Published on Friday, September 21, 2001 in the Toronto Globe & Mail

Environmental Groups Drop Campaign Criticizing Bush

by Martin Mittelstaedt



Several influential U.S. environment groups have silenced their criticism of the U.S. government and stopped lobbying for conservation measures because of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

The Sierra Club, one of the largest U.S. environmental groups, last week dropped all of its work challenging Bush administration policies. Greenpeace, known for its high-profile environmental campaigns using civil disobedience, has also decided to take a lower profile.

The terrorist attacks have rattled the leaders of environmental organizations and made them wary of being viewed as divisive and unpatriotic while the country faces a national trauma.

As well, the attacks have swept environmental issues off the political agenda.

"We lost the stomach, both personally and individually, for some of the fights we had been engaged in prior to that," Craig Culp, a spokesman for Greenpeace in the United States, said.

The decision by the groups to play down activism could have implications on a number of pressing public-policy issues, including the U.S. response to global warming, the opening up of Alaska's Arctic wildlife reserve to oil drilling and the development of the Star Wars missile-defence system.

Until the attacks, environmentalists had been on a roll. They had launched highly effective attacks on the Bush administration on issues ranging from the higher arsenic levels allowed in drinking water to the government's failure to endorse the Kyoto pact on global warming.

The administration had inadvertently become a boon to conservation groups, which were successfully using the government's anti-environmental policies as tools to raise funds and to mobilize their members.

But with the terrorism crisis, those campaigns became unexpected collateral damage.

The head of the Sierra Club, Carl Pope, issued a statement shortly after the attacks saying his group was going to pause because of the country's national-security crisis and unsettled public mood.

"Our nation faces other long-term problems and challenges, but now is not the time for those debates," he said. "Only when the healing is under way and we have begun tackling the security challenges we face will our nation be ready to focus again on other issues."

Dave Willett, a Sierra Club spokesman in Washington, said that with the attacks, environmental issues fell off the political radar screen.

"In the last few years, Americans have been very engaged in environmental issues in general," he said. "Right now, the American public are focused on recovering and on national-security issues, and the environment certainly isn't high on the agenda."

Environmental groups in Canada have also shelved some of their efforts, but the reasons are more pragmatic. With the terrorism crisis dominating the media, some groups, such as the World Wildlife Fund, have cancelled events because they fear the activities wouldn't receive any coverage.

Copyright © 2001 Globe Interactive

Don't worry Carl Pope, Geenpeace, WWF, we in the Movement for Democracy will pick up the mantle which you dropped.

Nothing will be left for you to pick up later.

Shame. Either you for Bush or agianst him. You have shown your unpatriotic cowardice. Stay with the sinking Corporate State.

Greenpeace will not pick up the slack as they are among the slackers. Re-read the above post and you will see that Greenpeace threw thier lot in with the notoriusly neo-liberal Sierra Club. I think there is room here for a critique of all the old-guard 'green' groups anyway. Most of them only want your participation when you write them a fat check for which they reward you with a cute sticker of a baby seal or something so you can prove to all your friends how much you 'care' about the envirnment, or else they encourage you to buy 'green', ecology friendly products as if we could consume our way out of this mess. Please note that the true defenders of the earth do not waste their time quibbling about weateher or not the president needs our fucking support - they are too busy tree sitting and engaged in acts of senseless beauty. Goddes love 'em.

YES, THIS TRADGEDY DID STOP ALL TALK ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT, WE ARE NOT DONE YET, THE ENVIRONMENT IS JSUT AS IMPORTANT, AND MANY OF THESE ISSUES, START AND END WITH THE GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE, THE OIL INDUSTRY, AND MANY OF THESE WARS ARE STARTED ALL OVER OIL. WHEN IS THIS GOING TO STOP! THE ENERGY CRISIS WILL ESCALATE, WITH THE DRILLING OF MORE OIL, FOR THE WAR EFFORT. WE SEEN THIS BEFORE, AND BOTH PARTIES ARE RESPONSSIBLE, THEY KNOW OF ALL OF THE SECRETS, INCLUDING OIL MAGNETS. THE U.S. POLOCIES, AND UNLESS, THERE IS UNITY, HOW WILL THEY CATCH WHO IS EVER RESPONSIBLE FOR HITTING US. THEY STRIKED AT THE PENTAGON, WHICH IS ONLY AN HOUR AWAY FROM US IN BALTIMORE, MD. MANY PEOPLE ARE FRIGHTENED, AND NOT ONLY FOR US LOSING WHAT RIGHTS WE GOT LEFT. OUR HOME FRONT IS IMPORTANT TOO. AND IF WE ARE GOING TO SAVE THE PLANET, NUCLEAR INDUSTRY IS JUST LOVING THIS NOW, WAR MEANS MONEY. SO THEREFORE, WHY SHOULD WE MAKE OIL THE KING, WE STILL NEED TO ADVOCATE SOLAR, AND OTHER TECHNOLOGIES TO SAVE THE PLANET NOW! AND IF ANYONE DOSEN'T THINK SO, WELL, THEY MAY BE OUT OF TOUCH WITH WHAT IS.

YES, THIS TRADGEDY DID STOP ALL TALK ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT, WE ARE NOT DONE YET, THE ENVIRONMENT IS JUST AS IMPORTANT, AND MANY OF THESE ISSUES, START AND END WITH THE GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE, THE OIL INDUSTRY, AND MANY OF THESE WARS ARE STARTED ALL OVER OIL. WHEN IS THIS GOING TO STOP! THE ENERGY CRISIS WILL ESCALATE, WITH THE DRILLING OF MORE OIL, FOR THE WAR EFFORT. WE SEEN THIS BEFORE, AND BOTH PARTIES ARE RESPONSSIBLE, THEY KNOW OF ALL OF THE SECRETS, INCLUDING OIL MAGNETS. THE U.S. POLOCIES, AND UNLESS, THERE IS UNITY, HOW WILL THEY CATCH WHO IS EVER RESPONSIBLE FOR HITTING US. THEY STRIKED AT THE PENTAGON, WHICH IS ONLY AN HOUR AWAY FROM US IN BALTIMORE, MD. MANY PEOPLE ARE FRIGHTENED, AND NOT ONLY FOR US LOSING WHAT RIGHTS WE GOT LEFT. OUR HOME FRONT IS IMPORTANT TOO. AND IF WE ARE GOING TO SAVE THE PLANET, NUCLEAR INDUSTRY IS JUST LOVING THIS NOW, WAR MEANS MONEY. SO THEREFORE, WHY SHOULD WE MAKE OIL THE KING, WE STILL NEED TO ADVOCATE SOLAR, AND OTHER TECHNOLOGIES TO SAVE THE PLANET NOW! AND IF ANYONE DOSEN'T THINK SO, WELL, THEY MAY BE OUT OF TOUCH WITH WHAT IS.