Green Civic Republicanism and Environmental Action against Surface Mining in Lincoln County, West Virginia, 1974–1990

Abstract

Green Civic Republicanism and Environmental Action against Surface Mining in Lincoln County, West Virginia, 1974–1990 Jinny A. Turman (bio) Civic republican ideals lie at the heart of the United States. Although they have long existed in tension with other political philosophies, there remains in American society a general understanding of the importance of placing the concerns of the commonwealth above selfinterest and of the necessity of citizen involvement in the political process. Civic participation ideally supports self-government. Such collective sensibilities may seem foreign in this neoliberal age, but they have never completely disappeared from public discourse. Part of the reason civic republicanism lingers is because of its adaptability to changing contexts and its usefulness for encouraging debate. This persistence is evident in the “greening” of society that began in the late twentieth century. Concepts of civic responsibility for the common good, equality, and autonomy exist comfortably alongside ecological sensibilities that emphasize citizen involvement in developmental decisions and the protection of natural resources for present and future generations.1 [End Page 855] Over the last twenty years, some political scientists have argued for the infusion of civic republicanism into environmental politics. They base their appeals on commonalities between republican and environmental ideologies, especially shared concern for upholding local autonomy and decentralized decision making; encouragement of an active, engaged citizenry; and recognition of people’s vulnerability to both human and natural forces. These advocates contend that environmental strategies couched in civic republican terms have the potential to resonate with individuals who may not otherwise understand or accept policies directed toward nonhuman or nonlocal concerns. “Green republican” language can also help dissolve the boundary between private and public that sanctions resource-depleting consumption habits and self-interest; it can mitigate federal and state policies that favor corporations and challenge narrow conceptions of the body politic. Yet civic republicanism centers on difficult processes of deliberation, so proponents concede that under pressure environmentalists risk compromising environmental goals. Further, the overarching political structure needs to encourage citizen engagement in order for civic republicanism “to be effective and sustained.”2 Because much of the research connecting civic republicanism to green politics emanates from political science, one wonders what lessons might be gleaned from historical examples of environmentalists employing republican strategies to mobilize popular support. Did those strategies prove useful for articulating the benefits of protecting natural resources for the common good to populations with different conceptions of land stewardship? Did republican rhetoric compel people to act? What happened when communities with disparate populations engaged in deliberative decision making related to environmental protection? How did green civic republicanism interact with dominant political ideologies [End Page 856] both within and beyond a particular locale to influence environmental goals? “Back-to-the-land” migrants provide an excellent opportunity for evaluating the effectiveness of green civic republican strategies in environmental campaigns. In the years surrounding the first Earth Day in 1970, factory closures in the manufacturing belt, urban social unrest, stagflation, and environmental degradation prompted an unprecedented urban-to-rural migration. Southern communities became particularly attractive to people seeking to leave the decaying urban-industrial North. While some people moved for work, others migrated in search of alternative ways of living. Back-to-the-landers—predominantly young, white, and middle-class baby boomers alienated by mainstream consumerism—sought to preserve a classic American vision of the good life based on small-scale farming. They infused their agrarian impulses with a new environmentalism, seeking to live sustainably off the land. Not surprisingly, host communities did not always welcome the newcomers, with some native residents finding in-migrants’ appearance odd and their values foreign. Media accounts of “culture clashes” were thus not inaccurate, but they veiled more complex relationships that developed over time, particularly between newcomers and old-time farmers. This essay examines how back-to-the-landers sought to prevent surface coal mining in Lincoln County, West Virginia. They gradually abandoned 1960s-style, direct-action strategies in favor of a green civic republican approach, which helped them bridge cultural divides. They drew from both New Left and agrarian thought to justify their involvement in local environmental debates and eventually created a vision of an agrarian commonwealth, appealing...