Why Environmental Politics Matters

[Laxman]

From Politics of the Enviornment

A discussion of the influence of corporate interests on environmental policies and why fighting for the environment is important.

Environmental issues are barely registering in our collective political consciousness this election cycle. The environment, as a cause, is passe’. Relegated to the realm of aging hippies and out-of-touch tree huggers, environmental issues are for people who are disconnected from modern politics. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The current environmental issues facing our society are a bellwether for the larger political trends that are the product of what amounts to a hostile corporate take-over of America. If you follow the state of the relationship between politics and the environment, it will prove to be an excellent indicator of where the majority of our national policies are headed.

Why do environmental issues provide a window for us to view the state of our national politics? The answer is fairly simple. A large sector of our economy is made up of corporations that profit from exploiting our nation’s resources. Primarily these companies come from the oil, gas and coal industries and related derivative businesses. These same companies can increase their profitability greatly by limiting any restrictions on their profit-making activities. Environmental law is rooted in the concepts that our country’s natural resources are a shared public asset and that individual citizens have a right to be free from harm resulting from someone else’s actions. These concepts gave rise to laws designed to protect our air and waterways and to prevent pollution that was a threat to public health. Environmental regulations were created to promote these concepts and to provide societal protection through reasonable controls on industrial activities. However, to some powerful business interests they are seen as unwarranted restrictions on their operations. The struggle between the influence of powerful corporations and the rights of individual citizens is the political conflict of our generation.

Worth the read. The full article can be found here: http://enviropolitics.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/the-corporate-environment/

[Jacki7680]

1. That's a great article

That's an interesting way to approach the influence of corporations. What about what companies like Monsanto are doing to our agriculture and food supply. I think that's related too.

The next time you think environmental issues don't matter, think again. Protecting the environment and the politics that go along with trying to enact appropriate environmental regulations are one in-the-same with the politics that will determine who owns our country; the people or the corporations.

That part just struck me as an important statement.

[cheapdate]

2. The opponents of environmental regulations are organized,

connected, and well financed. The messages they create are widely disseminated, subtle, and insidious. The tactics they use are under-handed, disingenuous, and dishonorable. Their free-market "think-tanks" create messages to cast doubt on solid science and cast smears on environmental advocates. They use misdirection to frame the issue as liberty vs. communism, godliness vs. heathenism, etc. They feed their stories to the top of the media chain and they have the ear of the top of our political leadership.

Their plan has been very effective with a large part of the American public, who are convinced that concern for the environment is tantamount to a rejection of liberty and an embrace of socialism.

[Jacki7680]

3. You've got that right.

That tall blonde woman who keeps telling us "fracking is good" Hear & obey.