A Generational Setback for Environmental Movement: NY Times

NY Times published a summary of the stunning impacts Trump 2.0 is having on the biggest environmental and climate-related organizations. We need to face reality, but we cannot become cynical and give up. Here are some of the key points made:


Actions by the Trump administration and the Republican-led Congress have set the environmental movement back years, activists said. Chief among them has been the passage of Mr. Trump’s domestic policy bill, which curtailed many of the core elements of the Inflation Reduction Act.

With one election and one bill, most of the signature climate work that organizations, advocates and movements have been working toward is largely undone,” said Ruthy Gourevitch, a policy director at the Climate and Community Institute, a progressive research organization.


Not all is lost. Some large organizations are fighting in court:


the Natural Resources Defense Council, …was redoubling its efforts in state and federal courts and expanding its advocacy at the state level and internationally.

,,,
Earthjustice has opened 96 legal actions against the Trump administration this year, including lawsuits as well as technical comments on proposed regulatory changes. …

It has had some wins. On Thursday, a federal judge in Washington ordered the Agriculture Department to reinstate grants for farmers and nonprofits that had been terminated. The groups were represented by Earthjustice and two other legal nonprofits, FarmSTAND and Farmers Justice Center.


But some groups aren't winning:


Greenpeace lost a lawsuit in March after being sued over allegations it defamed Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline. ..Greenpeace now faces the prospect of nearly $670 million in damages if it loses on appeal, with its U.S. arm responsible for the vast majority of that amount.


At the same time, the Sierra Club and three other environmental groups are facing a defamation lawsuit by Exxon Mobil in federal court in Texas.

Some big donors are responding by shifting their focus:


Breakthrough Energy, the Bill Gates-backed group focused on promoting clean energy, shuttered its D.C. lobbying shop in March, laying off staff and cutting off funding for a number of related groups.

Mr. Gates is investing directly in climate technology, including a next generation nuclear plant in Wyoming that would generate electricity without emitting greenhouse gases. He declined to comment.

Tom Steyer…said the lesson of the 2024 election is that the public wants solutions that have immediate economic effects. “If we want to win, we need a fundamental recalibration,” Mr. Steyer recently wrote on Facebook. “Climate can no longer be a separate cause. It must be the context for making people’s lives better. It has to feel like relief. Like opportunity.” For example, he wrote, clean energy must mean lower electric bills.

Mr. Steyer, through his investment firm, Galvanize, is also putting his money into clean energy projects and said he invests differently than other climate donors. “We’re not funding any suits,” he said, referring to legal challenges against the Trump administration. “We are basically trying to create better things that provide tangible benefits now.”

1 Replies

@Robert J Hudson

A few comments on this piece, particularly the doom and gloom “recruiting“ message by donor-funded NGOs, parroted uncritically by the NYT staff.


We in CCL have a more nuanced view, repeated by Dana just yesterday. Many Republican MOCs understand energy policy, appreciate the contribution of wind and solar power as part of a diverse energy mix, and are clawing back the extremes of Trump’s policies, thanks in part to our lobbying efforts. IRA wind and solar projects will be only moderately reduced over the next four years; the pace of US decarbonization is faster now than four years ago.

As a non-partisan actor, CCL has a unique opportunity to partner with Republicans on improving America’s prospects for creating a clean, reliable and affordable energy future.


Permitting reform, energy transmission, nuclear, and geothermal power may have better prospects in a Republican administration than in a Democratic coalition, where litigious Far Left NGOs resist the NEPA reform needed to begin a transition.


Note: The article mentions the Bill Gates -funded Breakthrough Energy. This organization is NOT the Breakthrough Institute / Ecomodernist, a bipartisan think tank which is a natural ally of CCL.

Forum help

Select a question below

CCL Community's Sitewide Forums are an easy and exciting way to interact with other members on CCL Community.  The Sitewide Forums are focused on subjects and areas of general interest to members.  Each forum consists of topics that members have posted, along with replies from other members. Some forums are divided into categories to group similar topics together. 

Any members can post a topic or reply to a topic.

The Sitewide Forums are open to the entire CCL community to create, comment on, and view online discussions.  Posts and comments should address the subject or focus of the selected forum. 

Note: Categories can only be created by community administrators.

Guidelines for posting: (also see general Community Guidelines)

  • Don’t see your question or topic? Post it.
  • Be thoughtful, considerate (nonpartisan) and complete. The more information you supply, the better the better and more engaging the conversation will be. 
  • Feel like cursing? Please don’t.
  • Ask yourself, “Would my topic post reveal sensitive or confidential information?” If so, please don't post!

Flag/report any offending comments, and then move on. In the rare instance of a comment containing a potentially credible threat, escalate that immediately to CCL.

If the Sitewide Forum has no categories, select the "Add Topic" button at the top of topics window. 

If the forum has categories, when you click on "Add Topic," a dropdown list of the categories appears. Select the desired category and then "Add Topic."
In either case this brings up a box to enter both the topic subject and topic text.

If you have questions or wish to add comments on a posted forum topic, open the post and click the blue “Add Reply” button at top. You can also click on the “Reply” link at the bottom of the original topic posting.

This opens a text box. Add your reply. You can also add documents by dragging a file into the text box. Click “Post” at the bottom of the reply window This will add your reply to other replies (if there are any), sorted by oldest on top. 

If, however, you want to reply directly to someone else’s reply, click on the “Reply” link at the bottom of their reply. 

When replying to a topic post or a topic reply it may be helpful to quote the original text, or the part that your reply is referring to. To quote a topic or reply, click on the "Quote" link at bottom of post. 

When you do this the full text of either the post or reply will be pulled into a reply text box. If desired, you can remove parts of the quoted text in order to get the portion you are interested in quoting.

You can subscribe to notifications of new postings from any of the Sitewide Forums or forum categories. To subscribe, select the green “Subscribe” button at the top of the forum. Click on dropdown arrow to select frequency of notification.

If you are already subscribed, the button will display “Unsubscribe.”  Select it to unsubscribe or select the dropdown arrow to modify frequency of notification. 

Note: If you subscribe to a Sitewide Forum, such as "Media Relations" that has categories (such as "LTEs and Op-Eds"), you will also be subscribed to all the categories. If you wish to subscribe to only one or more of the categories, unsubscribe to the parent forum and subscribe individually to desired categories.

.

If you see a topic post or reply that interests you or that you like, you can click the “Like” icon at the bottom of the topic post or the reply. This lets the poster know that the topic was helpful. It also contributes to the topic’s popularity, which influences where it is listed in the "Popular" forum tab. There are also additional reactions available for members to use. Mouseover the "Like" icon to choose one of these options: Love, Clap, Celebrate, Insightful, or Interesting.

CCL Community Guidelines

  • Discuss, ask and share
  • Be respectful
  • Respect confidentiality
  • Protect privacy

More guidelines
 

CCL Blog Policy Area Categories