7 ms·

Other than using the federal lands more _and_ contacting your representatives (via phone!!) to express your support for keeping public federal lands, yes, donat

Other than using the federal lands more _and_ contacting your representatives (via phone!!) to express your support for keeping public federal lands, yes, donate. While your money probably won't be ill-spent with your run-of-the-mill environmental groups, I'd really recommend searching out right-leaning groups that support public federal lands, like the American Conservation Coalition (https://acc.eco https://acc.eco). Sadly, the right has—for a variety of reasons—all but abandoned environmentalism and that's been a major hurdle for those of us who want to protect the environment. Eco-right groups have a _much_ better shot at changing the opinions of right-leaning folk than progressive groups like the Sierra Club do. Full disclosure: I'm one of ACC's 42 unpaid volunteers.

kharms 9y ago
Why do you recommend seeking out right-leaning groups?
- barsonme 9y ago
  Lots of environmental issues get tied up in a debate that usually goes like: Left: "Issue X is a problem" Right: "No it's not" Left: " ... " ...and repeats ad nauseam. If the right was more open to solving environmental issues, we wouldn't have these issues and the debate could be about policy, not the existence of the issue itself. Right-leaning groups already have an "in" with the right and will naturally be better at educating and convincing the right than left-leaning groups.
- cbcoutinho 9y ago
  I would recommend right-leaning groups as well, but that's mostly because of the hunting communities are usually associated with the actual 'use' of public lands, and have been supporting most of the ecological/wildlife research. There's recently been a big push towards historically sustainable wildlife systems, and that's a topic that resonates with most of the more conservative hunting communities.
  - dbcurtis 9y ago
    Yup. A lot of people don't want to admit that hunters were the original conservationists. And also, a lot of non-hunters don't support hunting-oriented conservation methods. For instance, just because you buy a duck stamp it doesn't mean you have to go duck hunting. Duck stamps support the preservation of duck habitat and other wetlands. Buying a duck stamp is an easy way to directly contribute targetted money to wetlands preservation. Just for an example.
    - cbcoutinho 9y ago
      Yea this is exactly what I was talking about. Buying a fishing tag or a hunting tag is also an excellent way to get money directly into the hands of those who work in environmental conservation
    - eonw 9y ago
      hunters originally only wanted to 'preserve' what they wanted to kill... otherwise we'd still have wolves, grizzlies, and other predators of all sizes, at their historic populations. likewise, certain hunters favorites wouldn't be dealing with population issues now. the ranchers have done the most harm though, they seem to want to kill everything, imo.
      - cdoxsey 9y ago
        Ironically one of the consequences of strict laws protecting endangered species is it actually leads to more destruction not less. A rancher notices a protected animal on his land and gets rid of it to avoid getting harangued by the government. "Shoot, Shovel and Shutup"
      - dbcurtis 9y ago
        Not entirely. In practice, the net result is that hunters want to preserve habitat. The large predator species that you mention require a huge range. It is the fragmentation of habitat that has done them in as much as anything else.
- steauengeglase 9y ago
  Because they are a bit of an untapped resource. The right are more likely to be open to conservation efforts rather than traditional crunchy environmental efforts, but they too often feel driven out.
- sliverstorm 9y ago
  The right controls the government today. The right listens to right-leaning hunting groups a lot more than left-leaning conservation groups. See Chaffetz's rescinded bill from earlier this year.
- djrogers 9y ago
  warning - generalizations ahead Progressives tend to already support/buy in to conservation issues, so reaching and tapping In to the political right is where you can get the most bang for your buck. The obvious question is why can’t other groups reach the conservative environmentalists? Some progressive leaning environmentalist groups embrace ideals which can be at odds with conservative views, while only being tangential to important things like wilderness conservation. Some progressive leaning environmental groups use ‘evil conservatives’ as a fund raising meme. Some simply identify as progressive and don’t leave any room for conservatives. Truth is, in a huge chunk of this great nation, the people that enjoy, visit, and use national wilderness the most are conservative. They’re hunters and multi-generation farmers and ranchers. Sure, one of them might leave a beer bottle on the ground behind their skyjacked F250, but if they caught you poaching a doe out of season there’d be hell to pay.
