The Cost of a New Environmentalism

Last week, my Slatepiece on environmentalism was read by many people who care (and write) about green issues. Some (okay, many of them) didn't particularly like what I wrote. I felt the rumblings on Twitter and elsewhere. And I had planned on responding, but then the horrific tragedy on Friday happened, and I just didn't have it in me to wade back into the nitty gritty of eco-narratives that still dominate our discourse. I still plan on responding in full to the main rebuttals. Look for that in this space near the end of the week. Meanwhile, I see that Bryan Walsh of Time magazine has just published a really thoughtful take on my piece. Which doesn't surprise me, because it was Walsh's thoughts on Twitter last week (in reaction to the essay) that got me thinking the most. He articulated implications of my argument that I hadn't addressed (or ...