Environmentalists, the group most responsible for awakening the national consciousness to the problems of pollution and habitat destruction, are the most problematical. They continue to present the world as spinning toward an ecological disaster. Instead of celebrating the successes of their movement, they continue to dwell on the continuing problems. When wolves were finally released into Idaho and Yellowstone, many advocates were fighting amongst themselves instead of cheering together. On a personal level, many of my friends in the environmental movement are burned out from fighting what appears to be a never-ending battle with few measurable victories.
Environmentalists also find it hard to credit former opponents for changing their ways.
Ranchers, loggers, and small business owners, who have quit many of the destructive practices of the past want desperately to get recognition for their efforts. Then there are the strident libertarians and conservatives who cannot credit the accomplishments of environmental laws without recognizing the positive role government played in that success. It's easy to say the welfare state failed but its a lot harder to deny that smog levels have dropped dramatically in most American cities and our rivers and lakes are cleaner. Many industry groups would have you believe they have cleaned up their act voluntarily. But in nearly every case I've covered for 20 years, polluters and land wreckers only stopped when environmentalists convinced the government or the courts to stop them.