Can I be an environmentalist without turning into a sanctimonious twit?

I love the environment. I have been known to both talk to and hug trees. I have looked at the data, read analyses, and done heavy thinking about where the world is headed. I understand - at least deep enough that I can say some things with confidence - global warming and climate change, peak oil, the dangers of drilling natural gas, the ramifications of a factory food system, the as yet unfulfilled but amazing promises of alternative energy sources, the impact of our chemical society on our bodies. But...

Man, the environmentalist movement is filled with self-righteous, sanctimonious twits. I'm talking zealots of the first degree, who believe anything that they read that supports their world view without doing any further research.

Really, they aren't that much different than many Fox News viewers.

For instance, I have been reading about a great debate that is splitting the environmental movement. Can you be a good environmentalist and still eat meat? While many think that you can, there is a very vocal minority that disagree.

Never mind that that vocal minority mostly chose not to eat meat for their own moral reasons (and like good zealots they want to force their morals on you). Never mind that their argument that land that is used to raise animals would be better used to raise crops doesn't apply in many places that cannot be usefully converted to human-edible crop production. Never mind that a true closed system of food production includes animals for many reasons, including aeration of the soil and manure production, much less the high-quality protein production that humans are evolved to eat. Addendum: most importantly, never mind that meat-eaters actually have a smaller carbon footprint.

Of course, then there's the very obnoxious animal rights movement (as opposed to the animal welfare movement, that actually recognises that a cow is a cow and a pig is a pig and neither is a human being). Yes, this really is beyond the scope of what I'm writing about, but it is an area that overlaps a great deal with the environment movement and is filled with self-satisfied zealots.

So, I believe in protecting the environment, because we as humans cannot survive without it. I also believe that pollution, etc, is infringing on our individual rights -- I have a right to breathe air that hasn't been fouled, drink water that isn't swimming with pharmaceuticals, eat food that is free from horrible substances that cause cancer, birth defects, and endocrine disruption. I should not have any of this forced upon me.

But how can I tell people about all these things, that are very important to all of our lives, without coming across like the sanctimonious twits above? I understand that people aren't making enough money right now to shop at the places that I'd prefer. I understand that people don't have time to cook a homemade meal of organic food every night. So how can I help others understand whats at stake, and help the world be a better place, without forcing what I believe on them?

Maybe if I keep asking myself, always, "Am I being a tin-plated dictator with delusions of godhood? Am telling other people that they MUST believe something, when I should just be encouraging them to investigate the matter and make up their own minds?" Maybe that'll help me from being such a delusional, holier-than-thou airhead.

Then again, I'm right. ;)