Earth Day Musings

Today is Earth Day, when we are supposed to remember that we only have one Earth, that the Earth doesn’t belong to us, we belong to the Earth, that we can’t use up all the natural resources, and that global warming is bad. There may be a few environmentalist clichés I missed, but those pretty much sum up the effort. Earth Day advocates usually use Earth Day as an excuse to advance their agenda. In practice, that agenda takes on the qualities of a secular religion.

A religion without any real salvation, or even any point. Radical environmental leaders seem to think that being green is just too easy, hence an array of extra challenges for the believers. Nuclear power is anathema to believers, even though the widespread use of nuclear power would solve the greenhouse gas problem. Nuclear energy is clean and plentiful, and many nations, such as France, rely on it almost exclusively. Widespread nuclear power would be a boon the environment—and radical conservationists oppose.

True, nuclear power does result in nuclear waste, but nuclear waste has been responsible for very, very few deaths. Coal mining is dangerous and environmentally harmful, and oil is expensive and running out. Nuclear power is neither, but Greens oppose it anyway.

Another ridiculous challenge thrown up by radical environmentalists is the idea that helping the earth must be inconvenient and expensive. Some of their conservation ideas actually have some merit—recycling is inconvenient (and I personally don’t recycle), but is a good idea, and solar power probably saves money in some areas.

But environmentalists stress the inconvenient parts of environmentalism. For example, on wikihow.com’s guide to reducing global warming, one of the steps recommending is using a push mower (the kind they used in the fifties) instead of a power mower. This saves 80 pounds of carbon dioxide. That amount is totally insignificant. But it lets people feel good about themselves, and gain environmentalist grace. The actual effect on the environment is ignored.

Another sign of the global warming movement’s cultishness and unseriousness is its adoption of carbon credits. Carbon credits are used when a rich yet environmentally friendly activist feels guilty about his use of natural resources—but not that guilty. So he pays a sum of money that permits him to indulge himself and use as much carbon dioxide as he sees fit. That money goes, in many cases, straight into the coffers of Al Gore, who owns one of the largest carbon credit companies.

Environmentalists have a solid core philosophy—care for the Earth. Unfortunately, they have sullied it by embracing an impractical, cultish belief system. Their cause is now based on trendy assumptions of what it good for the earth, instead of practical, real-world solutions.