"Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it."
- Andre Gide (1869 - 1951), French essayist and novelist
I've always considered myself an environmentalist. My late father was born and grew up on the land, and from an early age he taught me to respect our natural resources. I must admit, however, that I don't support some of the destructive things that people are doing these days in the name of environmentalism. I sometimes wonder if saving the environment is really what motivates them, or if it might be something less noble.
I also find myself questioning many of the claims being laid on the table about greenhouse gases and global warming. The science on these phenomena seems to be all over the board, making it virtually impossible to determine what is true and what is false, and the media and EPA are of little help in sorting it all out.
Michael Crichton, a popular author, recently gave a speech about environmentalism to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. He made this observation:
"The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge to mankind..."
He went on to say that many of the facts environmentalists have put forth over the years are simply wrong, and cited examples: we're becoming over-populated, half of all species on the planet will be extinct by 2000, DDT is a carcinogen, second-hand smoke is a health hazard and global warming is melting the polar ice-caps. He says he is able to refute all these claims with science, and concludes with a recommendation to shut the old EPA down and create a new organization that will be more ruthless about acquiring verifiable results on environmental matters.
Read the whole thing. It will stimulate your thinking about this subject.
2 comments:
I think Michael Crichton has hit the crux of the problem. Even now I find myself using the internet to get my news. I am able to compare newspapers and quotes with the original. I read bloggers and columnist whom I trust and draw my own conclusions, but how many people will be willing to do this?
The enviornmentalist are some of the worst at misrepresenting. Species have been going extinct since time began. We have to face the fact that some tiny rare species are not worth keeping. People are more important than tiny little minnows that no one has heard of. There has to be balance. So far I haven't seen much from the EPA and I stopped trusting what they say years ago. Enviornmentalist sound like the Boy who cried Wolf. How can we know when there is real danger?
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