Why does environmentalism have a dark side?

Dear Umbra,

It seems like there have been a bunch of news stories out lately about “extreme environmentalists” who are pro-planet but anti-immigration. Worse, some are even promoting violence. Where does this ideology come from? How do we stop it?

— Has Everyone Lost the Point?

Grist / LiliGraphie / Getty Images 

A. Dear HELP,

I wish I could say environmentalism were as simple as saving trees and picking up trash while jogging, but it tends to veer in a pretty misanthropic direction as soon as we start talking about humans as the root cause of all our current climate woes. Specifically, things get dark when people start debating which humans are most to blame for environmental degradation on a national level.

First of all, it’s true: Human activities are directly responsible for many horrific crimes against nature. Endangered species aren’t choosing to engage in mass suicide, trees don’t burst into flames because they want to, and waterways don’t poison themselves. You can point to any ecosystem that’s fallen apart and tie it back to something that humans have done. Climate change is, of course, the big one: Industrial production of more or less everything depends on the burning of fossil fuels, which in turn ends up warming the atmosphere.

And nothing ramps up industrial production like, well, more humans.

Read the Grist story by Eve Andrews - “Why does environmentalism have a dark side?”