Fred Krupp, EDF - "Shrillness" Of Environmental Groups Contributed To GHG Bill's Failure

[hatrack]

Oh, sorry, Fred! Didn't mean to come across as "shrill" or "unreasonable". Heaven forbid!!

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. -- Environmental groups have too often approached climate change politics with an air of disdain for their opponents, and that must change if major federal legislation is going to advance, the president of the Environmental Defense Fund said yesterday. With neither a comprehensive energy policy nor a carbon cap-and-trade bill moving in Congress, EDF President Fred Krupp said advocates must reassess their strategy and perhaps adopt a less arrogant approach that takes into account all sides of the global warming debate.

"There has to be a lot of shrillness taken out of our language," Krupp said yesterday, during Fortune magazine's Brainstorm Green conference here. "In the environmental community, we have to be more humble. We can't take the attitude that we have all the answers."

Krupp went on to suggest that the movement he has been part of as chief of EDF for 26 years would be well served to heed lessons learned over the past several years, which saw the optimism of a Congress and White House controlled by Democrats give way to a newfound hostility to climate policy after Republicans dominated the 2010 midterms.

EDIT

Krupp also appeared to agree that cap and trade's moment has perhaps passed, at least for now, and he called on his colleagues in the environmental community to open their hearts to other approaches that might capture a bipartisan center by emphasizing, for instance, the national security implications of U.S. oil dependence. "The idea of humility means we need to be open to any solution," Krupp said.

EDIT

http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/04/05/05greenwire-edf-chief-shrillness-of-greens-contributed-to-37964.html