The end of population-environmentalism: dissonance over human rights and societal goals

Abstract

The splintering of the environmental movement amid accusations of 'greening of hate' brought an unshakeable controversy, which made population-environmentalism a taboo subject for mainstream discussion. Since the first Earth Day in the 1970s, there had been focus within the mainstream environmental movement on the connection between population growth and diminishing environmental resources, where population-environmentalism became a core concern. However, when immigration became the focal point for policy and advocacy in the1990s in the mainstream movement, the dialogue shifted over opposing views of human rights versus societal goals. Previously, the Sierra Club and Zero Population Growth had represented mainstream acceptance of population-environmentalism, however, this connection abruptly ended in the 2000s when they became associated with and tainted by anti-environmental influences.