Some Environmentalists Are Enemies of Mankind

ran a guest commentary of great clinical interest. In the piece in question, Colorado State University philosophy professor Philip Cafaro advanced the argument that immigration needs to be sharply cut, because otherwise people from Third World nations will come to the United States and become prosperous, thereby adding to global warming.

“And make no mistake: Immigrants are not coming to the United States to remain poor,” warns the philosopher. “Those hundreds of millions of new citizens will want to live as well and consume energy at the same rates as other Americans. . . . What climate change mitigation measures . . . could possibly equal the increased greenhouse gas emissions we would lock in by adding 145 million more new citizens to our population?”

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According to Cafaro’s liberal argument, the wretched of the Earth must be kept poor wherever they reside, because otherwise they will ruin the weather for the rest of us. Following this logic, the United States should adopt the role of the world’s oppressor, enforcing the continuation of poverty around the globe.

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The use of fictitious necessity to rationalize human oppression is not new. Whether the justification is a putative lack of food (e.g., Malthus, 1817, “A great part of the [Irish] population should be swept from the soil”), shortage of Lebensraum (e.g., Hitler, 1941, “The law of existence requires uninterrupted killing, so that the better may live”), overpopulation (e.g., Ehrlich, 1967, “India . . . will be one of those we must allow to slip down the drain”), or global warming (e.g., Cafaro, 2013), the argument has always been the same:

1. There isn’t enough of x to go around.
2. Therefore human numbers, activities, or liberties must be severely constrained.
3. Those of us enlightened by wisdom must be empowered to do the constraining.
4. And having obtained such power, let’s make the best of it and stick it to those we despise anyway.

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Slateriesling said:

These people no more represent the environmental movement than a right to lifer that fire bombs Planned Parenthood represents Christians.

Dig up another nut and label him with generalizations. It is a fun game. But don't fool yourself, it is just a game.

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flogger said:

As you can see from the many extreme views on this issue posted daily on this forum these 'nuts' have a ready audience prepared to believe whatever they say as gospel. Its a lot more than a 'game' to many here but is in fact the chosen conduit for imposing thier particular worldview upon the rest of us

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Slateriesling said:

I know, I watch both MSNBC and Fox News for the good laugh. Stupidity knows no bounds. And unfortunantly there are many places you can see it. The important thing is to recognize the stupidity and apply the label were it belongs, not where you want it.

I think the point of this thread is to try and paint all environmentalists as agreeing with these views. The "game" is blaming the larger audience for the stupidity of the few. Re-read the part about Christians. That should be clear.

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flogger said:

I believe this planet, like everything else, is a process, and that we are a part of that process. The earth has never been, is not now, nor will it ever be in static balance. There are balances, but they are constantly shifting. There is no 'correct' state for the earth to be in. That doesn't mean we can't do things that make it less hospitable to us. But the earth doesn't care one way or another any more than it cares if an asteroid plunges in to it and brings mass extinction and an ice age.

Like any religion, Environmentalism has its good points in the ways that it encourages 'good' behavior (in this case conservation and preservation). And like any religion, the more zealous the adherent, the more tunnel vision he develops, and the greater the potential for damage to others and humanity as a whole he becomes. And like any religion, it is ultimately based on a myth. While myths can be powerful, useful, and worthwhile - they also, as I mentioned above, have the potential to drive the over-zealous to all kinds of bizarre conclusions and actions ,in many cases undesirable actions. It has even led to (so far relatively minor, thankfully) cases of environmental terrorism.

A rational human familiar with the history of the planet knows that the planet has changed dramatically, often catastrophically, without any input from humans in the past. Gigantic super-volcano eruptions, asteroids and comets, wobbles in the tilt of the planet, orbital variations, and variations in solar output have all caused massive extinctions, changes in global vegetation, ice, temperature, sea levels, etc over the millennia. These are all considered natural. Only human impact is considered unnatural. It is as if everything on and of this planet is natural except for us, as if we are not on and of this planet but a plague mysteriously deposited on it by the energy conglomerates so they can exploit us for thier own 'evil' gain and the planets cost.

It is, in effect, an anti-human religion.

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flogger said:

I believe this planet, like everything else, is a process, and that we are a part of that process. The earth has never been, is not now, nor will it ever be in static balance. There are balances, but they are constantly shifting. There is no 'correct' state for the earth to be in. That doesn't mean we can't do things that make it less hospitable to us. But the earth doesn't care one way or another any more than it cares if an asteroid plunges in to it and brings mass extinction and an ice age.

