The Myths of Environmentalism

So, is environmentalism the religion of the liberal intelligentsia? I don't see a lot of Bubba NASCAR types or conservative Christians showing any interest in the environment, so I would venture to say, "YES."

But environmentalism is NOT a religion, rather I see it as being visionary. Someone once described environmentalists as over-educated people with too much time on their hands. First of all, it is impossible to be "over educated," although the Establishment doesn't like smart people because they challenge the status quo of "consume and destroy for maximum profit."

It is safe to say that highly educated people are more self-aware, and typically more environmentally aware. Just like anywhere, the intelligentsia are disliked by the common masses, and thus the commoners dislike all their "green talk" as well.

As for me, I love environmentalists and feel they are paving the way into the future, and creating a path for all to follow. However, environmentalists also get lost in their noble crusades and often forget the vanity of their endeavors.

The Myths

Some say that "green" is a great guilt reliever. SO WHAT! We self-aware people DO have a lot of guilt because we look around and see how our modern way of life is totally screwing the natural world. We see that our lifestyle, which totally caters around "self-comfort," provides short-term benefits at the expense of the long-term. We realize that we are stealing "life quality" from future generations so that we can indulge ourselves now. Or do we understand that? Maybe, we think that by throwing a can in the recycling bin we are atoning for our gluttony.

So, anyway, on with the myths:

• The Struggle To Save The Environment Can Be Won - This is not likely because we avoid the difficult, controversial issues and focus on the "feel good" issues. For instance, the human population explosion is the main cause behind most of our environmental problems. But this problem is almost always dodged because of its sensitivity, and even the top environmentalists of our day don't touch this issue. The bottom line is that making vast numbers of babies is the only thing we humans are really good at. All these babies will grow up and have a tremendous impact on our already-beaten Earth. Hello, does anyone get that?
  
  
• Alternative Energy Can Replace Fossil Fuels - It's a pipe dream to say that we are going to get rid of coal power and replace it with wind and solar. Renewable energy sources produce only a fraction of the energy that burning oil and coal produce. The only way to make clean energy work is threefold: Reduce our population, increase the efficiency of our power grid and appliances, and use less. These are the three pillars of environmentalism, yet they are typically forgotten.
  
  
• Clean Energy Can Stop Global Warming - I hear a lot of talk about natural gas, which is twice as clean as gasoline. But with human population exploding, any gain will be offset. For instance, we can convert vehicles to natural gas but with the growing population we'll need twice as many of them, so there is no net advantage for the Earth.
  
  
• Wind and Solar Reduce Environmental Impact - The turbines and solar arrays needed to catch the "free" energy must be built by heavy industry. When you factor in the "total life cycle" of these devices, you're not getting much of a savings at all. For instance, think of all the energy it takes to mine and smelt the steel for giant wind turbines. Think of the hundreds of miles of copper wire in a wind turbine. Do you think wind power can provide enough energy to manufacture more wind turbines? Ha!

These are just a few examples of why environmentalism, in its current form, is nothing but another feel-good religion. But I am not criticizing environmentalism at all, I just think it needs a more realistic approach, even though it may be politically incorrect and hurt people's feelings (the nightmare of liberals).

Amazingly, a large percentage of Americans are not worried at all about the environment because they believe they will be whisked into space by a supernatural savior. They believe they will then be taken to Heaven, but they have no idea where it is -- and some have told me it's in another dimension. So, in the fifth dimension there might be mansions and streets of gold, and the ones lucky enough to accept the European religion will be walking right through us poor bastards who have been "Left Behind."

So, in that regard, the liberal intellects definitely have an advantage over delusional religious fanatics. And like I said, they are paving the way for a future, sustainable world. But the way things are now, we will never win the war to save the environment. To do this, we must all get out of our comfort zones, we must all sacrifice, and most importantly, we must say and do the difficult things that are necessary to save our planet.