Kiss, make up, clean dam by Keila Szpaller
The loosely organized Blue-Green movement has seen more recent collaboration, too. Home improvement chain Lowe's, says Schwan, had considered contracting with a metal company with a bad labor record. The Blue-Greens jointly signed a letter welcoming Lowe's into the community and asking the company to at least pay union wages.
"They wouldn't expect the environmental community to come out and say, 'We want you to build this union,'" says Schwan. Lowe's eventually contracted union labor from Missoula's Quality Supply, Inc.
But not everyone is excited about the emerging Blue-Green flirtation.
"The extreme lefts have marginalized themselves," says Dennis Daneke with Regional Council of Carpenters. "The extreme rights have marginalized themselves."