Agreed. There's a great deal of truth in what you say.
HOWEVER, it has grown into that because conservatives didn't take the issue that is rightfully ours. WE should be the ones protecting the environment. Not through promoting excessive regulations and land grabs, but by promoting wise use and good stewardship.
It's a leftist issue because WE let them have it.
We have more in common than it first appeared. I'm not anti environment in any way, but I'm not willing to sacrifice capitalism. I remember a report that came out years ago stating that the socialist USSR had the worst environment of any country on Earth