davidw 9y ago
Interesting. What kinds of things has your group accomplished? I'm not a conservative, but the Sierra Club will never see a dime from me until they lay off mountain bikers. It seems so stupid to antagonize a group that could share about 99% of what they want to accomplish.
- barsonme 9y ago
  We have a few different ways we're approaching this. In no particular order we: 1) Work with college republicans to introduce them to environmentalism. We saw lots of success here during National Clean Energy Week where we held events and had 20 CR chairs sign on to our clean energy pledge (https://www.acc.eco/cr-clean-energy-coalition https://www.acc.eco/cr-clean-energy-coalition) and we have 25 pilot campuses we're partnering with. We hope to more than double that number next year. 2) Are growing the climate solutions caucus. We've met with members of congress and support those who are pro-environment. 3) Have a policy newsletter with policy research 4) Work with city and county county officials to assist with their environmental policy. (This one has been my favorite to watch take off.) and plenty more.
  - davidw 9y ago
    > 4) Work with city and county county officials to assist with their environmental policy. (This one has been my favorite to watch take off.) This one is so ripe for bipartisanship: https://www.brookings.edu/research/reforming-land-use-regulations/ https://www.brookings.edu/research/reforming-land-use-regula...
    - barsonme 9y ago
      It's been so awesome to local politicians from across the political spectrum message us and say, "Hey, what we're doing isn't working, do you have advice?" People are so much more invested in their own community and open to tangible solutions.
      - davidw 9y ago
clumsysmurf 9y ago
They have a different definition of environmentalism “True environmentalism, from my perspective, is using natural resources that God has blessed us with,” Pruitt told the Heritage Foundation last week.
- barsonme 9y ago
  Thankfully Mr. Pruitt does not speak for the ACC. Our view on public lands: In order to protect America’s natural resources and wildlife, the federal government ought to retain ownership of the majority of its federal lands. Preventing the sale of federal lands to interests contrary to their preservation requires citizens to hold officials accountable at every level of government.
nickik 9y ago
I don't think 'the right' (whatever that means) has abandoned the environment. At least libertarians have not. Check out www.perc.org, these are free market people who are extremely passionate about the environment and they are quite popular and have made great inroads to provide an alternative way of thinking about the environment compared to the leftist big government bureaucracy style of protecting it. They support great projects like Oregon Water Trust, The Nature Conservancy and do research on how to think in an economically sensible way about these questions. Here some cool videos, Terry Anderson about Wildlife in Yellow-Stone and about the history of property rights in Montana. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBcpal2le2Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBcpal2le2Y - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPrzUwl0suM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPrzUwl0suM
- barsonme 9y ago
  We at ACC like PERC :-) And we do partner with other eco-right groups: https://www.acc.eco/founding-coalition/ https://www.acc.eco/founding-coalition/ Obviously I'm generalizing a bit, but I don't think it's unfair to say the right has lagged far behind on environmental issues since at least the '80s.
  - jdhn 9y ago
    I'm kind of late to the game, but what do you think about RepublicEn[0]? [0] www.republicen.org
    - barsonme 9y ago
      They're great! And Bob was one of our first supporters. [0] https://twitter.com/republicEn/status/918153164146266112 https://twitter.com/republicEn/status/918153164146266112 [1] https://www.acc.eco/endorsements/ https://www.acc.eco/endorsements/
- wandernotlost 9y ago
  PERC is partly the subject of the article: PERC’s affiliation with politically connected outfitters that stand to profit if trails are closed bolsters the sense, to Wilson and others confronting locked gates, that a void in coherent policy about public land management is being filled by cronyism that rewards wealth and connections above all else. Another co-owner of the Wonder Ranch, Frank-Paul King, a friend and former student of Anderson’s, served on PERC’s board. Hudson, the man who got Representative Sessions involved, is King’s brother-in-law, and he’s also a board member and the former president of the Dallas Safari Club, a group that made national headlines in 2014 when it auctioned off a trip to Africa to hunt an endangered rhinoceros.

