I recently met with an environmentalist. The name isn’t important, but this person founded an organization devoted to justice around climate. The person and organization are highly regarded in their fields.

Our conversation followed a common pattern. This person is pursuing standard practices of legislation, market incentives, and innovation to promote things like more scientific research, innovating efficiency and new legislation, but most of all, a transition to “renewable” energy.

When I talked about ending pollution and depletion, this person balked at what seemed to them impractical and undesirable: “how would we feed eight billion people without electricity?” and “But I have relatives on the opposite coast. How will I see them?”

I suggested that we would all enjoy more freedom. The response: “I want the freedom to fly.”

This interaction was with just one person and I didn’t record it so I’m only sharing a piece of it from memory, but it fits a pattern I’ve observed:

Environmentalists argue against sustainability, at least with me.

I haven’t kept track precisely, but I can’t think of a single environmentalist who promotes sustainability. They promote personal inaction, claiming personal responsibility is a trick BP started to distract people, even as they spend plenty of money on BP and its peers, but they don’t promote sustainability.

I don’t know if environmentalists actually want sustainability if it means they can’t live a certain way. In any case, I don’t think you can lead people to live by values you don’t live by yourself.

Maybe I’m missing something. Can any readers name an environmentalist promoting actual sustainability, here and now? I don’t mean a theoretical future sustainability that what they promote can’t possibly reach, so anyone promoting a “green energy transition” that doesn’t include specifically lowering fossil fuel and uranium extraction doesn’t qualify unless they show a clear way to zero fossil fuel and uranium extraction.

If they aren’t trying to stop polluting and depleting themselves, claiming something they do is required and requires polluting or depleting, then they aren’t promoting sustainability. They’re promoting polluting and depleting.

I wonder if they just promote what will get them funded. Maybe they tell a story that potential donors want to hear and fund, independent of whether it makes a difference.

I hope someone points out someone I’m missing. In the meantime, I can’t think of an environmentalist promoting sustainability and all the environmentalists I can think of argue and work against it. They certainly fund pollution, depletion, and the lobbyists, advertisers, and politicians promoting more of it.

Please show me I’m missing something.

• ← Something important missing in my life