Why has the topic of environmentalism been politicized?

Question

Why does being conservative largely mean that global warming is quack science? Why does being liberal mean the environment is the number one political issue? Isn't the environment by it's vey nature apolitical?

Answer 1

Because cleaning up the environment and keeping it clean afterwards, will require large layouts from polluting businesses and industries, Cars, chemicals, mining, timber and smokestack business will all have to clean up their act and that means a cut in their gross profits,
And what does this Administration adore....big profits.
We have had 150 years of the Industrial Revolution and a change from agriculture to industry. If you really think that 150 years of spewing chemicals that were never intended to be in existence far in excess of the earths capability to cleanse itself has had no effect on the earth, water and air then you haven't seen Philadelphia from a distance, or London, or smelled Elizabeth, NJ or seen the mercury damage done to children in Japan, and that has little to do with global warming, but arguing about global warming keeps us from discussions of what we do know, that you have to clean up what you spew, even if it costs you money. That's not anti-business, its pro-breathing.

Answer 2

To explain our reasons for rejecting various environmentalist crusades such as “man-made global warming” would take much more than a few lines of text. But your questions are probably the most rational and logical that I’ve heard on the subject thus far.

Understanding how this became a political issue is actually a simple endeavour.

In the early days of Western Civilisation and Industrialism the vast majority of people were “conservationists”. This had a great deal to do with the heavy influence of Christianity in the West. But the conservationist movement, which ironically was lead by Republicans and other 19th century Liberals, was sincerely concerned with promoting responsible stewardship of the environment. They wanted to preserve a degree of pristine nature for posterity. And being Liberals in the classical sense they rejected the use of the power of government to enforce their ideals. There were some exceptions of course such as Teddy Roosevelt’s declaration of national forests but by and large Conservationists preferred persuasion over coercion.

Unfortunately the Conservationists movement became corrupted by the “environmentalist” movements which sprang up in the mid 20th century. Using the language of Malthus, one of their chief issues was population control. Then came the general attacks on industrialism as they believed it caused and/or contributed to population growth and environmental spoilage. Then came attacks on private property rights for the sake of preserving the environment from overuse and misuse. All of these ideas were attractive to Socialists as the Socialists saw in them a way to achieve its objectives through a movement that was not driven by political motives. This cause many of the original conservationist to drift away from the movement(s) and by the 1970’s, it became known as the Environmentalist movement and was dominated by Socialists of all stripes, including Communists.

The fall of Soviet Communism created a void in the Socialist movement. This void was filled by the Environmentalists. Environmentalism is now the dominant aspect of Socialist politics as it includes all of the elements required to promote the Socialist agenda.

This is one of, though not the only, reason many “conservatives” oppose the Environmental movement and its Messianic crusades.

Answer 3

Justagrandma’s answer above is an example of political bs. The environmental movement is politicized because it has been high jacked by the left and anti-capitalists. The main purpose of the green movement is to break the US economy. While we don’t want companies dumping chemicals in the rivers, forcing people to use only one square of toilet paper (Thanks Sheryl Crow…) is just stupid. When global warming models ignore water vapor (the most important variable on earth controlling global temperature) and even the sun itself (the most important variable period controlling global temperature), you have to question their validity. The environment should be apolitical and based on science. Currently it is neither.

Answer 4

The environment has been politicized for the potential revenue & taxation it can render from the idiots who fall prey to the "doom & gloom". Yes, the earth is warming. Yes, we do have problems in our environment that need to be fixed. But, the earth has been warming & cooling for thousands of years & hey, guess what? We're still here. Let's see, in the 70's, we were supposed to be going thru a global COOLING by now.

I find it interesting, that Al Gore is on the forefront of the global warming movement. But, you can buy "carbon offsets" to balance the harmony between man & earth. Guess who is a co-founder of a leading company selling carbon offsets? You got it, Al Gore.

That's like chicken little crying the sky is falling. But, hey - you can buy "sky offsets" from a company he co-founded.

BUNK!!

Answer 5

Really quick, who started Enviromentalism as a President?

Now, quit making stuff up, that is Al Gore's job.

Republicans do not believe in destroying the enviroment, however, we do believe people need toilet paper, power, mining, blah blah. You do realize you are using power and using a computer that was made via minerals harvested from the Earth?

