The Ozone's Shot, the Oceans Stink ? So What Has the Monthly Had to Say?
Keisling, Phil
The Ozone's Shot, the Oceans Stink — So What Has the Monthly Had to Say? by Phil Keisling George Bush's "Ich bin ein environmentalist" speech at the Republican convention, and his infamous...
...The Grand Coulee Dam, celebrated in song by Woody Guthrie (under contract to the federal government's Bonneville Power Administration), single-handedly destroyed most of the wild salmon runs of the Pacific Northwest...
...If there are any "hightech" entrepreneurs who deserve government encouragement, they are in these fields...
...Generational fairness: The Monthly has derided the selfishness behind entitlement programs that tax young workers to subsidize the benefits of retired millionaires...
...But it's a romanticism that's quintessentially American, no less so than a longing for community, a desire to be an entrepreneur, or a fondness for passenger trains...
...Of course, it is easy to dismiss such notions as "love of the land," as gushy romanticism, and, in a sense, they are...
...Its economy has attracted national attention in the past few years for its strength and diversity...
...At the state level, Democratic governors like Cecil Andrus of Idaho and Bruce Babbitt of Arizona have combined environmental advocacy with political success in the heart of "Reagan country...
...The Democrats also tend to ignore some of their own history...
...To be sure, this won't be easy...
...But what if the issue is preserving large tracts of old-growth trees, some of them almost 1,000 years old, thereby threatening the jobs of local loggers and union millworkers...
...Perhaps at some future Democratic convention the theme song shouldn't be Neil Diamond's "Coming to America" but an equally inspiring American piece—Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land...
...The Monthly recently ran an article attacking sidewalk cafes for taking liberties with curbside space that belongs to the public...
...The challenge is to link an environmental ethic with other values— community, generational fairness, even entrepreneurship...
...Mo Udall, widely admired for helping set aside vast stretches of Alaskan wilderness, has his fingerprints on some of Arizona's most senseless water diversion schemes...
...And while it may seem risky for a local community to move away from a resource-consumption economy, the longterm benefits may be greater than the short-term costs...
...Indeed, when other Democratic values have come into play—full employment, an activist federal government—the environment has often been the loser...
...Indeed, southern Democrats are still notorious for championing such projects—which should give Democrats some pause as they scour the landscape for a post-Dukakis standard-bearer...
...These are much tougher issues, and Democrats have often tried to have it both ways...
...Relatively new environmental horror scenarios—ozone depletion, the greenhouse effect, large-scale deforestation—have only strengthened such attitudes...
...National parks and other prime outdoors spots do the same...
...example, a fierce desire not to see prime hunting, fishing, and scenic areas despoiled by oil derricks and condominiums...
...A second reason is that many Democrats don't think we have to trumpet environmental issues, that voters will assume that Democrats are more sensitive to protecting our land, water, and air...
...In poll after poll, Americans choose environmental protection over development, even when they're told the consequences would be reduced living standards and higher unemployment...
...But they do share some basic values—for Phil Keisling, an editor of The Washington Monthly from 1982 to 1984, is a member of the Oregon House of Representatives...
...The Democrats run the danger of again appearing to be the party of doom and gloom, expressing environmental fears more vividly than they express opportunities...
...But it also looks forward...
...Like a private developer run amok, it has too often been a Democratically controlled Congress that has leveled forests, dammed rivers, and flooded canyons in the name of progress...
...10.- Entrepreneurship: The development of certain alternate energy technologies—solar energy, for example—promises to make communities much less reliant on distant, central generating stations that burn coal or nuclear fuel...
...Indeed, examining The Washington Monthly from 1969-89, it would be difficult to discern the extent to which American attitudes towards the environment have undergone a sea-change in this period...
...After all, Reagan-Bush gave us Anne Gorsuch and James Watt, and Bush helped cut funding for the very federal program Boston was relying on to speed its harbor cleanup...
...It contains powerful , images of "what used to be"—undammed rivers, vast virgin forests, pristine air...
...What if damming a wild river will help thousands of farmers to "make the desert bloom...
...What about the selfishness that would bequeath extinct rivers, forests, fish, and animals to the next generation...
...Only the women's movement rivals the environmental movement for its impact on the values of an entire generation...
...What better vision to offer than one that embraces this country's natural beauty and the imperative of preserving it for future generations...
...Richard Nixon, remember, presided over Earth Day in 1970 and played an active role in much of the landmark environmental legislation of that era...
...by Phil Keisling George Bush's "Ich bin ein environmentalist" speech at the Republican convention, and his infamous commercial blaming Michael Dukakis for the pollution in Boston harbor, left many Democrats livid...
...many of the latter voted for Reagan...
...Recent history is certainly one reason...
...And if the Monthly is looking to promote forms of service, there's never been a better time to revive the Civilian Conservation Corps, one of FDR's best legacies...
...The Democrats are struggling for a way to regain the White House, short of being turned to as "the other guy," when or if the economy collapses...
...These Americans certainly don't agree on everything...
...Yet aside from articles on a few discreet environmental issues—strip mining, the energy crisis, toxic waste—the Monthly has done little to articulate what might be called an "environmental ethic," a broad philosophical foundation on which the Democrats could capitalize...
...So where were Dukakis's hardhitting commercials that laid out this sorry record for public ridicule...
...Reagan's appeal was based largely on a belief that we could have it both ways...
...FDR's public works programs were marvels of engineering and employment...
...So why have Democrats been so sl-r, about articulating such a vision...
...For an inspiring example, look to Butte, Montana, which a decade ago faced economic havoc when its open-pit copper mines were closed...
...Such an environmental ethic would certainly appeal to the upscale, urban backpackers who frequent America's wilderness areas...
...It's especially puzzling when one considers Americans' overwhelming support for environmental issues...
...A few possibilities: IP- Community: The Monthly has looked to public schools, the military, and national service as ways of bringing diverse classes together to the benefit of us all...
...At the national level, the Democrats haven't yet found the voice that will allow them persuasively to champion environmental values, and the Monthly hasn't been much help...
...It's one thing to wax outraged over a Love Canal or toxic waste dumps, vilifying the negligence of big oil and chemical companies...
...At the center of an environmental ethic is the notion of today's generation trying to do right by the next generation, and beyond...
...On economic issues, they've recently had just this problem...
...This fails to give some Republicans their due...
...There are forests, mountains, and lakes that need similar defense from those overzealous to exploit them for private or short-term gain...
...Yet his legacy also includes some heart-rending tales of environmental destruction...
...But it would also include the vast numbers of suburban residents and blue-collar workers whose tastes run more to fishing and hunting...
...The magazine has been bold and persuasive in advocating these values...
...And like these notions, such an environmental ethic looks backwards as well as forward...
...Linking them to an environmental ethic may be the Monthly's next frontier...
...In many Democratic circles, those who talk about "limits"—a Jerry Brown term much derided of late—are still treated like unwelcome relatives at family gatherings...
...That's where the Monthly can be of particular use...
...That's all the more reason to understand better Dukakis's failures—and our own...
...Oregon is typical of most western states in that more residents have hunting and fishing licenses than vote...
...Remember how much of Reagan's success was due to a similar backwards glance to the era of small-town values, voluntarism, and small government...
...The Democrats have long been overly fond of large public works projects that benefit lots of people, many of them small farmers or members of building trade unions...
Vol. 21 • March 1989 • No. 2
