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Schwarzenegger's account of the origins of his environmental bent includes two through-lines of his biography: an uplifting immigrant experience and a determination to take on the bad guys. He recalls being disgusted by the smog and garbage he found at Venice Beach when he arrived in the late 1960s: "I thought, 'I'm going to fight those things,'" he told Newsweek. As an actor, Schwarzenegger promoted recycling and energy efficiency on his movie sets. But, in the 2003 recall election, he mainly hoped to prevent conservatives from defecting to his right-wing opponent; as a result, he emphasized economic themes, particularly his opposition to the despised car tax.
Nor did Schwarzenegger's first years in office provide environmentalists much to be excited about. Democrats criticized the governor for initially failing to defend a Clinton-era ban on road-building in national forests and complained that his proposed reorganization of state government would have eviscerated the powerful Air Resources Board (ARB), which they credit with dramatically improving the state's air quality. And, when Schwarzenegger decided to devote most of 2005 to a series of ballot initiatives that would have curbed unions and imposed strict spending caps, he abandoned the environment as he sought support and money from conservatives and business interests. "There were times in 2005 when we got very, very worried," says Bill Magavern, director of the Sierra Club's California affiliate.
