Growing
Pains
Early
in November, The New York Times
published a hit piece on the Sierra Club that
highlighted the environmental group’s internal
struggles as it sought to embrace social
justice. By broadening its agenda to include
progressive causes like racial and economic
justice, gender equity, and upholding democracy,
the club has suffered heavy losses in revenue
and supporters, the report alleged.
While
the article centered one venerable green group,
the general takeaway seemed to be that the
environmental movement would be more effective
if it stuck to its lane — that is, if it focused
solely on protecting wilderness, wildlife, and
the climate.
This
framing is absurdly anachronistic, damaging,
and, honestly, lazy. One doesn’t have to
look farther than the features in our Winter
2026 print issue, which will hit newsstands
soon, to see why.
Need
an example of how gender equity can intersect
with wildlife conservation? Read “Her Terrain,”
which shows how employing Maasai women as
wildlife rangers helps them break free of
patriarchal traditions like polygamy and child
marriage while also protecting iconic animals.
Or read “Changing the Equation” to learn about
Dena Montague’s work to generate energy
independence in Ghana while also building
community and fostering economic justice.
And
if it isn’t clear that forest conservation
requires stable governments and full bellies,
read “The Last Stand,” which details how the
civil war in Syria has led to widespread logging
by both armed militias and citizens struggling
to survive. Or peruse “Up In Smoke,” which shows
the reverse — that in a (still) functioning
democracy, fierce public engagement can help
protect forests.
Outside
these pages, here in the United States, we are
witnessing firsthand how environmental advocacy
becomes more difficult when our civic rights are
undermined.
Since
Donald Trump took office in January 2025, his
administration has taken or proposed more than
350 anti-environmental actions. Yet despite this
assault, recent polls indicate that climate and
environmental issues have fallen farther down
the list of voter concerns, below things like
the economy, government corruption, immigrant
rights, and the state of our democracy.
That’s
no surprise. It can be hard to summon outrage
about yet another hit to the Endangered Species
Act or the latest move to open up our coastal
waters to oil and gas drilling when armed
immigration enforcement agents are grabbing our
neighbors off the streets, essential federal
services like food stamps (which help nearly 42
million Americans put food on the table) are
being disrupted, and the specter of civil unrest
looms large.
What
is surprising, and frustrating, is the
willful blindness of those who view the
challenges that the environmental movement faces
as failures rather than the inevitable growing
pains of trying to move beyond an exclusionary
past.
It’s
way past time for those blinders to come
off.
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