Transcript WISE USE (Hardly) - College of Architecture, Planning

WISE USE (Hardly)
The Right Wing Campaign
For the Environment
"Environmentalism is the new
paganism, trees are
worshipped and humans
sacrificed at its altar...It is
evil...And we intend to destroy
it."
Ron Arnold, chairman of the Center for the
Defense of Free Enterprise, Boston Globe,
January 13, 1992.
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Wise Use Defined
• Term adopted from a motto by Gifford Pinchot – the
first chief of the U.S. Forest Service during the
Progressive Era
• “Conservation is the Wise Use of Resources”
• Thus, the term “wise use” is a synonym for
conservation
• The current anti-environmental moment holds
Pinchot as just another bureaucrat who believed
conservation had to come through government
control of resources
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The Property Basis
"Property is that which is
peculiarly yours, whether it's
your money, your wife, your
children, your house, your car
or your real estate."
Don Gerdts, founder of The Property Rights
Council of America, Albany Times Union,
April 11, 1992.
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Interlocking Groups
"... more than five hundred
organizations that could be
classified correctly as Wise Use
groups of one kind or another."
Ron Arnold, excerpted from a speech given at
the Maine Conservation Rights Institute, April
20, 1992.
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Their Tactics
• “They seize on emotional local issues, send in their
professional rabble-rousers to fire up the folks, and
then disappear into the darkness. They pack public
hearings and bully those who oppose them. Their
lifestyle is mean, ugly, and divisive” – Hugh McCabe
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Underlying Principles
• Unlimited economic growth is possible and
beneficial.
• Most serious problems can be solved by
technology.
• Environmental and social problems can be
mitigated by a market economy with some state
intervention
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The Goal
• "Our goal is to destroy, to eradicate the
environmental movement. We want to be able to
exploit the environment for private gain, absolutely.
And we want people to understand that this is a noble
goal."
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The Three Basis Messages
• Conspiracy
•Mainstream
•Vanguard
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Conspiracy
Environmentalists, a group comprised
mostly of elite intellectuals, are in league
with big government bureaucrats to put
the needs of nature before man.
They believe economic activity is less
important than preserving a pristine
natural environment, and they are ready
to sacrifice the basic needs of America on
the altar of environmental purity.
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Analysis – Conspiracy Message
The conspiracy message is used as a tool
to organize at the local level or to convince
people, already involved in local Wise Use
groups, of the need for a national
movement. While this message is directed
at a large it is not for common
consumption. It is political rhetoric devised
to play on peoples' emotions and fears,
polarize people into an us versus them
mentality and incite those who feel at risk.
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Mainstream Message
Man and nature can live
together in productive harmony.
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Analysis of the Message
• The mainstream message is Wise Use dogma
packaged for popular consumption
• It is Wise Use with a moderate face, carefully
calculated to appeal to the broadest possible
audience
• A prime example of the moderate message is a
recent statement of the Wise Use Movement's core
principles
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Wise Use – Core Principles
• Man and nature can live together in productive
harmony
• Human values, culture and tradition are more
important than other living creatures
• Economic activity should not be damaged to protect
nature. Nature can be properly protected by wise
management of economic activity
• Nature can be properly protected by wise
management of economic activity
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Vanguard Message
It is our inherent right to
exploit nature, even at a great
environmental cost.
Is no cost too great?
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Analysis – Vanguard Message
• The vanguard message is the central precept of the
movement's national organizers. In the early stages
of the development of the Wise Use Movement, it
occupied center stage and was used to organize an
elite group of "true believers" under the Wise Use
tent. The vanguard message is still used to keep the
core right wingers within the movement, and it
reflects the true philosophy of the movement's
national leaders.
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Unique Movement?
There is nothing new about
extremism in American politics,
anti-environmental organizations
advocating the exploitation of
public lands or the leadership of
Watt, Arnold and Cushman. What
is new is the success that the
anti-environmental movement has
had in popularizing their
message.
