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Tolkien loved trees and nature and hated modern machinery. In the latter part of his life he never rode in a car (he converted his garage into a study).

This is quite an interesting topic. While classical conservatives celebrated nature and deprecated modernity, contemporary conservatism is often characterized by a "if it's green, pave it" mentality. As a rural person myself I sometimes feel out of place in the attacks on "bird watchers" and "butterfly chasers" in some contemporary conservative literature. Isn't the exaltation of man humanism? And wouldn't the "re-wilding" of the land or the extinction of humanity be suicidal for the left?

Interestingly, for all its current association with environmentalism, Marxism was originally unapologetically industrialist. It was Communism that industrialized Russia, which meant Communism was often associated by Russians with modern technology just as American leftists associate it with capitalism and seem to see Marx as some sort of bucolic figure.

I've noticed that Freepers sometimes get carried away by their hatred of left-wing environmentalists. There's nothing wrong with sensible environmentalism. It's the kooks and whackos who have given it a bad name. Conservatives need to take back the environmental movement, not kill it, or in the long run they will badly damage themselves. It won't endear conservatism to decent people if they are identified with damaging the environment and destroying nature--which is exactly what the leftists accuse them of doing. That doesn't mean you have to support the Kyoto treaty, but you should support reasonable and cost-effective environmental regulations.

Same with animal rights advocates. Freepers rightly make fun of them. But animals deserve to be well treated, and I'm sure most Freepers, who all seem to own dogs or cats, would agree with that. These days the SPCA is loony, but we still need some such organization. We just need to straighten it out.