kharms 9y ago

Why do you recommend seeking out right-leaning groups?

barsonme 9y ago
Lots of environmental issues get tied up in a debate that usually goes like: Left: "Issue X is a problem" Right: "No it's not" Left: " ... " ...and repeats ad nauseam. If the right was more open to solving environmental issues, we wouldn't have these issues and the debate could be about policy, not the existence of the issue itself. Right-leaning groups already have an "in" with the right and will naturally be better at educating and convincing the right than left-leaning groups.
cbcoutinho 9y ago
I would recommend right-leaning groups as well, but that's mostly because of the hunting communities are usually associated with the actual 'use' of public lands, and have been supporting most of the ecological/wildlife research. There's recently been a big push towards historically sustainable wildlife systems, and that's a topic that resonates with most of the more conservative hunting communities.
- dbcurtis 9y ago
  Yup. A lot of people don't want to admit that hunters were the original conservationists. And also, a lot of non-hunters don't support hunting-oriented conservation methods. For instance, just because you buy a duck stamp it doesn't mean you have to go duck hunting. Duck stamps support the preservation of duck habitat and other wetlands. Buying a duck stamp is an easy way to directly contribute targetted money to wetlands preservation. Just for an example.
  - cbcoutinho 9y ago
    Yea this is exactly what I was talking about. Buying a fishing tag or a hunting tag is also an excellent way to get money directly into the hands of those who work in environmental conservation
  - eonw 9y ago
    hunters originally only wanted to 'preserve' what they wanted to kill... otherwise we'd still have wolves, grizzlies, and other predators of all sizes, at their historic populations. likewise, certain hunters favorites wouldn't be dealing with population issues now. the ranchers have done the most harm though, they seem to want to kill everything, imo.
    - cdoxsey 9y ago
      Ironically one of the consequences of strict laws protecting endangered species is it actually leads to more destruction not less. A rancher notices a protected animal on his land and gets rid of it to avoid getting harangued by the government. "Shoot, Shovel and Shutup"
    - dbcurtis 9y ago
      Not entirely. In practice, the net result is that hunters want to preserve habitat. The large predator species that you mention require a huge range. It is the fragmentation of habitat that has done them in as much as anything else.
steauengeglase 9y ago
Because they are a bit of an untapped resource. The right are more likely to be open to conservation efforts rather than traditional crunchy environmental efforts, but they too often feel driven out.
sliverstorm 9y ago
The right controls the government today. The right listens to right-leaning hunting groups a lot more than left-leaning conservation groups. See Chaffetz's rescinded bill from earlier this year.
djrogers 9y ago
warning - generalizations ahead Progressives tend to already support/buy in to conservation issues, so reaching and tapping In to the political right is where you can get the most bang for your buck. The obvious question is why can’t other groups reach the conservative environmentalists? Some progressive leaning environmentalist groups embrace ideals which can be at odds with conservative views, while only being tangential to important things like wilderness conservation. Some progressive leaning environmental groups use ‘evil conservatives’ as a fund raising meme. Some simply identify as progressive and don’t leave any room for conservatives. Truth is, in a huge chunk of this great nation, the people that enjoy, visit, and use national wilderness the most are conservative. They’re hunters and multi-generation farmers and ranchers. Sure, one of them might leave a beer bottle on the ground behind their skyjacked F250, but if they caught you poaching a doe out of season there’d be hell to pay.

