Aren't conservative and conservation similar?

Question

Why aren't more conservatives conservationists like myself?

Answer 1

This interesting blog from Stanley Crouch is quite informative and hopefully answers at least some of your question:

"As everyone should know, when there is enough money on the table, the opposing sides of an issue can find someone who is a highly respected expert willing to publicly state that theirs is the right position. That has surely happened regarding the discussion of greenhouse gases and what is called global warming.

Leftists, liberals and Democrats believe that the Earth is going to hell in a handbasket, woven by environmentally destructive products such as gasoline. They have brought a growing body of scientific evidence to make their case.

Of course, right-wingers, conservatives and Republicans tend to believe that we are being deafened by the noise of alarmists who hate capitalism, our free-market system and modern life itself. They do not have as many scientists willing to do battle with the international army of experts brought together by those who think more like donkeys than elephants.

I think it is fairly obvious that something is going on and that the burning of gasoline in millions and millions of cars worldwide is not doing our air or Earth itself much good.

No matter which party takes the White House next year, the next administration will be faced with a serious problem made even more serious because there is no country that can rein in China and India, both of which have refused to abide by agreed-upon environmental reforms.

China and India believe that the West built all of its economic strength on environmentally dangerous materials such as oil, but now that Asia is bringing leaves to the big table of power to make it wide enough to seat China and India, the West wants to tell Asian countries that they should slow down and reconsider which fuels to use and which ones not to use.

Those who have suffered colonial exploitation are not quick to listen to former colonizers.

This is where the very highest level of closed-door diplomacy should make itself felt. By threatening to reduce the number of foreign cars purchased unless they are both high-quality and environmentally safe, China alone could force the automobile makers of the world to take oil off of the table. Combined with India, it would be an economic slam-dunk in which it would be more profitable to be environmentally safe than to trot along behind slogans of the industrial revolution.

That is the sort of leadership we need from Washington, the sort that can inspire enlightened policies from the Asian powers we will have to deal with at almost every turn in this new century. This would not be an occasion for chest-thumping or bullying.

In order to achieve success, a new sense of American responsibility will have to be created.

It will take a good deal of humility and soft-soaping, but the outcome could be momentous. While China or India or both would take the credit for leading the nations of this planet away from the polluting of the air, in the final analysis our world might be protected a bit better from poisonous but addictive consumption."

About the writer:
Stanley Crouch is a columnist for the New York Daily News. His column routinely appears on Saturday in The Bee and occasionally on other days. Reach him at [e-mail]. Distributed by King Features Syndicate Inc.

Answer 2

Interesting question.

Actually, it was a Republican President who created the EPA (Richard Nixon).

Conservatives try to balance economic growth with environmental protection. Liberals tend to favor the environment over the economy.

Who is right? I have no idea.

Answer 3

The same reason many liberals who preach conservation drive SUVs