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Beyond bumper sticker environmentalism
Beyond bumper sticker environmentalism
Jun 30, 2026 4:36 PM

In an Earth Day column last week that was skeptical about the gospel of global warming consensus, Glenn Shaw, a professor of physics at the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, expressed hoped that the climate change debate might spark a prehensive conversation about plex environmental responsibilities.

In fact the opposite seems to be happening: the activist buzz over global warming is reducing the broader concept of environmental stewardship to a litmus-test on climate change. That’s why I wrote a piece that appeared in today’s Detroit News, “U.S. must move beyond Earth Day slogans.”

In this op-ed I examine three aspects of environmental care that show prehensive nature of plex realities that belie the free and easy slogans of bumper sticker environmentalism: planting pact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs), and plug-in cars.

For more information about the sources used in this story, see these related items:

Russell Seitz, “An Inconvenient Tree,” The Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2006The Home Depot, “Eco Options”Tesla Motors

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