I think it might be helpful to be specific about who is making this claim. Is it a major environmental organization like the Sierra Club? A highly regarded university research group that studies sustainability? An environmental think tank? Or some random crank on the street?

There are lots of crazy or ignorant people in the world who say crazy or ignorant stuff. It doesn't necessarily make sense to ascribe every self-described environmentalist's claims to all environmentalists. This seems like the real world version of nut-picking.