Opinion: Acknowledge rural Americans' independent streak to get them more interested in renewable energy

Rural Americans often reject Democratic environmental policy, but it's not because they hate the earth, journalist and longtime rural resident Michelle Nijhuis writes for Grist. Environmentalists and climate-change activists would do well to respect rural residents' independent streak and discard lazy rural stereotypes from nationwide news media, she writes.

It's partly a messaging and perception issue. They often associate "environmentalism" and "climate change" with intrusive, big-government policies driven by non-rural people. "Rural Americans value the protection of their air, water, and soil as much — or even more — than their urban counterparts, but boy, do they use different words for it," Nijhuis writes. "While progressive urban activists might consider 'conservation' and 'environmental' to be more or less interchangeable, for instance, many rural people may cautiously accept the former but reject the latter, assuming that those who call themselves conservationists will be less confrontational and friendlier to hunting, fishing, and farming. (That said, plenty of people worldwide are wary of the term 'conservation,' too, given the movement’s history of violating the land claims of Indigenous and other rural people.)"

Rural Americans value clean water, wildlife preservation and the preservation of natural spaces as much as city-dwellers, but tend to dislike government regulations because they can be unfairly burdensome. Climate-change activists might sway more rural residents by talking about the need to protect against and adapt to floods, fires and heatwaves without discussing their root causes. "Like almost all urban-rural misunderstandings, these and other language barriers result from both real grievances and deliberately inflated resentments. But by avoiding hyper-polarized words and phrases, climate activists can start a conversation that would otherwise be shut down," Nijhuis writes. 

"Bridging the rural-urban divide is rarely easy. Rural resentment of city dwellers is pervasive and sometimes poisonous. Rural places can be hard to get to, and can take years to get to know. At the same time, rural places are often heartbreakingly gorgeous and surprisingly diverse, and they’re almost guaranteed to upend whatever expectations you might bring to them," Nijhuis writes. "By taking the time to understand rural issues, and by seeking climate solutions that restore livelihoods as well as landscapes, the climate movement can broaden its reach and increase its power. Which looks more and more like a matter of survival, no matter where you happen to live."