Those Who Bring From the Earth: Anti- Environmentalism and the Trope of the White Male Worker

Abstract

The 2016 Republican Party platform is unabashed in its rejection of environmental principles and its embrace of extractive labor. Its ‘Natural Resources’ section reads: ‘[w]e are the party of America's growers, producers, farmers, ranchers, foresters, miners, commercial fishermen, and all those who bring from the earth the crops, minerals, energy, and the bounties of our seas.’ What is interesting about this statement is its selective view of productive labor. Not all who bring from the earth are equally valued within the American conservative worldview. What accounts for the outsized role of white male workers in the discourses of American conservatives?

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Citation

John Hultgren (2018): Those Who Bring From the Earth: Anti- Environmentalism and the Trope of the White Male Worker, Ethics, Policy & Environment, DOI: 10.1080/21550085.2018.1447902

DOI