What do environmentalists think about former ally RFK Jr.

Dear EarthTalk: How do environmentalists feel about RFK Jr.’s oversight of health in the next Trump administration, given his background as an environmental activist lawyer?

When Time named Robert F. Kennedy Jr. one of its early 2000s “Heroes for the Planet,” the outspoken lawyer was a clear choice for the honor, having gained fame during his fight to protect New York City’s water supply. He advocated for “the environment [as] the most important, the most fundamental, civil-rights issue,” according to a 2004 interview. Many of Kennedy’s views can be summarized in the June 18, 2007, issue of Rolling Stone in which he demanded investment into renewable energy sources, blamed America for its “reckless consumption of oil and coal,” and emphasized the need to slow global warming.

Almost twenty years later, as RFK Jr. takes the reins as America’s top health official, the same magazine has quoted former friends, colleagues, and family members calling the former ‘hero’ a “conspiracist” with “dangerous views.” The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a leading environmental non-profit, used the term “one-man misinformation superspreader” to describe its former Senior Attorney, a statement corroborated by former allies who have stated that Kennedy is not an environmentalist, but a “science denier” and a “conspiracy theorist.”

Even before his endorsement of President Trump, who has famously called climate change a ‘hoax’, environmentalists had begun to turn against Kennedy. Liz Barratt-Brown, a senior adviser for NRDC and Kennedy’s former coworker, told the New York Times that he had begun drifting away from the environmental movement in the early 2000s when he started spreading unproven theories regarding vaccinations, such as linking vaccines to autism without evidence.

Around the same time that RFK Jr. became invested in the anti-vaccine movement, he opposed the construction of the Cape Wind Project, an offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound that would have provided roughly 75 percent of the electricity used by Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Martha’s Vineyard. Kennedy’s position began as an instance of NIMBYism, or the “not in my backyard” mentality, as he owned a home nearby and had cited unsightly aesthetics as a partial reason for his dissent, and has grown in recent years to staunchly oppose all offshore wind.

While offshore wind farms have several disadvantages, they are also a promising source of clean energy; thus, Kennedy’s opposition sparked disdain from climate activists like Bill McKibben who claim “he could have used his name and platform” to promote renewable energy. Furthermore, many of Kennedy’s reasons for opposition have been proven repeatedly to be rumors. For example, in January 2023, Kennedy adamantly promoted the idea that offshore wind is killing whales despite the claim having been proven unfounded by a variety of organizations including by the Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Once a “hero for the planet,” many environmentalists now echo Dan Reicher, a former peer and colleague of RFK Jr. and a Stanford University senior energy researcher: “Stay very far away from today’s RFK Jr. if you’re interested in environmental protection.” RFK Jr. has told the Washington Post that he believes he can help sway President Trump’s environmental policies. Environmentalists are “deeply skeptical,” as less than one month into office Trump has withdrawn the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accords and dismantled a series of environmental policies and funding. It remains to be seen whether the Secretary of Health is successful in turning the tides of the environmental movement back in his favor.

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