Does the world really need another environmental organization?
I got up early the morning of October 26, 2003. Still mostly asleep, I looked out the window, saw dark gray clouds and thought, “It looks like we’re going to have a thunderstorm.”
A bit more awake, “That’s weird, we’re having a Santa Anna. (Hot, dry winds out of the deserts to the east, never with dark gray rain clouds.)”
Fully awake now, “SMOKE!”
I rushed to the TV; it showed aerial views of a huge brushfire surrounding a landmark a couple miles east of our home. My wife and I grabbed some things and threw them in the cars. As we drove away, we could see 100-foot-high flames coming over the hill to the east of our neighborhood.
We were lucky. Our landscaping was trashed and the exterior of our home suffered some damage, but the interior and our belongings were safe. (Thank you San Diego Fire Department!) Our next-door neighbor’s home burned to the ground, along with 300 other homes in our neighborhood and a total of 2232 homes in San Diego County.
Fifteen people were killed, some in cars while trying to escape the flames. Another was a firefighter who was overrun while fighting to save a home.
That was the Cedar Fire, at 427 square miles it was the largest fire in recorded California history - until 2017. In the last 5 years we’ve had 9 larger fires, one over 1613 square miles.
These fires turned me from someone who was casually concerned about environmental issues into an emotionally charged activist who wants to, “DO SOMETHING!”
But do what? I had attended meetings of some environmental groups, but I didn’t seem to fit in. Politically I’m a moderate conservative while most of the environmentalists at the meetings seemed pretty far left: anti-big-business, anti-capitalist, anti-Republican, and mixing in social issues I don’t consider part of the environment. These are good people trying to do good things, but I am not comfortable with how they are trying to do them.
I discovered Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) 5 years ago. While most members are progressive, CCL has a strong contingent of conservative environmentalists. One of CCL’s strengths is that we focus on lobbying Congress to pass bipartisan solutions to climate change and are expected to leave all the divisive stuff outside. It is the one environmental organization where I feel comfortable and can take action.
But I also feel many things are missing.
Lobbying congress convinced me we need more people to vote for politicians who are committed to addressing environmental issues and working across the aisle to do so. Democratic dreams of long-term, filibuster-proof control of Congress are just that, dreams. Those of us in the center and right need to make clean air, water, and soil, and a stable climate, a priority when voting.
There are other important environmental issues besides the climate that need attention. Conservative and moderate environmentalists need an organization where we feel comfortable working on clean air, safe water, and healthy soil.
My right-of-center environmentalist friends and I need an organization where we fit in if we want to work on local problems.
Environmental work can be very frustrating. There are many times my friends and I want to grab a sign and join a public demonstration. But we want to demonstrate according to moderate and conservative values: peacefully and on good terms with the police, with a positive and respectful attitude, not calling for massive social change, and patriotically expressing our love of our country and its people. We haven’t found an organization doing this type of demonstration.
The world does need another environmental organization: an organization that will broaden political support for a safer world by providing centrist and conservative people a comfortable place to connect, an organization that uses public demonstrations to show people who are right-of-center they can care about the environment without sacrificing their values, and an organization that will demonstrate to politicians of both parties that their voters want them to Move Faster to return to us clean air, safe water, healthy soils, and a stable climate.
We hope you will join us.
What if you are a bit left-of-center?
We have a broad view of “the political center.”
If you feel comfortable carrying a US flag, can stay positive, polite, and respectful towards people with different political views, agree that a regulated capitalist economic system - with all its flaws - is good for the United States, and can abide by our other values, you are in the center as far as we are concerned. Welcome!!!
If you don’t feel comfortable with the above, there are a number of environmental groups that are probably a better fit for you. They are working towards the same end-point we are, but are trying a different path. We wish you well finding your way to help us to a clean, safe, and stable future.
P.S. While you are calm, I urge you to make a list of things to grab if you need to evacuate your home in an emergency. If you wait until the emergency happens you will likely forget many things you would want.
We grabbed the stereotypical things when we had to evacuate, the computer, important papers, and wedding photos, and then just froze staring at each other. It took me embarrassingly long to realize that a couple spare pairs of socks and underwear might be a good thing to have. We left behind family mementos that, while not worth a lot of money, we would have missed.
I hope you are never in that situation, but a disaster can happen anywhere. A little planning now could save some heartache later.