April 21, 2005

Conservatives and Conservation

I smell a trend coming. A few years back, High Country News described attempts to reframe environmental principles in the language of evangelical Christianity. Likewise, a campaign for California redwoods included a Jewish group.

Political writer Andrew Sullivan now speaks of "Hawks, Hippies, Holies", the "new green coalition":

John Kerry made energy independence a key plank of his presidential campaign - and, of course, he lost. What was needed was a more bipartisan approach, one that appealed both to liberal environmentalists and conservative hawks. Now we have the first signs of one, with grass roots power from the bases of both political parties - greens for the Democrats, evangelicals for the Republicans.

In Colorado Springs (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Department of Defense), local business interests realize that expanding Fort Carson helps protect against the economic effects of base closure. The Nature Conservancy is signing on, because, believe or not, military bases often protect habitat.

I can speak to that for Fort Carson and the associated Piñon Canyon Maneuver Area in southeastern Colorado: both have flourishing wildlife populations, overseen by on-post environmental managers.

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