"Can the Environmental Movement Rally Around Hillary Clinton?"

"After airing their differences in the primary fight between Clinton and Bernie Sanders, green groups seek common ground because the alternative is Donald Trump."

"When the final balloons dropped on the political conventions, the environmental movement found itself surrounded by more than just some trash to sweep up. The surprising strength of Bernie Sanders' candidacy had clearly pulled the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, and the party platform to take a far stronger stance on climate change and environmental issues, but it also left many Sanders supporters disillusioned and the party's normally reliable coalition of green group support wrestling with a big question: What now?

The general election ahead is, by some predictions, going to be decided by a slim margin—most polls have Clinton with a slight lead over Donald Trump following the Democratic National Convention. And that could give the climate issue, which has failed to register heavily in any national election so far, the potential to make a difference in key states.

That puts the spotlight on the green groups that spent the primary season at odds and now are trying to figure out a way to work together. Because even if some of them haven't come around to an endorsement of Clinton, they grasp the ramifications of electing a full-throated climate denier to the White House."

Marianne Lavelle reports for InsideClimate News August 1, 2016.