The State of the Environmental Movement

The Thoreau Institute has been a part of the environmental movement since 1975. But in the last ten years, the Institute has focused on market solutions to environmental problems, while much of the rest of the movement has focused on political--usually federal--solutions. In the past several years, the Institute has published and collected a series of reports and articles aimed at understanding this divergence.

Reports

The State of the Environmental Movement

In 1996, the Institute asked more than a dozen environmental activists and observers to comment on the movement as they viewed it.

Articles

The New Conservationists

Randal O'Toole speculates that the movement is fragmenting into its pre-1970 configuration of "conservationists" and "preservationists."

Comments on "The New Conservationists"

Comments from a variety of sources on a draft of the New Conservationist paper.

Building an Environmental-Libertarian Alliance

Can libertarians work together with environmentalists? Both groups have much in common, but both have to overcome a few emotional barriers.

Op-Eds

Denver Post, 1-4-98
Some environmental groups thrive by attacking other environmentalists.

Subsidies Anonymous

The New Conservationists
The executive summary of the longer article of the same name.

No. 12-The State of the Environmental Movement

The movement has become narrow and intolerant of dissent. A prequel to the report of the same name.

Other Information

Environmental Issues in the 1996 Elections

This article by James Moore originally appeared in NRLI News.

FAQs about Free-Market Environmentalism

The Thoreau Institute is sometimes called a free-market environmental group. These answers try to define what that means.

Electronic Drummer