Belief in these sorts of myths has caused two decades of American environmentalism to confuse symptoms such as oil spills and acid rain with problems such as the bottomless demand for cheap energy. After each disaster, hard-working environmentalists have researched the events and lobbied hard for reforms that would prevent them from reoccurring. But no matter how strong that clean-up bill may be, it won't comfort the people who live on Prince William Sound. Like a hospital consisting only of an emergency room, reform-oriented environmentalism can do nothing until it is too late. Scrubbing rocks passes for therapy.
Lawsuits pose as prevention.
Meanwhile, the root causes linger outside the hospital doors, regain their momentum and move toward the next inevitable disaster. The disasters parade on without end. And so do the junk-mailed urgent appeals for help. Ironically, the Reagan years turned out to be boom years for environmental groups as the cartoon incompetence of Reagan appointees like EPA chief Anne Burford and Interior Secretary James Watt sent previously unconcerned citizens scrambling for their checkbooks. By the time George Bush took over the reins, it began to seem as if everyone had been born again as an environmentalist.