The Gary Null Blog

Betsy Taylor, Bill McKibben

April 7, 2011

http://www.grist.org/climate-change/2011-04-07-350.org-and-1sky-merge-into-one-mass-climate-movement

We environmentalists hear this periodically from friends and family and other concerned citizens: "I wish there weren't so many groups. It's confusing. I don't know who to volunteer for. Wouldn't it work better if you all got together?"

This isn't quite as obvious as it sounds. Different groups have sprung up at different times to fill different niches. You wouldn't look out at a marsh and say, "It would be much nicer if there were just one kind of frog to keep track of." Diversity has some very real purposes.

But there are moments when unity is essential -- and this is one of them. We're up against the most sustained assault on the environment ever: In the last few weeks, our oldest environmental groups have had to play nonstop defense just to keep Congress from gutting the Clean Air Act. A president elected on the promise of transformational energy change has reverted to opening vast tracts of Wyoming to new coal mining. A Tea Party House has actually voted to deny the science of global warming.