Kevin D. Williamson Joins CEI to Lead Project Examining the Modern Environmental Movement

Kevin D. Williamson, renowned author and the roving correspondent for National Review, will join the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) in a visiting capacity to head a project examining the modern environmental movement, its culture, and advocacy. 

Williamson is the author of “Big White Ghetto: Dead Broke, Stone-Cold Stupid, and High on Rage in the Dank Wooly Wilds of the ‘Real America’” and “The Smallest Minority: Independent Thinking in the Age of Mob Politics.” He began his career in journalism at the Bombay, India-based Indian Express Newspaper Group and worked in the newspaper business in Texas, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. In addition to National Review, his work has appeared in the New York Post, Commentary, and other national publications.

Real Clear Markets Editor John Tamny says Williamson “has a way with words” that he combines “with remarkable reporting skills.” 

“CEI is thrilled to have a writer as accomplished and observant as Kevin add his considerable talents to our team,” said President and CEO Kent Lassman. “There is no replacement for fact-based reporting, and the American people and their leaders deserve an unvarnished look at the modern environmental movement and how it actually works. With President Biden promising to put climate change at the center of his administration’s agenda, it is time for policymakers and the public to learn more about the people and institutions promoting radical ideas.”

“One of the interesting—and troubling—things about the environmental movement is how completely policy disputes have been displaced by the culture-war model of politics,” Williamson says. “When there’s a policy debate, there is room for compromise and consensus-building. When the same issue is presented as an apocalyptic confrontation between good and evil, there isn’t any room for cooperation. And those of us who are interested in human flourishing with both robust economic development and a healthy environment are left with very little in the way of attractive alliances and practical policy options.”