Environmentalism is Not Just a Word Because We Only Have One Earth

Radical conservative environmentalism?

From the Letter to Editor by Wes Bergen, Morgantown Dominion Post, April 30, 2023

Something new has to happen. In order to alter our current course, which has led and is leading to environmental devastation, we need nearly everyone to be involved. We need all hands on deck. This means that, in addition to a growing radical progressive environmental movement, we need a radical conservative environmental movement.

There is nothing impossible about radical conservative environmentalism. Yes, much of current conservative leadership is heading full speed toward further destruction, but there is no reason that this has to be so.

Our current governor and U.S. senators are not going to lead a radical environmental movement, because they are all living off the sale of fossil fuels. Their motivation appears to be mostly greed. And greed is not a conservative value. Traditionally, greed is a vice that needs to be discouraged or even punished. So they are not good leaders for conservatism in any case.

Other leaders in the current conservative world are climate deniers and make all sorts of unscientific claims. This is not conservative either — this is just stupid. And stupidity is not a conservative value. There is an intelligent conservative position that needs to be part of the discussion, however unlikely it currently seems.

So we need new leaders. We need leaders who understand the need to conserve what is of value in our heritage and our traditions. And we need those leaders to be guided by the best of our traditions, not the worst of them. We need these leaders to articulate a radical conservative environmentalism, because it will be impossible to conserve our society in the midst of environmental devastation.

>> Wes Bergen is a pastor of the Church of the Brethren and author of “You Are NOT Going to Heaven.”