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Unique Movement
• There is nothing new about extremism in American
environmental politics
• Many organizations, under the leadership of people
such as James Watt, advocate the exploitation of
public lands
• These organization were typically “Midwest” or
“West” – small in number and loud in voice
• What is new is the success that the antienvironmental movement has had in popularizing
their message
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The Propaganda
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Propaganda?
• Steve Nelson of Burnt Ranch, California. Nelson is
a rancher who owns property adjacent to a National
Forest. Nelson learned that the Forest Service was
resurveying his area because topographical maps of
the area were incorrect. When the survey was
completed, the Forest Service claimed Nelson's
property and that of two of his neighbors, were in the
National Forest. The government promptly served
Nelson with an eviction notice and put a sign on his
front lawn reading "Property of the National Forest
Service."
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Propaganda – Property
Albert Cusick of Pembroke, Maine. Cusick is worried
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will take his 100
acres along Maine's coast and make it part of the
Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge. Cusick told the
New York Times, "The Constitution of the United States
said we can own this property, and my family has for
206 years, then the government turns around and said
they can manage it better. I'm no college boy, but that
doesn't make sense to me. What's happening to us just
isn't right."
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Propaganda - Ranchers
• Sue Sutton of California. Sue Sutton is a farmer in
California. When water was taken from the
Sacramento River to save salmon, it endangered her
farm. She said on ABC News: "Are we going to
sacrifice human beings for a fish or a bird or a snake
or a rat? We need to ask ourselves that question."
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The Common Theme
The victims live in rural areas and
work in resource dependent jobs.
There is no doubt that Wise Use
has taken root in rural America
and found fertile ground there for
future growth.
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The Real Environment Groups
• "True-Blue Greens (11 percent) are the committed
environmentalists. They are convinced that individual
actions can make a difference in protecting the
environment. They believe that economic
development should not take precedence over
environmental protection. They also express strong
support for all kinds of pro-environmental regulations,
regardless of extra cost or inconvenience.
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Environmentalists – The Sprouts
• The Sprouts (26 percent) represent the key swing
group in a movement toward a green consumer
society. On the one hand, Sprouts are concerned
about the environment and support many regulatory
measures, although to a lesser degree than the TrueBlues and the Greenbacks. But on the other hand,
they do not believe strongly that individuals can do a
lot about environmental problems, they are also less
certain about which side to take when confronted with
the trade-off between protecting the environment and
encouraging economic development.
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And the Grousers
The Grousers (24 percent) rationalize their lack of
involvement in pro-environmental activities. They
are highly critical of all players in the game...[they]
show a low level of pro-environmental behavior
...[and] argue that they have reasons for not doing
more about the environment -- lots of reasons.
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Largest Group -Your Basic Browns
• Basic Browns (28 percent) are characterized by the
virtual absence of any pro-environmental activities.
But unlike the Grousers, the Basic Browns do not
rationalize their behavior or point to the alleged
shortcomings of other people...the indifference of the
Basic Browns is further evident in their lack of
support for government regulation. This group has
the least exposure to information about the
environment, from whatever source. It is little surprise
then, that most Browns admit they are confused
about what is good and what is bad for the
environment.
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And, Of Course, The Undecided
• Roper reports that 11 percent of those
surveyed:
– A. Expressed no preference or opinion
– B Did not know what the environment is, or
– Did not care
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Profile – True/Blue Greens
• "...a higher socioeconomic status than other Americans.
