Postrel on ‘Green Left’

Re “Surprise! The Green Left Is Nativist,” Column Right, May 5:

For most of us the vote by the membership of the Sierra Club against a resolution restricting immigration means that the rank and file of the environmental movement are not nativist isolationists, that in fact they reject that stance. Yet Virginia Postrel neatly ignores the majority rejection of that view, to accuse the environmental movement of nativism, because there is indeed some isolationist sentiment in the writings of certain environmentalists.

In a movement as broad as this one there’s bound to be a wide range of opinions on certain matters. For example, Greenpeace and the Sierra Club adamantly opposed ratification of NAFTA, while the Nature Conservancy and the Audubon Society both supported it.

When the chips were down, the Sierra Club vote went against an isolationist position--which leads Postrel to accuse the movement of isolationism and bigotry. It would seem that the editor of Reason has difficulty with logic.

TIM CALLAHAN

Pasadena

* Ecology is the science of the dynamic interactions between living organisms and their environments. Evolution, which provides a primary basis for ecology, can scarcely be called static. Postrel’s diatribe against the environmentalist movement might have made some sense had she indicated the new sources of water, food, housing, schools, transportation, health care and personal space needed to accommodate an ever-increasing population, whether native-born or immigrant.

Individual choice and freedom certainly are incompatible with an ever more crowded world. Look at the politico-economic status quo for the real “stasists.”

KENYON B. DE GREENE

Woodland Hills