Editorial Notebook: Defending the Sea Turtle

Picture this. There's a political issue Americans overwhelmingly support. It has broad appeal. It has a sound moral purpose and practical applications. Yet, even in today's poll-watching politics, it has been completely overlooked.

What issue is this? The environment. And its time has come.

For years Americans have been telling pollsters that they support mandatory laws providing for clean land, air and water. In the past, the problem was that environmental reform was low on the list of national priorities, behind such topics as the economy and education.

Now, however, politicians across the country rant and rave about how the American people are as well off as ever before. The economy is booming, education is improving. This is the perfect time to enact environmental reform.

I know what you're thinking. But I'm not a tree-hugging greenie! And most Americans aren't. In fact, this false image of environmentalism is why the cause has suffered so much over the past decade.

The image of environmentalists as radicals has craftily been painted by powerful special-interest groups, usually large oil and mining companies, members of which manipulate our political system to influence Congress and perpetuate the myth that they are doing good for America. Large companies such as Exxon, Mobil and Shell pour money into think tanks with positive sounding names such as Partners for Affordable Energy so that their stealth attack on Mother Nature can continue.

With the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Clean Air and Water Acts in 1972, giant corporate polluters knew the American public would no longer tolerate direct pollution anymore. Since then, they have changed their style--but not their substance. They have participated in a surreptitious media war, bypassed several federal laws, intensely lobbied Congress for loopholes and maliciously forced citizens to choose between humans and animals. The culmination was the 1994 Republican revolution when conservative leaders tried to repeal the Endangered Species Act, open national parks to logging and mining, and deregulate disposal of hazardous wastes.

These blatant acts were not lost on American voters and there are signs the momentum is shifting. In the 1998 elections, Republicans struggled to explain why they constantly voted against clean water and air. Senator Lauch Faircloth (R-N.C.) and former senator Alfonse D'Amato (D-N.Y.)--two staunch opponents of reform--failed miserably in trying to portray themselves as pro-environment, and were upset in electoral contests. My advice to politicians like Lauch and D'Amato: Give it up, guys. If D'Amato saw the endangered sea turtle, he'd ask: "How do I eat it?"

The point is, the American voters are not stupid. They have caught on to the secret war corporate giants have been waging on the environment and their defenders. Are the 1998 elections a sign that environmentalists are fighting back? Are the American people finally getting a say? Perhaps. But one thing is sure: With all the prosperity incumbents are talking about, the time for environmental reform has come. More and more politicians are finding out it's pretty stupid to be anti-Earth.