Why Are So Many White Men Trying to Save the Planet Without the Rest of Us?
10th May 2014
Suzanne Goldenberg, a Voice of the Crust for the British Guardian, asks a question to which only a feminist ‘progressive’ would care about the answer.
Climate change affects minorities and women, the elderly and the poor. But the leadership of the environmental movement is pale and male. That doesn’t look like progress.
But it certainly looks ‘progressive’. Indeed, it might be the best characterization of the ‘progressive’ movement I’ve heard in years.
Unfortunately, the non-pale and non-male don’t have a great track record when it comes to leadership.
Now take a look at the top executives at eight of the top 10 groups devoted to fighting that fight:
Sierra Club? White male.
Nature Conservancy? White male.
League of Conservation Voters? White male.
World Wildlife Fund? White male.
Environmental Defense Fund? White male.
Friends of the Earth? White male.
National Audubon Society? White male.
Nature Conservancy? White male.
The very top of “Big Green” is as white and male as a Tea Party meet-up. It doesn’t look like change. It doesn’t even look like America. So is it any wonder environmental groups are having trouble connecting with the public on climate change? Corporate and conservative funding of climate denial is one thing, but it’s beyond past time for the leaders of this movement to look at how their choice in leadership is affecting their strategy and messaging.
‘The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.’