Losing Ground: American Environmentalism at the Close of the Twentieth Century [Paperback]

Mark Dowie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1996

A recent history replete with compromise and capitulation has pushed a once promising and effective political movement to the brink of irrelevance.So states Mark Dowie in this provocative critique of the mainstream American environmental movement. Dowie, the prolific award-winning journalist who broke the stories on the Dalkon Shield and on the Ford Pinto, delivers an insightful, informative, and often damning account of the movement many historians and social commentators at one time expected to be this century's most significant. He unveils the inside stories behind American environmentalism's undeniable triumphs and its quite unnecessary failures.Dowie weaves a spellbinding tale, from the movement's conservationist origins as a handful of rich white men's hunting and fishing clubs, through its evolution in the 1960s and 1970s into a powerful political force that forged landmark environmental legislation, enforced with aggressive litigation, to the strategy of "third wave" political accommodation during the Reagan and Bush years that led to the evisceration of many earlier triumphs, up to today, where the first stirrings of a rejuvenated, angry, multicultural, and decidedly impolite movement for environmental justice provides new hope for the future.Dowie takes a fresh look at the formation of the American environmental imagination and examines its historical imperatives: the inspirations of Thoreau, the initiatives of John Muir and Bob Marshall, the enormous impact of Rachel Carson, the new ground broken by Earth Day in 1970, and the societal antagonists created in response that climaxed with the election of Ronald Reagan. He details the subsequent move toward polite, ineffectual activism by the mainstream environmental groups, characterized by successful fundraising efforts and wide public acceptance, and also by new alliances with corporate philanthropists and government bureaucrats, increased degradation of environmental quality, and alienation of grassroots support. Dowie concludes with an inspirational description of a noncompromising "fourth wave" of American environmentalism, which he predicts will crest early in the next century.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In this timely book, award-winning journalist Dowie analyzes why the once-effective environmental movement now appears, even under an ostensibly friendly Democratic administration, increasingly powerless and irrelevant. The bulk of his text details the tendencies and practices that Dowie identifies as leading to the current crisis: dependence for success on mass mailings and professional lobbyists; neglect of grass-roots activism; failure to involve minorities; excessive willingness to compromise; naive belief in the good faith of government agencies and corporate boards; and a general lack of audacity and zeal. The important closing chapters discuss various emerging groups and philosophies that could contribute to a "fourth wave" environmental movement. This thought-provoking book joins Philip Shabecoff's A Fierce Green Fire (Hill & Wang: Farrar, 1993) and Kirkpatrick Sale's The Green Revolution (LJ 7/93) in both interpreting the history of environmentalism and assessing its future. While not one of these books is definitive, each has special strengths. Dowie excels in the treatment of events and trends since 1989. Recommended for academic libraries and environmental collections.
Joan S. Elbers, formerly with Montgomery Coll., Rockville, Md.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Dowie is an award-winning journalist with a penchant for radical inquiry. He has tackled the American environmental movement out of frustration, believing that it should have accomplished much more than it has. Why environmentalism has failed to live up to its potential occupies much of Dowie's rigorous analysis. He begins with a scathing history of the movement's first stirrings, an effort by well-heeled, elitist white men to maintain wilderness areas for recreational purposes. The next phase pitted conservationists interested in "wise use" against the more prescient preservationists. Dowie tracks the rapid devolution of "wise use" into abuse during the Reagan years and the foolish fallback tactics of the green movement, which bureaucratized itself into little more than a direct-mail machine. As critical as Dowie is, he does see hope in the next phase of this phoenixlike movement. He believes that a genuinely democratic form of environmentalism--linked to civil rights, focused on urban as well as rural environmental issues, and involving women and men of all races and cultures--is possible and promising. Let's hope so. Donna Seaman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (August 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262540843
• ISBN-13: 978-0262540841
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #412,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Critique of mainstream's blindsiding of the environment., October 5, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Losing Ground: American Environmentalism at the Close of the Twentieth Century (Paperback)

Perhaps the greatest weakness of individual environmentalists and the
environmental "movement" is the absence of public self-examination. While
political insiders may clearly see the difference between the National Wildlife
Federation and the Sierra Club, the public has few resources to gauge them.
Opening the doors is author Mark Dowie, a champion of local activism and the
integration of environmental issues with other social movements. Tracing the
origins and bureaucratization of the environmental movement, Dowie criticizes
the most recent surge of co-option, the "third wave" or economics-based
environmentalism.

