The Philly Inquirerer delves into the changing demographics within the environmental movement. Apparently, you don’t have to be a hippie anymore to be a greenie.

“You don’t have to be a crunchy granola person anymore. Environmentalists are people who think about their kids’ futures.”

Wow. So that narrows it down to just about…well everyone. The article profiles several Philadephia individuals who have dedicated careers to different aspects of environmentalism. No longer are hippies the only ones starting up urban gardens, community recycling programs and composting initiatives. Now we’ve got folks in suits setting up programs like RecycleBank. The green community is going mainstream.

So what has caused this new influx of professionals into the environmental movement? Dennis Hayes, who left Harvard Law to start Earth Day, says that environmental issues have become much more complicated and require “more sophisticated advocates” today. Interesting take, but I find it a rather inadequate explanation for this resurgence within the environmental community.

It doesn’t explain why so many of the world’s grassroots environmental efforts are being run by volunteers who have a high school or college diploma rather than an advanced professional degree. While groups like NRDC and EarthJustice have provided a place for the “environmental elite” by no means have they bumped out the hardworking, on-the-ground organizing corps of local activists around the world. Environmental issues have always been complicated but thousands of local intiatives are powered by local people who care more about their backyard than whether or not they’re qualified to start a program that would clean up the water or air in their community.

The truth behind the change in the look of environmental activists is about green values becoming part of the mainstream. Its a realization among the today’s citizens that environmentalism is not a fringe effort or ideal but something that everyone can and should be involved in.

Being an environmentalist, Hayes believes, “doesn’t necessarily mean you work for the Sierra Club. It means you are leading your life as a responsible human being.”

If living green values in your life is that easy than we’re all environmentalists. Or are we?

The article disturbingly applies a rather lame litmus test to its profiles: did their family recycle or not while growing up. While an obvious characteristic of someone who is an “environmentalist,” its hardly worth using as a criterium to judge where an individual falls on the green spectrum. I guess I was hoping for a bit more…and an expectation that we’ve moved beyond the idea of recycling being the silver bullet of our environmental issues.

The change in the culture of “environmentalists” has less to do with the issues, the people or the places involved and more to do with the time. People are beginning to see the effects of decades of environmental destruction. Global warming is becoming more apparent with each passing storm, heat wave, drought, flood or species collapse. Forest destruction has hit home with many communities from Canada to South America. Regulations that were once thought to be enough for cleaning up our air and water are being “re-worked,” edited and violated by a corrupt administration. People of all demographics are coming to the conclusion that something needs to be done. And if its not going to be government or private leadership, its going to be citizens.

Thankfully, there are pockets of hope. And they aren’t full of hippies in dread-locks wearing patchouli oil. There full of everyone who can do something to make things better. As a self-labeled environmentalist, I welcome the diversity. As an activist I hope we won’t relinquish our highest goals in favor of more tempered ideals.