Past environmental-group counterattacks worked because they had an opposing government branch to rally against

Evidence

The past successes of those organizations have largely depended on their ability to tap into public concerns and to lend their expertise to branches of government sympathetic to their concerns. In the current political environment, such a sympathetic government ear is increasingly hard, however, for environmentalists to discover, as it is difficult for environmentalists to attract the attention of the public, let alone financial contributors. In the early 1980s and then again in the mid-1990s, environmental activists quickly converted public concerns with the environmental policies of the Reagan administration and then with the 104th Congress into their own political muscle. The memberships of environmental organizations dramatically increased as did their fundraising. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 1084

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to ch17 which documented how Reagan’s attacks tripled green memberships and quintupled donations. — connects to: Advocates of environmental education will encounter organized political resistance. — David Sobel, Place-Based Education: Connecting…, 63; Republicans learned to pursue environmental deregulation quietly to avoid public backlash — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 1086; Environmental-justice demands originated partly as critique of mainstream environmental groups — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 550 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Networks of local protest can constitute national politics from the ground up #expands (0.72) — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 620
• Environmental-justice demands originated partly as critique of mainstream environmental groups #expands (0.70) — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 550