"Regulatory flexibility and 'constructive engagement' with
industry have created some business heroes, but they can be counted on one
hand," he writes. "The rest, unfortunately, need to be regulated." This is not to
say this book is a rant against environmental business. There are no heroes or
villains in this book, which makes it a rarity in the environmental lexicon.
Instead, Dowie criticizes the corporate structure of environmental groups, and
portrays each organization with their individual merits and flaws. Compromising
Local Leadership Dowie reminds readers of the decision by the Natural
Resources Defense Council and Cultural Survival to negotiate with the
Ecuadorian government over oil drilling in the Yasuni Reserve. Arguing that oil
drilling would be inevitable, and "[w]ithout consulting the Huaorani people or the
appropriate Ecuadorian environmental organizations, [NRDC's] Scherr and
Kennedy struck a deal: Conoco could drill on the Huaoroni reserve in return for
a $10-million donation to an Ecuadorian foundation created by NRDC and
Cultural Survival, an indigenous-rights groups based in Cambridge,
Massachusetts."

The NAFTA debate saw essentially the same argument made: free
trade is inevitable, so environmentalists have to go along and get what they can.
NAFTA's "It's a win-win-win situation" argument was accepted by various
environmental groups. In the long run, the agreement and side provisions may
indeed provide resources and rewards for cross-border environmental planning.
But Dowie draws back to review the consequences of increased commerce.

"It
should be clear to any environmental thinker that free trade can only lead to the
globalization of massive, consumer- based economies that are, in the long run,
whatever the legislated safeguards, ecologically destructive. But mainstream
environmental officials evidently don't think a lot about the distant future. Like
the corporations they have come to resemble, they tend to be occupied with the
day-to-day imperatives of strategy, competition and survival." From a parochial
viewpoint, it would have been interesting had Dowie included a critique of the
way in which many D.C. groups finally "discovered" environmental problems
along the border and how most of these organizations lost interest in the border
after NAFTA passed.

It would also be interesting to document the criticism the
mainstream groups made of those local groups that disagreed with them on the
potential consequences of NAFTA. At the Center and Stumbling The problem
with mainstream environmental groups stems from their decisions in the 1980s to
focus energies on power plays in Washington, D.C., instead of reaching out to
state and community organizations.

Had the focus remained on "reaching out to
state, local and regional organizations," he writes, "the American environmental
movement today would be much stronger and more consequential than it is. An
explosive critical mass of national activism could have been formed. Instead, a
relatively harmless and effete new club appeared." Dowie suggests that the
disproportionate ratio of funding (70 percent to 30 percent) between mainstream
and grassroots groups remains an obstacle for community organization,
suggesting that "a 20-point shift, of $200 million would change the complexity of
the entire environmental community."

The publication of Losing Ground offers
readers an insightful view of relations among environmental groups, many of
which demand transparency in government and business circles, but not among
themselves or their colleagues. This is one of the most valuable guidebooks and is
one of the year's must-reads.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What goes around, comes around., November 29, 2002

By 

Steven J. Bissell (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Losing Ground: American Environmentalism at the Close of the Twentieth Century (Paperback)

Although this book is now 7 years old, it seems more relevant today than when Dowie wrote it. I keep hoping for a new, revised, edition. The elections of 2000 and 2002 have shown that the mainstream environmental organizations in the U.S. have lost most of their strength in the political arena. Despite major attempts to influence elections. . .the Senatorial race in Colorado for example. . .their efforts were either not effective or salient to the electorate. The Green Party seems to have filtered off those voters who are primarily concerned with environmental issues and most indications are that those voters are not impressed with the mainstream environmental establishment in the U.S. The Green Parties of Europe seem to be making a resurgence, but progress in the U.S. is not evident.

