Via Welch, Laura Crane takes environmental groups to task here and is correct.
One of the more amusing stories I’ve heard from some Earth Scientist types is Al Gore going out and overreaching on global warming. After he finished James Hansen came on and essentially corrected most of the speech. Hansen is an example of a real scientist and environmentalist who is serious and offers the information up in a manner that allows one to calculate the risk. Most of the environmental groups have resorted to screeds unfortunately. I pretty turn off anything from the NRDC and even treat claims from groups like the EDF with some skepticism.
The traditionally moderate groups have started to become more partisan in recent years. Audobon, a traditional bastion of Republican conservationists, has started to really take on harder issues and become less pliant. EDF actually links to an article that I think is unfair to the administration here.
The administration seems to be changing policy because the Court has forced it too. While I don’t trust this administration, I don’t know that they have a choice in this case.
What does this mean? Lowry and Shippan, in a recent paper, argue that the parties have diverged on the environment normed across time. It seems logical then that the environmental groups become more rabid as well. If the distance widens, keeping control of policy becomes more important and doing that requires scaring people in elections.
They no longer have influence in both parties and so there is no incentive to moderate themselves. The EDF still talks about market incentives, but it largely treats everything the administration says as suspect. This is a natural consequence of having the Republican Party becoming terribly hostile to any environmental initiatives. Boehlert may still be around, but so what–he is marginalized in his own party.
The challenge for environmental groups is to remain relevant in such an environment and to remain relevant, they must rely on solid science. The Skeptical Environmentalist isn’t taken too seriously except by those who want to believe it. That will change if environmental advocates trade in their trustworthiness for short-term political gains. James Hansen should be the model.