In keeping with their more satisfied view of the world, conservatives
tend to see the analyses of environmentalist movements as unduly
alarmist. Many observers on the right, for instance, maintain that
climate change remains an open question. In the absence of irrefutable
scientific evidence, they contend, new studies are needed to determine
whether global warming is really the result of human activity or
simply a natural phenomenon, and to assess the extent to which rising
temperatures have already affected the various regions of the world.^45
The same positive view leads these skeptics to put their trust in the
potential of technology to solve the problems that may eventually
stem from the deterioration of ecosystems and from resource deple-
tion. In their view, “humans will not deplete any resources...as long
as technology is given free rein and prices are allowed to fluctuate
enough to stimulate the search for substitutes.”^46 At the same time,
arguing that environmental protection should not open the door to
unfair competition, the right demands that developing countries
adopt stricter environmental policies.^47 After all, conservatives
point out, countries like China and India are among the biggest
polluters in the world, whereas the governments and enterprises of
rich countries are the main contributors to the development of clean
technologies.
In international as well as in national political debates, conserva-
tives maintain that, even though it may be justified, the protection of
the environment should not jeopardize economic growth. Just before
the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, former American president George
H. Bush is reported to have said that “our life-style is not open to
negotiation.”^48 Some ten years later, his son George W. Bush surmised
that the application of the Kyoto Protocol, a multilateral treaty aimed
at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, would “wreck” the American
(^45) “Scientists, Governments Clash as Report Reveals Dangers of Climate
Change,”USA Today, April 6, 2007 (www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/
46 globalwarming/2007-04-06-global- warming-report_N.htm).
47 Chasek, Downie, and Welsh Brown,Global Environmental Politics, p. 27.
Aaron M. McCright and Riley E. Dunlap, “Defeating Kyoto: The Conservative
Movement’s Impact on U.S. Climate Change Policy,”Social Problems, vol. 50,
no. 3, August 2003, 348–73, p. 349.
(^48) Quoted in Robert W. Cox (with Michael G. Schechter),The Political Economy
of a Plural World: Critical Reflections on Power, Morals and Civilization,
London, Routledge, 2002, p. 88.
212 Left and Right in Global Politics