The Quiet Conservative April 22, 2008
Earth Day 2008
It is Earth day again. It is difficult to choose which aspect to celebrate. A possible aspect to
celebrate is the date was chosen to coincide with Vladimir Lenin’s birthday. After all, green is a
fashionable form of socialism. Being 'green' is all about instituting state control over the individual in
the name of saving the planet. It has the same goals as socialism, just a different marketing plan.
Originally they blended communist propaganda with environmentalism until communism fell out of
fashion. Pete Seegar was the keynote speaker on the original Earth Day April 22, 1970- the 100th
anniversary of Lenin’s birthday. He was an original watermelon (Green on the outside and red
inside.)
It seems giving up your freedoms in the name of the group wasn't a big seller back during the cold
war, especially after the Soviets murdered millions and were threatening to kill us too. So the
promotion of communism/socialism in America needed a better marketing plan. Environmentalism
seems to be the winner, and it has been a great success. People are happy to submit to the will of
others if they think they are doing the moral thing in “saving the planet.”
If celebrating communism seems a bit distasteful or dated, people can celebrate the new morality
aspect of Earth Day. Sleep with anyone and anything you want. Ingest any drug you want. Lie,
cheat, and steal all you want. As long as you recycle and buy green products, you are going to
heaven. Because it’s all about saving our planet, our mother, the earth, Gaea- the green goddess of
fertility, yada, yada, yada.
So let us examine the impact aspect of the new green morality. In 1962 Rachel Carson wrote a book
called Silent Spring. It told of the bleak future without birds, especially bald eagles, because of the
chemical pesticide DDT. Wouldn't America do something to stop the extinction of its own national
symbol? In 1972 we declared DDT a danger to the goddess despite the complete lack of scientific
evidence proving the danger, and the mountain of evidence showing its benefit. The book became
the first environmental bestseller. So we got rid of DDT.
After the US, the UN jumped on the bandwagon and DDT disappeared world wide. Great wasn't
it? The only problem was the birds weren't dying after all. It seems there was little actual correlation
between the use of chemicals and the birds. In fact, it seems hunting the eagles and falcons, who
were perceived as threats to livestock, led to their decline. When they stopped hunting the eagles and
falcons, they came back. The other birds, the ones that weren't hunted, were doing fine the whole
time. But never let the facts get in the way of a good crusade. Overall, no harm, no foul, right?
Well, would about 800,000 dead a year seem like harm to you? Malaria is the number one killer in
Africa. Most of the victims are children under five. Tens of millions have died since the ban. All
hail the new morality. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Shrug it off green warriors. Imagine the carbon
footprint of those millions had they lived. It is the planet that comes first.
(DDT is now making a comeback in fighting the disease that was, at one point, almost eradicated.
This, in combination with newer pesticides, may once again beat down this deadly infectious killer.
It remains to be seen if this will be allowed in the new morality. The pesticides do kill mosquitoes
after all. To a green the mosquito has the same value as a human life.)
OK, that was only one example. We could celebrate bottled water. The new age green people
wanted us to drink 8 glasses of water a day. Bottled water became all the rage in the 1990’s. You
used to drink out of a garden hose but you were not Earth sensitive. You also drank only when you
were thirsty. That was then, this is now. Now it seems all those bottles are creating quite a toxic
landfill problem. All those plastic bottles are made from petroleum products. Quell horror! So we
examined the use of petroleum based plastics and found biodegradable plastic to be the answer. That
is until we found out that the biodegradable plastic breaks down in the landfills to produce methane in
large quantities. Methane is a greenhouse gas 23 times as powerful as carbon dioxide.
Also the water in the bottles is a bit suspect. It seems there are less restrictions and lower standards
on bottled water then there is on municipal tap water. Your garden hose is looking better. Finally it
was found that drinking all that water like a dying camel didn't do anything but put a strain on your
kidneys. Doctors are now saying they had no idea where the eight glass thing came from. Possible
suspects are the people making billions from selling you bottled water you could pour from your own
tap, but the connection is probably just a coincidence.
Ah, you say, bring out the Eco Bible, let us read from the chapter of Gore on Global Warming.
Surely no one out there is still a global warming denier? The science is settled isn't it?
Well, if you haven’t gotten the news letter, Global Warming is now "Climate Change". Ted Turner,
of CNN fame, is worried about the collapse of civilization and the return of cannibalism to the post
apocalyptic world. His estimate is that it is only thirty to forty years at the most until disaster unless
we adopt socialism now to stem the eco disaster. No socialism for him of course, he owns
Montana. He means socialism for the rest of you: the little people. Ted seemed a bit unhinged at his
interview, perhaps the carbon dioxide concentrations in the studio were too high.
Echoing this, Al Gore, the Pope of the Church of Carbon Doom, has indicated it may be time for
another movie. He is depressed that more stringent methods have not been employed to rein in the
ruinous green house gases that are rapidly heating the earth’s temperature to the point of
unsustainability. He has the Nobel Prize. No one can take that away. Infallibility has been granted.
Now obey! Climate change is fact. Humans are the cause. The elimination of capitalism and the
ascendancy of control by the state is the solution. James Hansen, the head of NASA’s Psychic
Hotline, has backed up the Carbon Cap and Trade Pope with imperious decrees of certitude from the
top of Mount Science.
