Voices from the environmental movement

de Donald Snow

In his introduction to this penetrating analysis of conservation leadership, G. Jon Roush observes, "In the past few years, environmental issues have moved near the top of most Americans' list of concerns." Reviewing changes and developments within state and national government, industry, and global environmental health, he describes the inevitable impact of such changes on the environmental movement itself. "As the essays in this book prove, equally important changes are at work within the movement," writes Roush. "It is expanding, diversifying, and re-examining some venerable assumptions. A small social and political movement is changing into something else ... The outcome will be influenced by a tangle of forces--values, traditions, and taboos; politics, economics, technology, and science; institutions, corporations, and government. Nongovernmental environmental organizations cannot control that tangle of forces, but with forethought and will, they can influence it. That tangle of forces is the subject of this book." With the clarity and insight that comes from experience, a diverse and dedicated group of environmentalists address today's leadership concerns--the current and potential influence in the environmental movement of politics, ethics, science, academia, women, minorities, and the international community. Reflecting upon a movement in transition, the authors conclude that only through a transformation among its leadership will the environmental movement meet the challenges of the coming decade effectively.