@thomasfuchs My impression is that the European and American ecoconservation movements were born from (or at least composed of) very different ideologies. At least, if I look at Germans as an example.
My experience with ecoconservationism in the US is DEFINITELY that a lot of it comes from left wing folks in the 60s/70s.
So I think Americans naturally think it must be the same here and are unaware of the whole creepy "Esotherik" crap underlying a lot of it.