Environmentalism on the wane

By Rob Gordon Copyright 1999 Washington Times April 12, 1999

There's a new Playstation video game on the market with an unusual marketing scheme. The game is about off-road vehicle races. An environmental radical chains himself to a tree to block a race through the last remaining habitat of the endangered black forest bear. Just as a reporter interviews the protester a bear rears up and roars. The reporter flees, there are screams and when the camera pans back there is no sight of the hippie dude - just some torn cloths and a boot chained to a tree. Then the off-road racers tear by. The marketers have apparently determined that monster trucks jumping mud hills are cooler than environmentalists chained to trees.

The game is welcome relief for anyone who finds the environmentalist slant to popular culture exhausting. One would think we were destined to spend half our free time recycling and the other excluded from HOV lanes. But there are signs like the Playstation ad (buy 'em), that things are changing.

Southpark, a raunchy cartoon on the Comedy Channel gives no quarter to anybody, including the environmental movement. In one episode Uncle Jimbo takes the foul-mouthed boy heroes for a hunting trip. When they happen upon a deer Uncle Jimbo yells "Lookout! He's charging!" They blast the deer. The children ask Uncle Jimbo why he yelled that. The deer wasn't charging. Jimbo explains that this is just something they have to yell before they shoot because Democrats passed a whole bunch of laws protecting endangered species. They marvel at how smart Uncle Jimbo is.

In another episode, Eric Cartman, a kid who clearly doesn't have a scintilla of "environmental awareness" wins an environmental essay contest. He simply crosses Thoreau's name off a copy of the sacred "On Walden Pond" and submits it as his own. His competition comes from a little girl who writes about the plight of hapless dolphins caught in tuna nets. He belittles the girl's impassioned protestations as a "bunch of hippie crap."

Ridicule of the environment has migrated from cable to prime time network shows like the Simpsons and Seinfeld. In the opening of the Simpsons, Homer tosses a radioactive fuel core out his car window on the way home from work. In one episode Homer commits the environmental atrocity of accidentally cutting down an entire old growth forest while in another Bart violates one of the most basic tenets of ecology by introducing an "alien species" to an ecosystem. He takes his pet frog to Australia where, having no natural enemy, it multiplies exponentially and takes over everything.

On an episode of NBC's recently now-retired "Seinfeld," a TV executive leaves the network and joins Greenpeace to impress Elaine who had refused to date him. His pathetic plan fails however as he drowns while chasing a whaling ship.

Even in Hollywood, environmentalism is not immune to ridicule. In the opening of "Armageddon," Bruce Willis is atop that most evil of things, an offshore oil rig. What's more, he is not blowing it up but amusing himself by driving golf balls at environmental protesters buzzing around below in their hackneyed zodiac boats.

The problem for environmentalists is that they no longer are anti-establishment. They are the establishment. And because they spend their political capital hyping odd beliefs, they make an easy target for ridicule.

Many conservatives instinctively recoil at the phrases "question authority" and "pop culture," so some immediate disclaimers are in order. First, some of the content of shows such as Southpark and the Simpsons, which mock environmentalism, can be objectionable. That, however, is a reflection of society's defining deviancy down, and while it is important it is a different matter.

Second, when one speaks of kids' questioning authority, conservatives, especially older ones, bristle because they associate that with Vietnam protesters, campus riots and such. If you consider yourself a conservative and have an adverse reaction to the "question authority" attitude ask yourself this: "Which authority is it that you hold in such high regard?" The DMV, IRS, EPA, NPR, United Nations, Disney, "60 Minutes," World Council of Churches, France, the president? This doesn't mean real parents, teachers, pastors and police, but you get the point.

Jokes with punch lines of radioactive waste, shooting endangered species and altering ecosystems are not good indicators for the environmental establishment. Because it is not built on a solid foundation, the modern environmental establishment, like other leftist causes has a limited life span. They are faddish, and falling out of fashion is political death. We are approaching the point where the environmental zealot may be shunned at the party as a bore and soon thereafter mocked. While it may not be just around the corner, the handwriting is on the wall or should I say on the TV.

Rob Gordon is executive Director of the National Wilderness Institute.

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