Environmental Movement Must Refocus on Nature to Regain Power and Purpose
Source: John Reid. "The Environmental Movement Needs to Touch Grass - The Atlantic." May 14, 2026. www.theatlantic.com
The Gist
The environmental movement has lost its way by focusing too much on climate change and not enough on protecting actual nature like forests, wildlife, and wild places. This makes it harder to get people excited about environmental causes because climate change is abstract, while people naturally care about protecting beautiful places and animals they can see and experience.
Conclusion
The environmental movement needs to find nature again—to fight for the planet's ecosystems, plants, and wildlife—if it ever hopes to regain the power and purpose it once had
Premises
- The environmental movement has become unmoored from nature by focusing almost exclusively on climate change as if it's unrelated to wild places
- Climate change has shifted from one of many environmental issues to the dominant issue, with 52% of environmental organizations started 2010-2020 having 'climate' in their name
- The focus on 'decarbonization' reduces Earth to a mere carbon processor, ignoring other environmental gifts like fresh water and 8.5 million wild species
- Decarbonization provides no awe, spiritual elevation, or invitation for humans to reflect on the planet's marvel, making it difficult to build a movement around
- People protect what they know and love, and recent political victories came when politicians defended specific natural places and wildlife
- Investment in 'energy transition' ($2.3 trillion) vastly exceeds spending on 'nature-based solutions,' showing how climate solutions have little to do with nature
- Americans have become less viscerally connected to nature due to more screen time, less wild habitat, and urban living
Assumptions
- Political movements need emotional and spiritual connection to be effective
- The environmental movement was more powerful and purposeful when it focused on nature
- Climate change and nature conservation should be treated as interconnected rather than separate issues
- Public support for environmental causes depends on people's direct connection to and love of nature
- The current approach of treating climate as the dominant environmental issue is strategically flawed