Conservative Environmentalism? It’s Not An Oxymoron.

A departure from the typical liberal environmentalist trope, conservative dairy farmer Rich Appel works hard to keep his farm’s environmental impact in check while also keeping business booming.

Story by Olivia Hobson | Photos by Sydney Beckett

December 11, 2020

Rich Appel, a man of strong Christian faith, knows that someday he is going to answer for what he does in his life.

He stands in a long aisle running down the middle of the barn. The scent of manure is inescapable. The lack of walls and a high ceiling lets the cool fall air in but keeps the rain out, sheltering Appel and the main occupants: dairy cows, and lots of them.

On the right, brown Jersey cows moo and blink their long lashes. On the left, black and white Holstein cows nudge closer to the food trough. A cacophony of moos and snorts fills the barn.

Appel knows what he does on this piece of property will affect not only his life but the lives of future generations. He doesn’t take that lightly.

“We’re all hoping our kids will take the farm over,” Appel said. “We’re trying to build something that will be economically sustainable for the next generation.”

In the United States, where political values are often understood as litmus tests for environmental perspectives, Appel demonstrates that it’s not always as black and white as his cows. There are conservatives who care about the environment. But their approach is different from the traditional environmental movement.

Appel, who considers himself a conservative, said he has worked hard to reduce his farm’s environmental impact.

Manure management on a dairy farm is the biggest environmental concern, Appel said. Nutrients in manure, like phosphorus and nitrogen, are great fertilizers, but applying too much to the fields can lead to disastrous water quality consequences.

Deeper understandings of soil health, cow nutrition and general scientific practices on his farm leads to better outcomes for his business. Knowing that, Appel said he goes beyond the requirements outlined in his manure management plans.

For a farm of his size, the regulations require four to five months of on-site manure storage capacity — Appel has invested in six to seven months of storage because it’s better for his business. Spreading nutrients in October, when the rain will wash those nutrients out into nearby water sources, doesn’t make sense environmentally or economically, he said. The three manure capture ponds on his farm run at about $60,000 each, but Appel thinks it’s worth the investment.

In addition, the state requires fall nitrate tests after the crops have been harvested, to ensure the nutrients scattered in the spring were completely absorbed, Appel said. Running extra tests for pH and phosphorus are unregulated and add extra costs, but allow for a better understanding of soil health. To be a good crop farmer, testing more than the bare minimum of what’s regulated is necessary, Appel said.

“It’s the stewardship principle,” Appel said. “You can’t abuse your land and then expect your land to return a profit to you.”

A solid business investment. The stewardship principle. His faith and his family’s future. These are all values that influence Appel’s environmentalism .

The values that inform how liberals think about the environment are drastically different from the values that inform conservatives, said Christopher Wolsko, associate professor of psychology at Oregon State University. In political liberal and conservative focus groups, he found that environmental messaging was far more effective if the values in the message matched those of the participant.

It’s a seemingly simple insight: use the values that inform voters to improve their relationship to the message. However, the “environmental left” has not done a great job, said Wolsko.

“The left has bludgeoned people on the political right with the same messaging over environmental issues,” Wolsko said. “The language around that messaging really boils down to, ‘Why can’t you just think like a liberal?’”

According to his study, liberal participants were more affected by messages about caring and compassion for one another, reducing harm to nature and striving for fairness and justice. Conservative participants, on the other hand, responded strongly to talk centered on loyalty to authority, patriotism and preserving the purity of nature.

“It’s not that conservatives are anti-environmental,” Wolsko said. “They just don’t want to be told to be liberal.”

However, the data for partisan divides about the environment and climate change from the Pew Research Center shows large gaps when it comes to priorities and concerns between liberal and conservative voters.

In a January 2020 study, the center found that 85% of Democratic voters think the environment should be a top priority for the Trump administration, compared to 39% of Republican voters, a 46 point gap. When it comes to climate change, the gap widens to 57 points.

