Paving the way or crowding out The impact of the

Authors: Jessica E Boscarino

Publish Date: 2015/04/08

Volume: 5, Issue: 2, Pages: 99-110

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Abstract

Climate change has emerged as a salient issue within the USA In response many environmental organizations have pushed climate change to the top of their agendas As a consequence critics have charged that environmentalists have decreased attention to—or abandoned altogether—traditional issues such as biodiversity This research provides empirical data to evaluate such claims I assess the degree to which climate change has come to dominate US environmental group agendas using data from organizational websites financial statements and interviews I find that climate change has moved to the top of group agendas emerging as a key priority and commanding a significant percentage of organizational funding However rather than being associated with the neglect of other issues analysis shows that groups tend to work on a greater number of issues after they prioritize climate change Moreover the nature of environmental campaigns has evolved as attention to climate change has increased

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