Anti-environmentalism
Outside oppositions can take the form of an organized countermovement, aimed at both environmentalist ideas and environmental policies and regulations, national or international.
[1] During the 1960s and 1970s, environmentalism was inspired by concerns about resource scarcity and over-exploitation: they were feared to threaten the future well-being of humanity and the balance of the planet.
Some challenged the reliability of mathematical models, including that of the famous Club of Rome's Limits to Growth Report: critics argued that it had not adequately considered feedback and the effects of human decisions.
Criticism also came from the left, for example from thinkers such as Murray Bookchin, who attributed environmental problems to political and social causes rather than natural resource scarcity.
Marxist critics argued that environmentalist ideas, influenced by neo-Malthusianism, had racist, elitist, and imperialist overtones, and considered them reactionary.
American companies now invest hundreds of millions of dollars annually in greenwashing and strategic counsel, which involves shaping public and governmental perceptions of environmental problems and devising strategies to counter environmentalists and regulations.
[3] Though once elected, Bush verged from what he had promised during his campaign, and instead reversed the initiatives of the previous Clinton administration on drinking water, and advocated for oil exploration in protected regions.
[4] Bush's administration also moved forward in withdrawing its support of the Kyoto Protocol, a worldwide global warming agreement created in 1997.
[4] The conflict between support and opposition to environmental policies has become an important factor in the growing social and political polarization in the United States.
In some contexts, especially in the United States,[6] anti-environmentalist social movements and initiatives are frequently inspired by conservative or neoliberal political ideologies:[7] these favor a free market economy over government regulation.
Some anti-environmentalist positions may arise from genuine anxiety related to the consequences of environmental regulations feared for the economic well-being of families and communities.
[9][10][11] In Europe, anti-environmentalism is widespread in the radical right and is generally associated with typical opposition to immigration, nationalism, welfare chauvinism (i.e., social policies must favor the country's citizens), and euroscepticism.
Firstly, there is a disdain for climate policies perceived as initiatives championed by liberal, globally oriented individuals who are seen as not prioritizing the nation's interests.
[6] Public relations firms regularly assist the communication and lobbying of large companies whose interests are affected by environmental policies.
[6] Think tanks associated with companies and seemingly independent groups can present themselves as autonomous research centers capable of providing expertise (analysis and communication) valued by the mass media.
[1] Additional strategies used by corporations or support actors like PR firms and think tanks may also include: co-opting moderate environmentalists through donations, job offers, and deals, while marginalizing and alienating non-cooperative individuals, often labeling them as extremists; dirty tricks campaigns to falsely implicate environmentalists in violent actions; threat of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) (in the United States) to intimidate environmentalists and citizens who engage in activities such as petitioning, writing to officials, attending public meetings, organizing boycotts, or participating in peaceful demonstrations, aiming to silence critics through legal pressure.
They support judicial activism to protect civil and economic liberties, an open and competitive energy market, and the importance of consumer choice and private incentives over a public approach to address real environmental concerns.
[6] Many conservative think tanks involved in climate change, mineral resources, and indigenous rights issues are connected to the Atlas Network.
[16] This kind of skepticism is intended to fuel uncertainty about climate science: the goal is to undermine scientific discourses of environmental policy or to confuse the public and policymakers.
[17] The climate skeptic movement is supported by certain corporate or national interests that wish to maintain the profitability of economic sectors (especially those related to fossil fuels) in the face of growing environmental concerns.
[8] The countermovement is supported by a minority of scientists who have been visible promoters of climate science skepticism[18] and by an extensive network of think tanks, which often also pursue other neoliberal or conservative agendas (e.g., against government regulation).
This movement emerged as a diverse alliance of ranchers, miners, loggers, hunters, off-road vehicle drivers, oil workers, and farmers who, despite their differences, united against environmentalists.
This progress has overcome the simplified views that often underlie anti-environmentalist positions, paving the way for new perspectives and more sophisticated approaches.The new knowledge has had a significant impact on the formulation of alternative concepts of sustainability and the practice of more conscious environmental policies.
Environmentalist groups such as Greenpeace are concerned with the environmental, social and health impacts of mining the oil sands, particularly on First Nations communities in Alberta.
[23] The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe took issue with this as the pipeline would run through their communities, tainting their sacred land as well as contaminating their water supply.
[24] What followed in the next ten months was a response from Sioux communities, protestors and environmentalist groups in the form of peaceful protests in which over 400 arrests were made by local law enforcement.
[23] 26 Environmentalist groups responded to the event with an open letter condemning the actions of the North American banks who helped fund the pipeline, and encouraged them to stop any future payments contributing to it.
"[32] In China, the city of Maoming became the focus of an environmental dispute in 2014, relating to the municipal government-sponsored Para-Xylene (PX) industry - a chemical used in manufacturing plastics, such as those in water bottles and polyesters.
[33] In June 2023, Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin announced that the French government would be forcibly dissolving the Les Soulèvements de la Terre.
Human Rights Watch stated that the dissolution was "wholly disproportionate" and was part of "a growing trend of stigmatization and criminalization of individuals and civil society organizations raising awareness about the consequences of climate change" in France under Emmanuel Macron.