But there’s nuance to the numbers. A 2019 Pew study found that 78% of younger Republicans support finding alternative energy solutions, 25% more than baby boomer Republicans. Similarly, more younger Republicans thought the U.S. government was not doing enough to address climate change.

The American Conservation Coalition (ACC), a nonprofit founded in 2017, is working with those younger voters to encourage a conservative youth environmental movement.

The coalition promotes climate change solutions that revolve around market-based environmental policy, said Karly Matthews, the communications director for the organization. Competitive markets lead to energy and technology innovations that contribute to a healthy environment and economic prosperity, Matthews said.

“[Older conservatives] have this thought in the back of their minds that there’s this binary choice: do we want to continue creating jobs and helping the economy, or do we want to save the planet, and I think we can do both,” Matthews said. “There is an economically prosperous future with climate action.”

When it comes to environmental solutions, the coalition is promoting private sector innovation, according to Matthews . The group sees solutions as a balance of government regulation incentivizing private sector research and development, Matthews said.

Members of the ACC are frustrated with the Republican Party’s failure to take more action on climate change. It’s wrong, not only from a political perspective, Matthews said, but also from a moral perspective, when the country is facing a rapidly growing problem that needs solutions.

But some insist there are arguments for being wary of market-based solutions in a capitalist economy.

Paula Swedeen is the policy director at the nonprofit Conservation Northwest, a Pacific Northwest environmental group. Working across party lines to find solutions is an important feature of her work, Swedeen said. But she worries the need for profit can override concern for environmental protection.

“You cannot rely on the goodwill of individual actors in a system like we have,” Swedeen said. “That’s why we need regulations.”

Waste management regulation was important and necessary for the dairy community, Appel said. But other regulations come with a heavy economic burden on farms already struggling to make a profit, according to Appel.

On the national scale, Appel believes a wave of further environmental regulations will mean more costs for farmers.

“If you get a number of additional costs it will be much harder on the small farms than on the big farms,” Appel said.

Appel voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 election, but he didn’t lose much sleep over the election, he said. No matter what happened, he would keep farming. Locally, he will work with whoever is elected, and hopes that state lawmakers from Whatcom County remember the dairy farmers.

While President Trump remains skeptical of the science supporting climate change, there are Republicans, like Appel, that disagree.

“It doesn’t really matter whether you’re liberal or conservative. It’s a common problem and it’s going to need to be solved,” he said.

Jessie Martin, executive director for the nonprofit Carbon Washington believes that to achieve bipartisan support, legislation has to consider everyone involved. That is a challenge given the diversity of Washington State, Martin said.

Martin considers a lot of different communities when it comes to the impacts of environmental and climate policy. Businesses, rural communities, communities moving away from fossil fuels and Black and Brown communities disproportionately impacted by climate change all need to be considered, Martin said.

“Understanding the differences in people’s experiences is really key in order to design policy that is fair and equitable,” Martin said. “I see that as one of our major challenges.”

To create policy that works for everyone, Martin tries to find shared values that can lead to productive conversations.

“The work always starts with listening,” said Martin.

Back on Appel Family Dairy, Appel opens the door to a warmer, more sheltered area of the barn. Inside, three newborn calves let out loud, high-pitched moos. Their legs are shaky, but their confidence grows by the minute.

Appel’s dad, an immigrant from Holland, took the farm over in 1967. Appel was raised on the farm and inherited it in his 20s. He hopes to continue the family farming tradition.

When it comes to his surrounding environment, Appel is trying his best to make sure his land is environmentally and economically sustainable in the future. But he has a farm to run, a family to feed and a legacy to take care of. Regulations that haven’t considered the real-life workings of a small dairy farm like his might challenge the living he has created, Appel said.

“Farm communities and [agricultural] people are not anti-environmental,” Appel said. “It’s just that you either want more government involvement in your life or less, and farmers are always gonna choose less.”

Olivia Hobson is a third year environmental journalism student exploring how environmental issues intersect with social change while taking a closer look at journalism’s role in inspiring sustainable action.