A lot of Americans share the Sierra Club’s beliefs, but don’t like the Club very much, says Pope.

Question: What is the biggest misconception about environmentalism?

Carl Pope: Well, hmm. Since I’m an environmentalist I probably don’t know the biggest misconception. That’s actually kind of a hard one. I think there are a couple of things that I run into that are frustrating. One is the belief that somehow what’s important is the label you wear. I don’t . . . I think that the work we’ve done shows there are an awful lot of people who would say, “Well, do you think we should cut down all the trees in the National Forest?” And they’d say, “No, no, no.” You say to them, “Do you guess in the next 20 years we’re gonna get most of our electricity from the sun and the wind? Or would you like to drill more oil wells?” And they say, “No, no, no. Forget those oil wells.” You say, “How important is it that we really make space in North America for wild places, and for grizzly bears and wolves.” And they say, “_________.” And then I say, “Are you an environmentalist?” And they say, “No! I’m not an environmentalist.” And I say, “Well why not?” And they say, “Because those are people who only care about whales. They’re not like me.” So I think the biggest challenge we face as a movement is we have an enormous number of Americans who share our values and our vision, but they don’t like us very much.

Recorded on: September 27, 2007.