There are two people who participate in any activity: those who want to do it to get something done, and those who want to game the system -- usually by getting power, social status, or money out of their participation.
I've been a "green" for many years in that it seems to me common sense that we limit our impact as much as possible, because I love the natural world. But when I wanted to participate in a green forum, I found more of the latter than the former.
My suggestions were "off the reservation" -- not standard recycle-your-condoms, turn-off-appliances, drive-a-prius type stuff but policy suggestions for politics as a whole. This prompted a backlash.
I chronicle here how the Treehugger community reacted to someone who didn't act like one of their ingroup and had different ideas: with paranoid, defensive, angry and eventually censorsious ire.
If you wonder why greens are getting nowhere... look no further than this example.
Needless to say, I was pretty amused by this behavior. If we're an open-minded community of fearless people, what's wrong with a different but not opposing view? Enough that it had to be called an opposing view, vague references made to bad behavior (that were never directly cited or explained), and so on.
Ultimately it became: "We are an ingroup here. Don't rock the boat, or we'll doubt ourselves. If we doubt ourselves, we'lll get angry and throw poo. And look, someone gave us power so we can enjoy using it on you!"
I definitely don't want these people having any political power, and I now see why the green movement has gotten nowhere: its members are more concerned with fashion and power than effective, practical solutions.