Through green-colored glasses

Public opinion surveys repeatedly show that a vast majority of Americans consider themselves "environmentalists," no doubt largely because "environmentalism" is widely thought to be synonymous with "caring about the environment." Wilfred Beckerman, however, points out that to many environmental activists environmentalism means the massive expansion of governmental power to protect environmental resources. In Through Green-Colored Glasses: Environmentalism Reconsidered, Beckerman provides a clear-eyed examination of the central tenets of environmental theory - sustainable development, the precautionary principle, and environmental crises - and concludes that the environmentalist worldview is cluttered with meaningless slogans and dangerously wrongheaded assessments of the state of humanity and the planet. That politicized agenda is not only shallow, ignorant, and contradictory; it is dangerous for the environment as well.