How do we conserve the environment without becoming socialist?

Question

My boss is always taking about how pro-environmentalists are just liberal socialists, but to me it seems that conserving the environment would be, um, conservative.

How do we get people to be more environmentally conservative, without making this a big and stupid socialist versus capitalist or liberal versus conservative debate?

Answer 1

By acting on the fact that worldwide, our methods have brought our own endangerment.  So much evidence is clear that this time, we don't have time to debate ourselves into extinction.  Corporates don't have time to pretend anymore that lay citizenry isn't informed.  And since corporations are comprised of lay citizenry, corporations need to continue quickly organizing for green-geared alternatives.  The argument whether socialistic or conservative is so irrelevant its ludicrous.

Answer 2

FREE MARKET ENVIRONMENTALISM!!!

Don't think it exists? Is Clorox making environmentally safe bleach? Does Whole Foods pack in the consumers? Is Macy's selling "green" clothing?

"Free-market environmentalists are environmentalists who believe that in many--though not necessarily all--situations, markets will do far more to protect the environment than regulation or bureaucracy."

"Like all environmentalists, free-market environmentalists believe that we face serious environmental problems, including pollution, habitat destruction, toxics, and endangered species. Unlike some environmentalists, free-market environmentalists believe that decentralized tools such as user fees, incentives, and markets will solve those problems better than centralized tools such as subsidies, bureaucracy, and regulation."

Answer 3

Indeed, the conservation movement was started by Republicans.  Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, is probably the greatest conservationist president we've ever had...having created many national parks.

You might want to check out the Nature Conservancy.  While I don't like the increasing lip service they give to global warming, their ideas of preserving the environment are, in fact, based on capiltalistic ideas and using the power of private property to protect habitat.  And while they do work in parnership with government agencies, they are all too aware that the government has one of the worst track records in protecting the land that they administer.

Really, I much prefer to call myself a conservationist rather than an environmentalist.  It's all about conserving resources and using the land wisely...not stopping any and all development.