Death of Environmentalism

One of the more important "green" statements in the last few years was the widely distributed, often attacked publication, The Death of Environmentalism by Michael Schellenberger and Ted Nordhaus. It made the point that the old practices of the environmental movement, confrontation and legal action, had run their course and that new techniques, net methods of activism were required.

I would argue that something very different is going on. The Environmental Movement is no longer such an outside thing that it only has to rely on such tactics as Schellenberger and Nordhas decry. Rather, we have gotten to the point where everyone realizes that the environmental impact needs to be a part of every decision, no matter how small, and it is being judged as not being important enough to be the major criteria for making decisions.

I understood from an email this morning that the Green Party is considering to disband the short lived Eco-Action Committee. I had similar thoughts and it should be considered, if nor no other reason that to re-justify is existence and re-focus its energy. For some, this is enough of a blunder that they are ready to leave the Green Party. I find it ironic that this happens in the very week when the opponents of Global Warming, or Climate Change if you prefer, have been honored with the Nobel Peace Prize.

I have sent an email to some of GPCA's national delegates. I did not get to them all. In that email I argued that the committee should not be disbanded, but rather provided with new leadership. When the leadership (CoCo) of a Committee does not want to do what the activist members of the committee think is important, it is a recipe for failure. Yet, time and again this is what is happening.

In the case of the Eco-Action Committee, this became a concern that by making statements regarding ecological policy and practices, the committee was over stepping its authority and infringing on the prerogative of the platform committee. Since one CoCo, Mike Ewall, is involved in both we devolved into a bureaucratic morass from which nothing emerged and the leading activists left. I did myself to spend more time focusing on the issues of water in CA rather than try to combat the party bureaucracy.

The issue was clearly stated by Mike:

I've heard plenty of ideas from people who want to write position papers and make everyone in the party adhere to them, or from those who feel that the world or mass media will care if a national committee of the GPUS takes a position on something. Honestly, I don't have the time to waste on such efforts and I've been hoping that something more productive might come out of this committee.

Mike, to his credit, offered to step aside as CoCo. I hope that someone takes him up on that. However, in response to this comment, one of the other members replied:

Dear Mike,
This is the end of the "Green" party. A bunch of extremely selfish, egotistical, politically brain dead idiots that shoot themselves in the foot even more than GWBush.

I obviously do not agree that this is the end of the "Green" party. There is a lot that is going on, but we are losing the identity that comes with having the word "Green" in our name and I am not sure that anything is going to change. Environmental action is not a driving force in the decision making in our leadership. It may be assumed. But that is allowing another party to adopt the mantle of being the "green" party, albeit a corporate green party.

I would ask our California Delegates not to vote to disband the Eco-Action Committee but rather to provide it with new leadership.

The Polar Bear is getting hot

While I normally do not respond well to publicity stunt political action, sometimes they are so spot on that you can only stand up and cheer. In this case Green Party Eco-Action Committee member Jean McMahon takes to spotlight as she dogs Okla. Senator (and well known global warming denier) James Inhofe. The full story is at the Tulsa World.

I note that this is starting to have some legs, as science journalist / blogger Chris Mooney has picked up the same thing.

Go get'em, Ms. Bear.

Real life intrudes

As Greens, we seem to constantly deal with things that have nothing to do with real life. It is as if we become so frustrated with aspects of real life, things we feel powerless to change, that we construct obstacles that we feel there is a chance that we can handle. Maybe that is the reason so many California Greens spend so much energy try to deal with...

• who is really the LA County rep on the CC.
• whether Peter Camejo dissed the SF Green Party.
• is David Cobb really a Demo-Green
  

Then, we get a reminder that that there are those dealing with real life. Mike Ewall, CoCo of the the national Eco Action Committee, sent out a note today in which he directed us to the plight of some Navajo Grandmothers who are acting in opposition to a proposed "dirty" coal plant on the Reservation. This was a subject of a number of my blog posts when PomboWatch was still up.

The basic problem comes because the Navajo Reservation has a lot of coal and a lack of jobs. Therefore, every time a new project comes along, it always has the promise of new jobs for an area the sorely needs them. Coal, however, is never a clean energy source.

The story is told from two sides. The link above gives a good story of those who oppose the new plant. The corporate story is another case. At least, on that site, you can also leave comments on the project by clicking on Comments in the top menu.

California has taken a stand in support of cleaner solutions for electric power. When the State of California told the Mojave Power Generating Station (Laughlin, NV) to clean up its emissions or they would not buy any more power from them, the plant ended up shutting down rather than clean up their act. Governor Schwarzenegger just leaned on the City of Truckee to persuade them NOT to sign a long term contract for power from a Coal fired plant in Utah.

With Pombo gone, we now have to watch what Democrat Nick Rahall does as Chairman of the House Committee on "Natural" Resources, as he wants to rename it. That Committee has oversight responsibility for our Resources and also for the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs. Rahall is from W. Virginia, a major coal state and has a long relationship with the coal industry.

Maybe we should introduce the Raging Grannies to their Navajo counterparts. And remind me not to get on the wrong side of a grandmother.