You don't have to know me too well to know that I'm rolling my eyes at this...
It's certainly not that I don't "care" about the environment. Quite the contrary, I think those who claim to "care" most are the ones doing the world the most harm. See the following exhibits:
Exhibit A: Light Bulbs
First off, to actually think you're "saving the earth" by changing a lightbulb is just silly. But far from being silly is the if-it-weren't-so-truly-dangerous-it-would-be-ridiculous reality that these compact fluorescent bulbs are filled with dangerous
mercury and they can't simply be thrown away in the trash--they're treated as hazardous waste. Yeah, HAZARDOUS! Besides that, we do happen to have these bulbs installed around our house (courtesy of George in an effort to reduce our electric bills) but I can tell you how inferior these bulbs are in other ways. One, they have to warm up, so you can't just flick it on and expect the room to be illuminated (which I particularly hate when I've just got to find something in a closet quickly but even after turning "on" the light I can't see a thing.) As an artist, I despise the green-blue color of the light. I much prefer the warmth of my incandescent bulbs. And most compact fluorescents can't be used with dimmers either. I'm on a campaign to get these things out of our house but I'm afraid before long, the way legislators are buying into this so-called "green think" and imposing it on the rest of us, you won't be able to find simple incandescent bulbs in stores any more.
Exhibit B: Plastic Bags
I can remember when I was growing up the big campaign to stop using paper bags because they came from our precious trees (never mind that they're a renewable resource.) So all the stores switched to plastic bags because the environmentalists made such a big issue out of it. So now here we are and environmentalists have changed their tune...
plastic bags are bad. They are evil and the very symbol of consumerism and waste and pollution. Whose idea was it in the first place to go to plastic bags anyway??? They were supposed to be better because you could recycle them. And I do--I use all my grocery bags as trash bags--they're particularly great for throwing out stinky diapers! But now there are schemes afoot to
tax bags or ban them altogether. There they go again, trying to legislate morality (which is kinda funny given that they believe in "relative" morality.)
Exhibit C: Ethanol
The big push to switch to "greener" fuel with these biofuels is already having an impact worldwide as the price of corn and other grains has skyrocketed and
negatively impacted poor people around the globe who can no longer afford their most basic foods. This is true cause for concern by itself, but add to that the fact that ethanol doesn't actually reduce energy or pollution--I've heard it takes
more energy to produce ethanol that the ethanol can produce itself (which is also less efficient than regular old gasoline) and creates
pollution as well.
Exhibit D: Carbon Footprints and Offsets
Now this one...this is really truly laughable and I can hardly believe that people take this seriously at all. Especially when someone as credible as Al Gore is the one spouting off about it... Carbon dioxide is natural--we all exhale it every day...and plants need it to survive...so since when is it a pollutant? Oh yeah, since Al Gore told us all that it was what caused Global Warming. (Yeah, global warming when we're getting record cold here at the end of April...uh-huh.) And Al Gore is such a great example of reducing his carbon footprint with his sprawling mansions and private jet lectures across the globe--oh yeah, what was that? Ohhhhh, he pays to "offset his carbon footprint." All this talk of offsets and all brings to mind the practice of "selling
indulgences" (which led to the reformation led by Martin Luther back in the Middle Ages.)
I agree with
Margaret Thatcher (who's played a part in this environmentalism incidentally) when she says that climate change
"provides a marvelous excuse for worldwide, supra-national socialism".
And it was Lenin who said, “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” I think we're seeing that philosophy in full force today as far as climate change and global warming go.
I do believe we have a responsibility to care for this great world that we've been given, but that responsibility cannot be imposed on us by the government based on questionable science with even more highly questionable "solutions." I believe it is simply taught at home as I teach my boys to "leave a place better than you found it" whether that's their bedroom, their desk at school, our yard, a National Park, etc.
Happy Earth Day.
