Liberal vs. Radical Enviros, Redux

But all of this should sound familiar. It is the old debate between the liberals and the radicals, between the reformists and the revolutionaries. From the Knights of Labor being sold out by the combination of the AFL and the CIO, to the socialists selling out the anarchists, there is a rich history of battles fought amongst those on the Left. And these battles are important, especially when formerly oppositional groups grow a little to comfortable with their fancy new digs near the seat of power. St. Clair is absolutely right to call "foul!" on the mainstream environmental groups, ensconced on K street in DC, collecting checks from their members via mass-mailings, but remaining otherwise insulated. But the Sierra Club and the other mass membership organizations are but one dimension of environmentalism: there is no such thing as the environmental movement. Instead there is a collection of many groups, movements, strategies and approaches that represent the full panoply of environmental movements. And it is here that St. Clair misses the most vivacious and thrilling part of the contemporary environmental movement: the continued work of the environmental justice activists and the rise of the anarchists.

By far the most vibrant, exciting, and successful set of movements in environmentalism today surround issues of environmental justice. Combining the strengths of race-based and class-based and gender-based movements, activists organizing under the banner of environmental justice have done what the Sierra Club could not: bring honor, integrity, and clean air and water to many out of the way, ignored, poor communities of color.

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