The future: of on environmentalism help wanted: seeking non-traditional partners.

• Author: Carlis, Jay

THE ENVIRONMENT WAS NOT EVEN a choice. When exit pollsters asked voters what issue most influenced their votes in November's presidential election, the environment was not even an option.

It is hard to imagine anything more important than the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, but there was little focus on the environment during the 2004 election.

The U.S. environmental movement had widespread support in the 1970s when it pushed through monumental legislation like the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. Everyone could relate to the hazards of air and water pollution. Children battling asthma; lakes, rivers and harbors too polluted to swim in and enjoy; these dangers hit close to home and mobilized support for critical protections.

As we face the 21st century, these challenges are still with us, and some new ones--climate change foremost among them--have emerged. But climate change is an elusive foe. Predictions of sea level rise, species extinction and massive human displacement are set decades in the future. The gradual nature of climate change leaves most people with little sense of urgency.

In combating global warming, the environmental movement is searching for new ways to rally public support. In the process, leaders are reaching out across political and ideological boundaries to find new allies in unexpected places.

DESPITE THE INTIMATE, SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP between the quality of our lives and planetary health, environmentalists have long struggled to project a truly unifying vision. Now with arctic ice rapidly melting, ongoing violence in the Middle East and unstable energy prices, the broad implications of our fossil fuel reliance are becoming more widely recognized. Add millions of lost manufacturing jobs in the U.S. to the equation and it becomes clear that it is time for a massive rethinking of America's energy future.

Our current reliance on fossil fuels to generate electricity and power our cars is causing a climate crisis. The ten warmest years on record have been registered since 1990, with 2004 the fourth-hottest, according to the World Meteorological Organization. "Global warming is not some distant hypothetical problem," says CLF President Phil Warburg. "If we do not act now, rising sea levels will flood tens of millions of people around the world out of their homes."

America's addiction to fossil fuels has also left us dependent on repressive and unstable Middle Eastern regimes. Currently, oil supplies more than 40% of our total energy demands and more than 99% of the fuel for our cars and trucks. In 2003, more than 20% of that oil came from nations in the Persian Gulf. By 2020, 83% of global oil...