October
2, 2005
No Wonder the Enviros Worry They Have Stalled
By
Thomas Bray
If environmentalists
wonder why their movement seems stalled - "Is Environmentalism
Dead?" a controversial essay by two California activists even
asked not long ago -- perhaps it's because so many Greens are
threatening to become a parody of themselves. Nor are we just
talking about the monkey wrench gang here. Consider the program
of last week's annual retreat by the Environmental Grantmakers
Association, representing some 250 of the biggest foundations
in America - Ford, Carnegie, Pew, and so on -- which command tens
of billions of dollars and fuel the environmental movement.
In its introduction
to the three-day conference at the shi-shi Mohonk Mountain House
in New Paltz, N.Y., the organizers laid down the "culture of the
retreat." Among other things, they decreed, "The retreat should
demonstrate the values we hold…by encouraging shared transportation;
printing with recycled, non-toxic materials; serving sustainable
foods; utilizing alternative energy sources; and staying mindful
of our impact on the planet."
Article
Continues Below
Insofar as
the planet noticed, it may have wondered about the relevance of
the rest of the 16-page program, starting with an opening dinner
that featured "slow foods, " the moved on to a workshop on "inclusiveness
and diversity" (though not much intellectual diversity was on
display), and an evening performance by singers Pete and Toshi
Singer, "activists for more than six decades."
Or consider
the latest hilarity from the Harvard School of Public Health,
which in two weeks will hold its annual "Leadership Council" for
major supporters. It recently announced it will use the occasion
to bestow its Julius Richmond Award (named for Jimmy Carter's
surgeon general) on none other than Erin Brockovich-Ellis for
"her efforts on behalf of all of us" in extracting a $333 million
settlement from Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for allegedly poisoning
the water supply of Hinkley, Ca.
Erin Brockovich,
of course, became a household word after the movie of that name
- in which she was played by Julia Roberts in an Oscar-winning
performance - appeared a few years later. As it turns out, however,
there was little if any evidence that PG&E's supposedly dastardly
act was anything more than a minor screw-up (as PG&E readily admitted).
In a letter
of protest to the dean of the Harvard public health school, Elizabeth
M. Whelan, president of the American Council on Science and Health,
a conservative-oriented New York think tank, noted that the California
Department of Health Services concluded that "We found no basis
in either the epidemiological or animal data" for assertions that
the pollution was a cancer-causing agent.
Clearly the
company settled rather than risk an even bigger hit at the hands
of a runaway jury. An extensive follow-up story in the (liberal)
New Republic magazine in 2003, titled "Erin Brockovich's Weird
Science," noted that not only had no unusual health effects turned
up in Hinkley, but that unsupported charges by Brockovich about
benzene and mercury poisoning in other California cities had caused
"pandemonium and panic," including plunges in local real estate
prices.
Politically
correct Hollywood still loves Erin, of course. She is listed as
the executive producer of an upcoming NBC series titled "Class
Action," which will lionize a team of fictional plaintiff's attorneys
who specialize in big class action lawsuits.
At the end
of the day, it's not environmentalism that is endangered. Most
Americans, polls consistently show, consider themselves environmentalists
of a sort. They care about Mother Earth and such things as clean
air and clean water. But in a world of finite resources, they
also understand the need for balance. And they can see the left-wing
agenda that animates so many of those who claiming to be environmentalists
in recent decades.
Thomas
Bray is a Detroit News columnist.
Send
To a Friend | Printer
Friendly