Back in the 70s, yes I am that old, scientists were going to put pot ash on the polar ice cap to help increase the rate of thawing to bring the temp up. Why? They showed a cooling trend, and feared destruction of crops and the American way of life. Sounds sort of familiar!

The Kyoto Treaty was NOT a consortium of scientists agreeing on Global Warming... What it IS, is a group of scientists who illustrated THEIR field of study in the report. Quite a few scientists sued to have their study/name removed from the report, why? They didn't agree with the theory of the report.

So back to your original question, why has the topic of enviromentalism been politicized? Well, ask your liberal buddies why they ignore science. And yes, if you say in science "the discussion is over" you are now the same as the Catholic Church back in 1610 telling Galileo to shut up the "discussion is over, the center of the universe is earth".

So keep up with following the stupid Propoganda, and please keep using movies made in Hollywood as fact. Next you are going to tell me that Star Trek is real.

Answer 6

You would think so wouldn't you.

Here are a few simple truths.
1. No one in their right mind WANTS to polute the environment.
a. Conservatives tend to believe and in some cases favor greater economic prosperity over some environmentlal issues.
b. Liberals tend to in many cases favor the environment over economic issues.
2. Conservatives are in large part more religeous than Liberals. (exceptions are there)
a. Many of us who are religous do not yet believe people are powerful enough to cause global warming. We want to see proof that we are this powerful. We do NOT yet see it. We believe, and more and more scientific data is supporting that belief, that this is no more than the natural cycle on this planet. Driven by variances in solar activity. Variances in the intensity of cosmic radiation (a suprising major driver for cloud formation!?!?! whoda thunk it!?!?)
b. Those without strong religeous belief want to believe in something. Many want to believe that they are in control of their environment. Thus by their desire for such control believe man has a drastic effect on the environment around them. Psychological studies are already linking these issues.

3. Any issue with feeling attached to it will have a tendancy to become political. Politicains will attempt to latch onto the issue in order to gain control of it and get political value from it.

Here are a few scientific facts taht have come out in the past few years.
1. Cosmic radiation, currently at a low ebb, has a direct link with cloud formation. Less radiation less cloud cover. Less cloud cover, warmer weather since less solar radiation is reflected to outer space.
2. Solar Radiation goes through high and low intensity on an approimate 11 year cycle. Planet Earth is just coming off of a high and is currently sliding into an 11 year cooling cycle for solar radiation. More solar activity means more heat for the earth to absorb. Thus the Earth heasts up. Link this to #1 and you get some coupling effects increasing warmer to a greater degree.
3. Strength of hurricanes tends to go down with wamer weather. Sampling (completed this year) of coral reefs show that as the Earth goes through natural warming cycles the strength of hurricanes seemed to diminish.
4. The Earth has been on a general warming trend since the end of the little ice age. The little Ice age ended a rennaisance period and brought on the dark ages. The earth has STILL not warmed back to normal temperatures experienced prior to the start of the little ice age.
5. Scientists now state that the thinning of the polar ice caps is NOT due to higher temps. Avergae temps at the poles is too low to account for the loss of ice. New idea for culprit. Less cloud cover (see #2). Greater amount of solar radtion is thinning the ice despite below freezing temps. Polar ice caps will NOT melt EVEN if the world heats by an average of 10 - 20 degrees. Even with that drastic level of heating, the polar caps will STILL be too cold to melt.

I could go on and on and on.

Answer 7

The environment is not apolitical and cannot be apolitical if human activities are irrevocably altering and poisoning it.

I favor the legalization of drugs, but NOT my neighbor's right to have a meth lab on his private property, because he doesn't handle or dispose of his chemicals correctly, and it affects MY health and peaceful enjoyment of my yard.

If one party tends to favor the right of any corporation to strip and blast and polute OUR air, water, and land for private profit; and another party seeks to preserve those environmental resources for the commonwealth, (not that that is precisely the case) then YOU BET it is a political issue.

Answer 8

Because issues like Global Warming have been seized upon by the left as a way to further their goals. The leftists have always hated capitalism, and the prosperity we Americans and the rest of the industrialized world enjoys.

The gov't mandated solutions fit nicely in with their goals of socialism / communism.