Dowie's main critique is of the established, major environmental organizations; those groups who enjoyed so much growth during the Reagan era as a reaction to James Watt and others in the Reagan Cabinet. While Gale Norton is from the same mold as Watt, and Christy Todd Whitman is not far removed, they do not seem to be provoking the same degree of unrest among America's electorate. Arguable the Administration of George "5-4" W. Bush is even worse than Reagan Administration in Environmental Policy, and seem to be drifting even further since the 2002 elections. However the major environmental organizations do not seem to be able to focus attention, or perhaps interest, on this issue. The reason for that may be changing social and cultural norms, but it also may be due to the perception that these organizations are not relevant.

Dowie's book may be a bit out-of-date, but it is well worth the read. I think Dowie was right in 1995 and his ideas still ring true today.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Critique of mainstream's blindsiding of the environment., October 5, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Losing Ground: American Environmentalism at the Close of the Twentieth Century (Hardcover)

Perhaps the greatest weakness of individual
environmentalists and the environmental "movement" is the absence
of public self-examination. While political insiders may clearly
see the difference between the National Wildlife Federation and
the Sierra Club, the public has few resources to gauge them.
Opening the doors is author Mark Dowie, a champion of local
activism and the integration of environmental issues with other
social movements.
Tracing the origins and bureaucratization of the
environmental movement, Dowie criticizes the most recent surge of
co-option, the "third wave" or economics-based environmentalism.
"Regulatory flexibility and 'constructive engagement' with
industry have created some business heroes, but they can be
counted on one hand," he writes. "The rest, unfortunately, need
to be regulated."
This is not to say this book is a rant against environmental
business. There are no heroes or villains in this book, which
makes it a rarity in the environmental lexicon. Instead, Dowie
criticizes the corporate structure of environmental groups, and
portrays each organization with their individual merits and
flaws.

Compromising Local Leadership
Dowie reminds readers of the decision by the Natural
Resources Defense Council and Cultural Survival to negotiate with
the Ecuadorian government over oil drilling in the Yasuni
Reserve. Arguing that oil drilling would be inevitable, and
"[w]ithout consulting the Huaorani people or the appropriate
Ecuadorian environmental organizations, [NRDC's] Scherr and
Kennedy struck a deal: Conoco could drill on the Huaoroni reserve
in return for a $10-million donation to an Ecuadorian foundation
created by NRDC and Cultural Survival, an indigenous-rights
groups based in Cambridge, Massachusetts."
The NAFTA debate saw essentially the same argument made:
free trade is inevitable, so environmentalists have to go along
and get what they can. NAFTA's "It's a win-win-win situation"
argument was accepted by various environmental groups. In the
long run, the agreement and side provisions may indeed provide
resources and rewards for cross-border environmental planning.
But Dowie draws back to review the consequences of increased
commerce.
"It should be clear to any environmental thinker that free
trade can only lead to the globalization of massive, consumer-
based economies that are, in the long run, whatever the
legislated safeguards, ecologically destructive. But mainstream
environmental officials evidently don't think a lot about the
distant future. Like the corporations they have come to resemble,
they tend to be occupied with the day-to-day imperatives of
strategy, competition and survival."
From a parochial viewpoint, it would have been interesting
had Dowie included a critique of the way in which many D.C.
groups finally "discovered" environmental problems along the
border and how most of these organizations lost interest in the
border after NAFTA passed. It would also be interesting to
document the criticism the mainstream groups made of those local
groups that disagreed with them on the potential consequences of
NAFTA.

At the Center and Stumbling
The problem with mainstream environmental groups stems from
their decisions in the 1980s to focus energies on power plays in
Washington, D.C., instead of reaching out to state and community
organizations. Had the focus remained on "reaching out to state,
local and regional organizations," he writes, "the American
environmental movement today would be much stronger and more
consequential than it is. An explosive critical mass of national
activism could have been formed. Instead, a relatively harmless
and effete new club appeared."
Dowie suggests that the disproportionate ratio of funding
(70 percent to 30 percent) between mainstream and grassroots
groups remains an obstacle for community organization, suggesting
that "a 20-point shift, of $200 million would change the
complexity of the entire environmental community."
The publication of Losing Ground offers readers an
insightful view of relations among environmental groups, many of
which demand transparency in government and business circles, but
not among themselves or their colleagues. This is one of the most
valuable guidebooks and is one of the year's must-reads.