Anti-environmentalism
Encyclopedia
Anti-environmentalism is a backlash against the environmental movement
Environmental movement
The environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and green politics, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues....

. Anti-environmentalists believe that the Earth is not as fragile as environmentalists maintain, citing its 5 billion year existence. Some also believe that environmentalism
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...

 is born of humankind's exaggerated sense of importance, that environmentalism is an extremist viewpoint due accordant scrutiny and/or that some environmentalist factions use pseudo-science and scare tactics in an attempt to force their philosophical/religious values and political agenda on others. In the words of the IUCN for example: "Fear can be a great motivator, and it is one that environmentalists have long cherished".

Overview

Paula Snyder, Tom Denton and Peter Millson characterize environmentalist ideology as unscientific, irrational and anti-humanist.
"What we today call 'environmentalism' is ... based on a fear of change," says Frank Furedi. "It's based upon a fear of the outcome of human action. And therefore it's not surprising that when you look at the more xenophobic right-wing movements in Europe in the 19th century, including German fascism, it quite often had a very strong environmentalist dynamic to it."


The British trade union movement, until the 1990s, argued that environmentalism was a form of middle class protectionism intended to protect their economic and political interests from the proletariat.
"Trees and forests provide a good example of how it's possible to have a growing economy and a growing population and a thriving environment," says Steve Hayward of the Pacific Research Centre. "The lesson from trees really applies across the environment. We have cleaner air today; we have cleaner water; we grow more food at less impact on the land; we have more wildlife diversity— and we've done all this while having a growing economy and a growing population."

See also

  • Astroturfing
    Astroturfing
    Astroturfing is a form of advocacy in support of a political, organizational, or corporate agenda, designed to give the appearance of a "grassroots" movement. The goal of such campaigns is to disguise the efforts of a political and/or commercial entity as an independent public reaction to some...

  • Vicente Canas
    Vicente Cañas
    Vicente Cañas, S.J. was a Spanish Christian missionary and Jesuit brother, who is credited with making the first peaceful contact with the Enawene Nawe Indian tribe in 1974. Afterwards, he lived with them for over ten years, adopting to their way of life and helping them with necessary medical...

  • Rachel Carson
    Rachel Carson
    Rachel Louise Carson was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement....

  • Climate change denial
    Climate change denial
    Climate change denial is a term used to describe organized attempts to downplay, deny or dismiss the scientific consensus on the extent of global warming, its significance, and its connection to human behavior, especially for commercial or ideological reasons...

  • Energy lobby
    Energy Lobby
    "Energy lobby" is the umbrella term used to name the paid representatives of large fossil fuel and electric utilities corporations who attempt to influence governmental policy...

  • Global Climate Coalition
    Global Climate Coalition
    The Global Climate Coalition was a group of mainly United States businesses opposing immediate action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The group formed in response to several reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . A major scientific report on the severity of global warming...

  • Greenhouse Mafia
    Greenhouse Mafia
    Greenhouse Mafia is allegedly the "in house" name used by Australia’s carbon lobby for itself. It was also the title of a program aired by the ABC on the 13 February 2006 episode of its weekly current affairs program Four Corners....

  • Chico Mendes
    Chico Mendes
    Francisco Alves Mendes Filho, better known as Chico Mendes , was a Brazilian rubber tapper, trade union leader and environmentalist. He fought to preserve the Amazon rainforest, and advocated for the human rights of Brazilian peasants and indigenous peoples...

  • Wilson Pinheiro
    Wilson Pinheiro
    Wilson Pinheiro was the president of the Brasiléia Rural Workers Union in the State of Acre in Brazil. He helped lead the fight against ranchers who were destroying the Amazon Rainforest. Pinheiro was committed to defense of the Amazon and was assassinated on July 21, 1980...

  • Dorothy Stang
    Dorothy Stang
    Sister Dorothy Mae Stang, S.N.D., was an American-born, Brazilian member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She was murdered in Anapu, a city in the state of Pará, in the Amazon Basin of Brazil...


Further reading

·

· John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton (2002). Toxic Sludge is Good For You. Common Courage Press. ISBN 978-1567510607

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The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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