They are well-educated (50 percent college educated) and
have the highest median household income ($32,100) of the
five groups. There are more executives and professionals
among them than among any other group. They are also
more cosmopolitan, being concentrated in large urban
markets. Interestingly, the oldest median age (44 years) and
the highest percentages of women and of part-time workers
are also found among the True-Blue Greens. Regionally, the
True-Blue Greens are more likely to be from the Northeast
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Profile – The Greens and Sprouts
•
•
•
•
Median high to higher socio-economic status
Well educated – generally university degrees
Many executives and professionals
More cosmopolitan – generally concentrated in urban
areas
• Highest percent of women of any environmental
group
• Most concentrated in the Northeast
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Profile – The Browns
"...the most socially and economically
disadvantaged of the five [groups]. They have the
lowest household income -- just $21,200 per year
(average for the total public was $27,100). Three
out of ten in this group have not finished high
school. They have the largest proportion of workers
in blue collar occupations. They include many rural
people"
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Off Limits – Wilderness Area
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Exxon Valdez
• How dare you city-bred, upper middle class
assholes, with all your high education, put these
decent people into economic peril
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The 1997 Roper Study on the
Environment
"There is some truth to the idea that
environmental protection is something
mainly affluent people can afford.”
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The Price We Pay
• More dramatically, 38 percent of the least wealthy
Americans, but only 21 percent of the most
affluent, feel environmental degradation is the
price we have to pay for progress."
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Household Incomes
• Over a third of Americans who have annual
household incomes of less than $24,000 (36
percent) feel economic security must come
before environmental concerns can be
addressed, compared to only a quarter of those
earning at least $50,000 per year (24 percent).
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We Must Use Natural Resources in a
‘Wise Way’ to Survive
If environmentalism were to acknowledge
our necessary use of the earth, its
ideology would lose its meaning. To
recognize the legitimacy of the human use
of the earth would be to accept the
unavoidable environmental damage that is
the price of our survival. Once that price is
acceptable, the moral framework of
environmentalist ideology becomes
irrelevant and the issues become technical
and economic
The Growing Political Message of
Wise Use and the Browns
• Environmentalists tend to be catastrophists,
believing that any human use of the earth is
"damage" and massive human use of the earth is
"a catastrophe." An environmentalist motto is
"We all live downstream," the viewpoint of
helpless or vengeful victims
• Environmentalists tend to be catastrophists,
believing that any human use of the earth is
"damage" and massive human use of the earth is
"a catastrophe." An environmentalist motto is
"We all live downstream," the viewpoint of
helpless or vengeful victims
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We learn about the world through
trial and error
• The universe did not come with a set of instructions, nor
did our minds.
• We cannot see the future. Thus, the only way we humans
can learn about our surroundings is through trial and error.
• Environmental ideology fetishizes nature to the point that
eco-activists will not permit others to make errors with the
environment, dead-ending in no trials and no learning
• The point of learning is to find better ways to use the earth,
not to prevent all use of the earth. The ideal is productive
harmony between man and nature, a concept formalized in
the National Environmental Policy Act.
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Mans’ Reworking of the Earth is
Problematic and Benevolent
Of the ideas behind wise use, this is the most oracular.
Humanity is itself revolutionary and problematic. Problems are
our milieu. Danger is our forte. We win some, we lose some.
We don't give up.
Humanity may ultimately prove to be a force of nature
forwarding some cosmic teleology of which we are yet
unaware. Or not. Humanity may be the universe awakening
and becoming conscious of itself. Or not. Our reworking of the
earth may be of the utmost evolutionary benevolence and
importance. Or not. The only way to see the future is to be
there.
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Some Other Organizations
• The Blue Ribbon Coalition: Working for unrestricted
motorized access across American public lands
• The Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise:
Wise Use umbrella group
The American Lands Association: Defending
property rights at the cost of public rights
• Heritage Foundation: Think tank for ultra right-wing
issues
Mountain Legal States Foundation: Law firm
defending wise-use property rights
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And A Couple More Groups
• The National Center for Public Policy Research:
Wise use conservative free market foundation
•
American Forest & Paper Association: National
group representing paper products industry
•
Alliance for America: Largest umbrella group in
wise use movement
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Conclusions
• I am reminded of a short story entitled “Those Who
Walk Away From Omelas”
• Who are the true environmentalists?
• Are environmentalist elite radicals?
• Are most anti-environmental movements associated
with rural people?
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