davidw 9y ago

Interesting. What kinds of things has your group accomplished? I'm not a conservative, but the Sierra Club will never see a dime from me until they lay off mountain bikers. It seems so stupid to antagonize a group that could share about 99% of what they want to accomplish.

barsonme 9y ago
We have a few different ways we're approaching this. In no particular order we: 1) Work with college republicans to introduce them to environmentalism. We saw lots of success here during National Clean Energy Week where we held events and had 20 CR chairs sign on to our clean energy pledge (https://www.acc.eco/cr-clean-energy-coalition https://www.acc.eco/cr-clean-energy-coalition) and we have 25 pilot campuses we're partnering with. We hope to more than double that number next year. 2) Are growing the climate solutions caucus. We've met with members of congress and support those who are pro-environment. 3) Have a policy newsletter with policy research 4) Work with city and county county officials to assist with their environmental policy. (This one has been my favorite to watch take off.) and plenty more.
- davidw 9y ago
  > 4) Work with city and county county officials to assist with their environmental policy. (This one has been my favorite to watch take off.) This one is so ripe for bipartisanship: https://www.brookings.edu/research/reforming-land-use-regulations/ https://www.brookings.edu/research/reforming-land-use-regula...
  - barsonme 9y ago
    It's been so awesome to local politicians from across the political spectrum message us and say, "Hey, what we're doing isn't working, do you have advice?" People are so much more invested in their own community and open to tangible solutions.
    - davidw 9y ago

clumsysmurf 9y ago

They have a different definition of environmentalism “True environmentalism, from my perspective, is using natural resources that God has blessed us with,” Pruitt told the Heritage Foundation last week.

barsonme 9y ago
Thankfully Mr. Pruitt does not speak for the ACC. Our view on public lands: In order to protect America’s natural resources and wildlife, the federal government ought to retain ownership of the majority of its federal lands. Preventing the sale of federal lands to interests contrary to their preservation requires citizens to hold officials accountable at every level of government.

nickik 9y ago

I don't think 'the right' (whatever that means) has abandoned the environment. At least libertarians have not. Check out www.perc.org, these are free market people who are extremely passionate about the environment and they are quite popular and have made great inroads to provide an alternative way of thinking about the environment compared to the leftist big government bureaucracy style of protecting it. They support great projects like Oregon Water Trust, The Nature Conservancy and do research on how to think in an economically sensible way about these questions. Here some cool videos, Terry Anderson about Wildlife in Yellow-Stone and about the history of property rights in Montana. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBcpal2le2Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBcpal2le2Y - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPrzUwl0suM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPrzUwl0suM

barsonme 9y ago
We at ACC like PERC :-) And we do partner with other eco-right groups: https://www.acc.eco/founding-coalition/ https://www.acc.eco/founding-coalition/ Obviously I'm generalizing a bit, but I don't think it's unfair to say the right has lagged far behind on environmental issues since at least the '80s.
- jdhn 9y ago
  I'm kind of late to the game, but what do you think about RepublicEn[0]? [0] www.republicen.org
  - barsonme 9y ago
    They're great! And Bob was one of our first supporters. [0] https://twitter.com/republicEn/status/918153164146266112 https://twitter.com/republicEn/status/918153164146266112 [1] https://www.acc.eco/endorsements/ https://www.acc.eco/endorsements/
wandernotlost 9y ago
PERC is partly the subject of the article: PERC’s affiliation with politically connected outfitters that stand to profit if trails are closed bolsters the sense, to Wilson and others confronting locked gates, that a void in coherent policy about public land management is being filled by cronyism that rewards wealth and connections above all else. Another co-owner of the Wonder Ranch, Frank-Paul King, a friend and former student of Anderson’s, served on PERC’s board. Hudson, the man who got Representative Sessions involved, is King’s brother-in-law, and he’s also a board member and the former president of the Dallas Safari Club, a group that made national headlines in 2014 when it auctioned off a trip to Africa to hunt an endangered rhinoceros.