmatic Democratic leadership is already leading the way: when it comes to energy, ignore the greens. As long as they are unwilling to embrace political realities, they are irrelevant. Rather, meet your constituencies where they're at - in this case, by supporting limited offshore drilling -- and work around their concerns to advance new solutions - by advancing new investments in clean energy.
It's time to lead or leave, and until greens are ready to grow up, we shouldn't take their marching orders. The moment is simply too urgent. Next year will see the inauguration of a new president, a new Congress, and a new international agreement on climate. If we continue to let the greens' obsession with carbon pricing get in the way of an agenda focused on public investments to develop and deploy clean energy, climate policy will fail yet again.
But if instead we work with this new pragmatic Democratic leadership to advance a proactive energy agenda focused on investments to make clean energy cheap, we might just be able to finally get started.
Cross-posted from the Breakthrough Blog