Like any religion, Environmentalism has its good points in the ways that it encourages 'good' behavior (in this case conservation and preservation). And like any religion, the more zealous the adherent, the more tunnel vision he develops, and the greater the potential for damage to others and humanity as a whole he becomes. And like any religion, it is ultimately based on a myth. While myths can be powerful, useful, and worthwhile - they also, as I mentioned above, have the potential to drive the over-zealous to all kinds of bizarre conclusions and actions ,in many cases undesirable actions. It has even led to (so far relatively minor, thankfully) cases of environmental terrorism.

A rational human familiar with the history of the planet knows that the planet has changed dramatically, often catastrophically, without any input from humans in the past. Gigantic super-volcano eruptions, asteroids and comets, wobbles in the tilt of the planet, orbital variations, and variations in solar output have all caused massive extinctions, changes in global vegetation, ice, temperature, sea levels, etc over the millennia. These are all considered natural. Only human impact is considered unnatural. It is as if everything on and of this planet is natural except for us, as if we are not on and of this planet but a plague mysteriously deposited on it by the energy conglomerates so they can exploit us for thier own 'evil' gain and the planets cost.

It is, in effect, an anti-human religion.

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Slateriesling said:

I think what you are bring up is the fact that every religion is facist. That every religion knows what is best for everyone and the zealots will go as far as to force it on others.

Kind of thought this was the direction you were going and you did a good job of explaining it. I don't have this hate of the enviromental religion but I admit I have my own prejudices against others. If I accuse all muslims of being terrorists is that right?

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Bonzai said:

Maybe. But, if you look at places like the the Middle East, where there was never, ever any concept of "environmentalism" and exploitation of the surface has always been pursued full speed ahead, we can see the end results of unfettered human activity-------Egypt, Mesopatamia and the east and southern coasts of the Mediterranean were very different as little as 2000 years ago. They were all essentially ruined by wanton human activity and overpopulation...........No "natural" events caused the massive expansion of desertification, just human activity.................

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Bonzai said:

Maybe. But, if you look at places like the the Middle East, where there was never, ever any concept of "environmentalism" and exploitation of the surface has always been pursued full speed ahead, we can see the end results of unfettered human activity-------Egypt, Mesopatamia and the east and southern coasts of the Mediterranean were very different as little as 2000 years ago. They were all essentially ruined by wanton human activity and overpopulation...........No "natural" events caused the massive expansion of desertification, just human activity.................

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Slateriesling said:

These people no more represent the environmental movement than a right to lifer that fire bombs Planned Parenthood represents Christians.

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flogger said:

Yes indeed. Many believe the Earth is far too fragile to allow seven billion of us to continue existing upon it. Who would you volunteer first for the chop ? :roll:

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flogger said:

No ,and I'm sure not all environmentalists hate themselves and the rest of us for existing either. Sadly the most vocal eco doomster ones do and economic suicide is thier ultimate goal for us all sadly. Lets not discount the 'watermelon' political dynamic behind all this too.

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LowDown said:

An example of extreme sociopathy appeared in the Denver Post. It

Conservatives are skeptical of immigration because they worry that immigrants won't assimilate and become prosperous, and not even xenophobes are bothered by the idea that people elsewhere might become prosperous, but this guy wants to keep them away from America so that they will remain poor.



But we have millions of poor people here in America who want to be prosperous. Surely we must stop them from doing so in the name of man made global warming. But why stop there? Why not just kill them all?



Such environmentalism is evil and such environmentalists are enemies of mankind and ought to be rebuked and circumscribed.

Green Anti-Humanism - Robert Zubrin - National Review Online

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Cyrylek said:

Yep. Green on the outside, red on inside - and the seeds are brown.

The genuine concern for environment is no more totalitarian, of course, than the genuine concerns for the plight of workers or the future of German culture. But whenever it is used as an excuse for a massive power grab...

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Kindness said:

We definitely need to reduce our population over time.

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Bonzai said:

I would say your real concern should not be "treehuggers", "commies", or the rise of the 4rth Reich, it should really be the homicidal frenzy of your spiritual cousin, Islam..........................

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Cyrylek said:

The Islamic culture as a whole is certainly not going through an easy period, but I am curious : what makes it my "spiritual cousin"?

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Bonzai said:

Obviously, the world can handle a staggering number of people and if humans chose to live in the resulting degraded environments than so be it. But why are you denying that the environment has been degraded ? The Middle East is a total dump and it's 100% per cent the result of the "man over nature" psychology...................Which they invented, by the way..............

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