[myrmidon]

I completely agree. I find it generally remarkable that the whole sustainability/environmentalism cause still struggles to find conservative support, because those things are basically perfectly aligned, and preserving the environment should be a trivial sell to a conservative base (it's literally in the name).

I see significant blame with environmentalist orgs/pushes like this that are deliberately anti-conservative for little reason, not just with conservatives being hypocrites.

[aleph_minus_one]

> preserving the environment should be a trivial sell to a conservative base (it's literally in the name).

Be careful with such a statement: in the USA conservatism is defined as something different than what the Latin word origin suggests. See for example Russell Kirk's principles of conservatism:

> https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conservatism_in_t...

[zahlman]

> A faith in custom, convention, and prescription.

> A recognition that innovation must be tied to existing traditions and customs, which entails a respect for the political value of prudence.[173]

100% compatible with environmentalism, described as "preserving the environment".

Environmentalism is also compatible with Haidt's findings about US conservatives valuing "sanctity"/"purity" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_foundations_theory).

[bccdee]

Conservatives tend to gloss over what it is exactly that they want to conserve. The environment? No. Norms? Sometimes, but not always. Before the 19th century, abortion was relatively uncontroversial; anti-abortion rhetoric was a "conservative innovation."

What they always defend is social hierarchies. Anti-abortion rhetoric may break from the status quo, but it does so in defence of preserving women's role in society as obligate mothers. Starting wars in the Middle East isn't staid or responsible, but the performance of these wars situates America at the top of a symbolic hierarchy of global power.

If you dig into the fathers of modern conservative thought (people like Edmund Burke), one thing they were very concerned about was the preservation of aristocratic hierarchy beyond the end of monarchism. How can a liberal society maintain a class distinction between the rulers and the ruled? These are the intellectual roots of meritocracy: Let the free market pick winners without any interference by egalitarian meddlers, and the upper class will naturally select itself.

From this standpoint, the conservative disinterest in sustainability becomes obvious. The machines that are destroying the environment are owned by wealthy people whose fortunes may be destabilized by switching to a newer, more sustainable technologies. The conservative movement exists to protect the social status of the wealthy; therefore, concern for the environment is a liability.

[HerbManic]

I heard it said once, "Nowadays the right lives in denial, the left lives in delusion".

It is very reductionist but it does sort of hit on althe flavour of how these things go.