|
An Environmentalist Professor
by Glenn Woiceshyn
Dear Peter,
Re: "Environmental Panel"--Morningside [a CBC radio show with host Peter
Gzowski]--Apr/14/97
Your panel discussion on the "environment" was incredibly one-sided and
evasive. The main reason why the environment is no longer on the list of priorities
for Canadians is that environmentalists have thoroughly discredited themselves. In
the name of science they have engaged in scare-monger tactics reminiscent of fanatical
doomsday cults. While claiming to be concerned about our welfare, they zealously
pursued policies that harmed the economy. More people now realize that the real goal
of environmentalism is political power--the power to control our lives in every way
possible.
According to environmentalism, the preservation of nature for its own sake is the
highest virtue; nature has value in itself -- apart from any value to people. Anything
that disturbs an ecosystem -- such as the production of food, lumber, electricity,
houses, cars, medicine, etc., i.e., things beneficial to humans--is bad for nature.
Filling in a malaria-infested swamp to grow food or build a house is bad for nature,
and should be stopped--regardless of the harm to people. Nature is God--and human
lives must be sacrificed to nature.
Your three panelists, all environmentalists, completely evaded the human benefits
of technology and industrialization -- benefits that become blatantly obvious when
comparing our health, our longevity, our enjoyment of life -- to that experienced
prior to the Industrial Revolution. Or, to that experienced today in the Third World
-- where life still is, in the words of Thomas Hobbes, "nasty, brutish and short"
-- where science, technology and industrialization are virtually nonexistent -- where
people live "environmentally-friendly" lives. Human misery and poverty
are good for the environment.
The most outrageous statement was made by Professor Hertzeman (sp?). He claimed that,
as every day passes, we know less and less about the environment. This confession
of rising ignorance somehow entitled him to then predict that -- unless we embrace
environmentalism -- millions of people will soon die from unknown environmental disasters.
This is the standard formula of a suicide cult leader: "Ditch your mind and
accept my doomsday predictions on blind faith." He expects us to ignore and
reject the obvious benefits of an industrial society and blindly accept his arbitrary
doomsday predictions. And this comes from a university professor -- not a religious
mystic from the Dark Ages or the Heaven's Gate suicide cult. Is this what our so-called
"institutions of higher learning" are perpetrating with the tax dollars
they extort from us?
A recent New York Times article (Jan. 8, 1997) reported that roughly two million
people died in 1996 of malaria worldwide. The article mentioned that, decades ago,
the insecticide DDT "led to a sharp reduction of mosquitos and of the disease.
But the use of DDT and similar chemicals was sharply curtailed because of their dreadful
environmental effects," resulting in an "upswing" ofmalaria. It was
environmentalists who -- despite the many warnings of human tragedy -- exaggerated
the dangers of DDT and pressured politicians to block DDT spraying.
So it seems that Professor Hertzeman has it completely backwards. He predicted millions
of deaths unless we embrace environmentalism. However, millions of people have already
died, horribly and needlessly, of malaria -- thanks to his beloved environmentalism.
When is the media going to start being objective about this dishonest and destructive
movement?
Sincerely,
Glenn Woiceshyn
© 1997 Glenn Woiceshyn. All rights reserved.
This article can be found on-line at at http://www.capitalism.org/glennw. |
|
