A Green of Many Hues

In a column from yesterday’s Grist, Van Jones criticizes environmentalists for allowing the green movement to be portrayed “solely as the playground of a white, affluent ‘eco-elite.’”

Jones discusses a trenchant example from California (one of the greenest states around) of how, if environmentalists let the movement “be portrayed as solely a ‘white thing,’ it will be easier for demagogues to forge an alliance between polluters and the poor–to derail our success.”

This isn’t the first time the enviro movement has been called on this issue–a point that’s touched on in the comments provoked by the column. I seem to recall that the eco-movement of the 1970s was criticized for being mostly white, but that many explained it away by saying minorities were too wrapped up in civil rights issues to care about the environment.

If that’s true, then things have changed. In the 1990s, the field of “environmental justice” emerged when it was observed that minority neighborhoods tended to be sited for dirty or dangerous projects, like toxic waste landfills or incinerators. One would hope that the environmental movement is evolving to the point where it can work for the benefit of everyone in the environment–and that the message is getting out.