Ohhh, bad news. It seems rogue scientists are actually noticing the computer models are failing to
match the observable data. The oceans aren't warming. The temperature has not continued to climb
despite more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In fact, since 1998 the temperature has actually
decreased. That’s a bit awkward. People began noting that the computer models used to predict our
doom didn't figure in clouds and precipitation. These scientists actually went out and measured the
ocean temperatures all around the globe. Since this is primarily an ocean planet any temperature
rising would start with the oceans. It was shocking when they had to admit the oceans aren't rising in
temperature.
Nobel prize winning scientist, Christopher Monckton, who was awarded the prize the same time as
Al Gore and for the same reason, has asked the IPCC to correct their figures on the sacred climate
change report. It seems they fudged them a bit...well, more than a bit. OK, they flat out lied through
their teeth. They exaggerated the potential sea level rises from the actual seven centimeters in the
estimate to instead show seven meters over a hundred years, and they exaggerated the effects of
CO2 by twenty times what it actually was.
Green people everywhere are becoming a bit discouraged. Their recycled Earth Day Banners are
beginning to droop. Well, how about alternative energy? Can we celebrate that aspect on Earth
Day? Maybe, but not for the reasons you think. Alternative energy is a good thing if the market
wants it. Right now wind and solar just are not economically viable nor reliable as major energy
providers. Take away the subsidies, and they die a quick and ugly death. Subsidies, unless you
forgot the definition, mean the government gives the companies your money directly and then lets the
companies charge you all over again.
Alternative energy is becoming viable again in the sense of nuclear energy. What the
environmentalists hated so much in the 1970’s is turning out to be both ‘green’ and smart. Finally
after decades of mindless opposition the greenies are hoisted on their own rhetoric. Nuclear Energy
doesn't use fossil fuels and doesn't give off the dreaded ’greenhouse’ gases. So finally we can start
bringing nuclear energy to the front of our national energy policy.
Oil, Big Oil, goes the cry. We can hate them at least. Bring on ethanol! That's the alternative
energy we can celebrate. Our lofty goal of ethanol for a greener world is what we can celebrate.
You can’t take that away with your nasty facts. Al Gore himself cast the tie breaker in 1996 to
mandate the use of ethanol.
Of course we can destroy that victory with facts. Remember the rainforests we had to save? We
think they were after the baby seals and before the whales, and right around the time when the left
was pushing the nuclear weapons freeze that Moscow wanted so bad. Well, the rainforests are being
hacked down at a record pace as people rush to plant corn to sell for the production of ethanol.
There are food riots going on in poor countries and even the hippest hemp wearing urbanite has
noticed their organic milk and yogurt has jumped in price. Burning food for fuel, and a less efficient
fuel, turns out to be a bad idea. It takes a whole lot of water for the production of ethanol- which
isn't green, ethanol is less efficient as a fuel than pure gas so you use more of it, and now oil is so
high it isn't economically viable even though it is subsidized (Remember the definition of subsidy?
That means you are already paying for it before you pay for it.) It seems ethanol is having a major
negative impact on the environment. The production of the plant material for ethanol also seems to
be pumping immense amounts of greenhouse gases into the air. At least the intent was green.
Meanwhile, we declared over the decades, and are declaring now, large swaths of America off limits
for oil exploration and production, clamping down on coal, and generally bellyaching about the cost
of everything. The solution for the left? Raid the oil company coffers. It seems after piling on
environmental restrictions for those decades so they couldn't build refineries, after stopping them
from drilling for new deposits, the cost of oil on the open market went from ten dollars a barrel to
one hundred and twenty. Then, we mandated individual state standards for fuel blends just to choke
the supply a little more. Heck, if people wanted to reduce the supply and up the demand, the oil
companies were happy to take the money. Who wouldn't? After all, they work for you.
What? Run that by again? Yes, the oil companies, BIG OIL, work for you. They are publicly
traded companies. You probably own stock in them. (Don't get horrified at your own investments
green warrior. If Michael Moore can own Haliburton stock, you can feel OK to own oil stock.) Oil
is a great investment now. Your mutual fund probably has a big percentage in oil. The fund
managers are trying to make you money after all. However, it seems someone forgot to tell the
Earth Day Pagans the economy runs on the stuff.
As Earth Day draws to a close and has been completely discredited as anything other than socialism's
next big effort at eliminating individual freedom, it is time to take a moment and commend those that
work to ensure a cleaner environment. Unintended consequences aren't always negative.
Sometimes they help. Compact fluorescent bulbs are becoming more common, that means cheaper.
They save energy and that saves you money. (Of course, Congress got in the act and screwed it up
by mandating them. Like low flush toilets causing more water use, it remains to be seen how that
mandate will impact your life.)
Modern houses are more energy efficient and safer in their construction. Recycling has improved
our waste management and improvements in automotive technology has increased gas mileage and
shown possible futures beyond petroleum based transportation. Green products are appearing more
and more on the store shelves...not because companies are sucked into the green religion, but
because they see market trends and are rushing to make a buck. This provides improved products
and safer items to use in the home.
This takes environmentalism back to where it started at the turn of the nineteenth century, before the
communist aspect got attached. Conservation of our resources is our good stewardship of the
planet for the next generation of people. Improving our living standards while conserving resources is
a truly moral goal. For how our children, and their children live, is our responsibility.
As for the planet itself, who cares? It isn't alive and you can’t kill it. So stop with all the saving the
planet nonsense. Whether buried in ice or crawling with dinosaurs in tropical swamps, it will go on
swinging around the sun uncaring, insentient, and indestructible, for billions of years, carbon hysteria
or not.