One thing to note is that environmentalism itself has undergone some very odd political shifts and realignments. 70s-era conservationists have more political gr

One thing to note is that environmentalism itself has undergone some very odd political shifts and realignments. 70s-era conservationists have more political ground in common with Donald Trump now than they do with their ostensible successors fighting climate change. The Sierra Club of that era wanted to shut down the US immigration system because exporting that way of life was considered an environmental catastrophe. Similar concerns over overpopulation were used to dogwhistle racism - after all, the problem isn't us, it's them. I suspect this is also why California is full of NIMBYs. While there are plenty of loud-and-proud right-wingers in that state, they're also far easier to circle the wagons around. If you are a racist in California it's more effective to do the normal liberal virtue-signalling thing, and then concern-troll the shit out of literally anything in your state that might actually make progress towards your stated goals. It's the "rich Mexicans only" strategy. Correctly point out the injustice of the American immigration system, but find every excuse you can to build a shadow immigration system out of housing costs and property tax grandfathering that's far more opaque and biased.