Extremists strain credibility of environmentalism

Environmentalism as we have recently come to know it may be dying — crushed mostly under the burden of its own weight. And that is a shame.

The final blow may be the current financial crisis. As more and more Americans empty their wallets to heat their homes, fill the gas tanks and feed their families, environmentalism as practiced by extremists is losing its luster.

Most folks now want the government to authorize drilling for more oil and natural gas on our own lands. While doing so, we must busy ourselves with making use of fossil fuels more efficient and clean. But throwing known sources of energy out the back door must not be the way we go.

No human in their right mind would argue against clean air, pure water, survival of the species, etc., but environmentalism in the extreme has added heavy financial burdens to everyday life.

We have reached the point when just about any advancement of society becomes the source of lawsuits, overburdensome regulation and silly nonsense. To the overzealous environmentalist, almost every human endeavor threatens the life of our planet. Common sense has been left on the floor.

When citizens want to farm their own land, clear it for development, cut a tree, build a farm pond, construct a home, etc., they are immediately saddled with layers of bureaucracy demanding that we "save the planet." Folks may be getting a little fed-up. Extreme environmental efforts add untold costs to American families.

Environmentalism in recent years has departed the bounds of reality and marched into a doomsday prognostication. Remember the 1960s when DDT, over-population and saving the rainforests were the darlings of environmentalists? We were supposed to be out of life support by 2000. It didn't happen but that didn't keep the whole idea of environmentalism from morphing into a wholesale cottage industry — foisting a veil of impending doom and scaring the bejeebers out of little children and many adults.

America has plenty of oil, natural gas and coal, but a minority of extreme environmentalists has prevented the development of known reserves because of what they conjure "might" happen to our environment. I suppose there were those who also felt hostility toward the advent of the wheel and electricity.

We would have plenty of energy available today if the far-out environmentalists had not put the skids on nuclear generation. Numerous nuclear projects were abandoned 30 years ago — leaving us with an energy shortage that will take a lifetime to overcome. Nuclear energy is the future — not grain-based gasoline substitutes, wind generation or solar power. All have their place but not as substitutes — just as auxiliary sources of energy. It makes sense to utilize known energy sources while developing a nuclear generation system.

There is no question that we should conscientiously preserve our planet. We should take steps, within reason, to do so. Most environmentalists I know and love are reasonable folks who understand common sense. Their efforts are harmed by those who are more than rabid in their attempts to control humankind as they frighten their sensible neighbors.

When practiced rationally, environmentalism displays good judgment, but the radical concept of environmentalism is rapidly dying, and the fringe adherents are doing the killing.

Any cogent person recognizes that we shouldn't rape the environment and that we have a human obligation to protect our world for those who come after us, but the "Sky is falling" mentality has taken us to the extreme.

The so-called "consensus of global warming" is fading rapidly if, in fact, there ever was a "consensus." The last couple of years have been, overall, the coldest in recent history. Statistics reveal that 2007 alone canceled out so-called global warming that had accumulated for the past 100 years. A proclaimed torrid future is in doubt — at least beyond the normal cycles the Earth has gone through for eons.

Since the 1960s, beginning with the book "Silent Spring," the enviro-alarmists have insisted that by the year 2000, humanity — at least those who survived the ecological doomsday — would be gasping for air in a feeble attempt to carry on the human race. It didn't happen.

Global warming has become the cause du jour of those who would "save" humanity. We have ancient trees and fossilized remains of plants that clearly indicate that the Earth goes through cycles of changing temperatures. Since the beginning, the Earth has heated up and cooled off in cyclic fashion.

We must solve the problems of fossil-based energy dependence and other environmental challenges, but we must do it rationally.

John Brock is a retired professor, newspaper publisher and film producer who lives in Georgetown County. He can be reached by mail at this newspaper or via e-mail at brock@johnbrock.com.