Feeling A Little Green Earth Day Paradox Finds Us ‘Pro-Environment, Anti-Environmentalist’

When Denis Hayes, the mastermind behind the first national Earth Day celebration in 1970, returned for a recent visit to Camas, the Clark County, Wash., mill town where he grew up, he came face to face with one big problem confronting the environmental movement today.

The mood of the town, he says, was “pro-environment - and antienvironmentalist.”

As it prepares to commemorate Earth Day’s silver anniversary Saturday, the environmental movement faces what may be its greatest challenge.

Never has it faced a more hostile political climate. The new Republican leadership in Congress owes nothing to environmentalists. It envisions big changes in environmental programs, changes environmentalists charge will gut important laws and put people at risk.

Those environmentalists are just starting to fight back. Earth Day is one element of their counterattack.

Hayes, now president of the Seattle-based Bullitt Foundation and still a prominent voice in the environmental movement, chairs the group organizing Puget Soundarea Earth Day events. He hopes they will send a message that the public doesn’t approve of “this tidal wave of process-oriented, virulently anti-environmental legislation passing through Congress.”

But, as it girds for battle, the environmental movement also must deal with another unpleasant reality: a significant chunk of the electorate now considers “environmentalist” a dirty word, Hayes acknowledges.

That has spurred soul-searching within the movement. Some say environmentalists have been victimized by a well-orchestrated industry public-relations campaign. Others admit some fault lies within.

By becoming too reliant on big government to accomplish its goals, some say, the movement has run afoul of the public mood. By becoming an effective inside player in Washington others argue, it has forgotten how to communicate with and mobilize the masses.

Some say the movement has become too intolerant. Others say it has compromised too much.

Hayes says there’s some truth in all the diagnoses. Long accustomed to legal, legislative and electoral successes, “the movement allowed itself to get fat and happy.”

Not everyone likes environmentalists, but almost everyone loves the environment. You need look no farther than Wall Street and Madison Avenue. Timber companies, breweries - even some mutual funds - all tout their greenness.

Poll after poll shows a clean environment remains a priority for most Americans. Two-thirds oppose budget cuts for environmental programs. Eighty percent consider themselves environmentalists; 37 percent say they are strong ones.

Environmentalists sponsored surveys of voters late last year that found continued support for the Endangered Species Act, strong drinking-water protection and other environmental regulations, even if they restrict private property.

Those surveys also showed few voters considered the environment an issue when they cast their ballots last November. Most said it hadn’t received enough attention in the campaigns.

Democratic pollster Peter Hart conducted a half-dozen focus groups for the Environmental Information Center and reported voters knew little about possible environmental implications of House Republicans’ “Contract With America.”

“When they learn of this legislative agenda, they are indignant about it and consider it to be far beyond the bounds of the change for which they voted in November,” Hart wrote.