A months-old white paper questioning the future of the environmental movement has gained a second life, courtesy of the Internet, and is drawing heated responses from environmental organizations and foundations that support their work, the New York Times reports.

First published last fall, The Death of Environmentalism asserts that the environmental movement's senior leadership was blinded by its early successes and has become "just another special interest." Written by Michael Shellenberger, 33, a pollster at opinion research company Evans/McDonough, and Ted Nordhaus, 38, a strategist and executive director of the Breakthrough Institute, the paper, which was underwritten by the New York City-based Nathan Cummings Foundation, is based on interviews with twenty-five environmental leaders and is directed at supporters of organized environmental activity.

"We have become convinced," Shellenberger and Nordhaus write, "that modern environmentalism, with all of its unexamined assumptions, outdated concepts, and exhausted strategies, must die so that something new can live."

"These guys laid out some fascinating data," said John Passacantando, executive director of D.C.-based Greenpeace USA and the only national environmental leader to travel to Vermont to hear the two speak at a recent conference. "But they put it in this over-the-top language and did it in this in-your-face-way."

Others point out that the movement was changing before Shellenberger and Nordhaus arrived on the scene. "I think what we are looking at is the rebirth of environmentalism, examining constituencies, messages, and focus, and going beyond what we've been comfortable with," said Deb Callahan, president of the D.C.-based League of Conservation Voters. But the job of repositioning the movement has proved to be difficult, Callahan added, in part because she and her colleagues are facing "the most hostile federal government we've seen in the history of the environmental movement."

Still, polls consistently show environmental groups with approval ratings of 70 percent to 80 percent, while membership levels at organizations like the Sierra Club have been rising. "The environmental movement is probably the strongest social movement we have in this country," said Joshua Reichert, director of the environment division of the Philadelphia-based Pew Charitable Trusts, a major source of financing for environmental causes. "It reflects the values and aspirations of a huge majority of the country."

To read or download the full-text version of The Death of Environmentalism (37 pages, PDF), visit: http://thebreakthrough.org/images/Death_of_Environmentalism.pdf.

To participate in an online discussion of the issue, visit: http://grist.org.