C. Heartfield,
You're right in saying that greens overstate their case. So what? So does industry. And simply because it's overstated by some does not mean there has not been environmental degradation. If you don't believe me, have a glass of water straight from Thames. Or, catch a big eel from the Thames and feed it to your kids (I'd suggest you have its fat and flesh analyzed first). Where are the salmon that used to swim up the Thames in silver hordes? Where are the marine mammals that used to warm themselves in the British sun in their tens of thousands?
That same kind of environmental degradation is happening here in the Pacific Northwest. The salmon that sustained a huge fishery only decades ago are now so rare they are almost extinct. Orcas that once populated the Sound are almost gone and the individuals in the few remaining pods are filled with PCB's. The salmon fishery in Alaska is declining steadily. The entire halibut season has been reduced to a single day. King crabs that were once the gold of the Northern Pacific are now second to pollock in economic importance and the catches dwindle on a smooth curve. British Columbia is scabbed with giant clearcuts and silt is choking the once-pristine streams. The good people of Libby, Montana (who fought the environmentalists so W. R. Grace could open a mine) are covered with a nice, even dusting of asbestos that is sickening them and flowing into the Kootenai River. All these environmental calamities were soberly and calmly predicted and the predictions ignored. Do you imagine that working people received the full value from these environmental sacrifices?
Don't go too far with the green-baiting just because you're clever and it's fun. The greens may be a bit silly but they're not exactly union-busting corporate cutthroats either, now are they?