Those Greenies sure faded to black
when Saddam th' oilfields did attack;
Greenpeace? Not around.
Earth First? Was not found;
'Cuz they knew Saddam would shoot back!
Posted on 02/01/2004 4:23:36 AM PST by Clive
In life, as in cowboy movies, there are only two kinds of people: good guys in white hats; bad guys in black hats.
For the last third of the 20th century, the greens wore the white hats and the rest of us wore the black ones, environmentally speaking anyway.
By greens, I mean sandal-wearing, granola-eating, eco-snobs. Anti-everything from seal hunts to green lawns. The rest of us: fossil-fuel-burning, meat-eating, weed-spraying car lovers out to end life on this planet.
The greens: environmentally perfect. The rest of us: not.
But at last the sandal is on the other foot. They're not all good guys any more; some of them are the bad guys. It's about time.
There's a new bad word aimed directly at them - eco-imperialists, people out to force the world to follow their standards. They're being blamed for millions of deaths in Third World countries and there's even a book about them, Eco-imperialism: Green Power, Black Death, by Paul Driessen, a fellow of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, a right-wing U.S. think tank.
Demonstrations and street theatre used to be the eco-warriors' weapons of choice.
Now they're being used against them, and a couple of weeks ago, there was even a teach-in against them in New York City featuring Greenpeace co-founder Dr. Patrick Moore, who now says: "The environmental movement I helped found has lost its objectivity, morality and humanity. The pain and suffering it inflicts on families in developing countries can no longer be tolerated."
The teach-in was sponsored by CORE - the Congress of Racial Equality, one of America's strongest civil rights groups. CORE wants to end eco-imperialism.
"The movement imposes the views of mostly wealthy, comfortable Americans and Europeans on mostly poor, desperate Africans, Asians and Latin Americans," explained CORE national spokesman Niger Innis. "It violates their most basic human rights."
We all want to protect the planet, he adds. But it's time to stop trying to protect it "from bogus or illusory threats."
One example of eco-imperialism is the case of DDT and malaria.
Environmental activists drove governments to make the pesticide illegal. That was all right for North America, where tropical diseases are not a problem. But in Africa, millions die of malaria because DDT was banned there too.
"Every year," notes CORE in a press release, "malaria makes 200 million people so sick that they cannot work, go to school, tend their fields or care for their families ... Two million people a year die - half of them children."
Driessen's book gives lots of other examples: a village in India, for instance, where a dam project was halted after eco-activists pressured international lending agencies to withdraw financial support. The dam had to be stopped because it would "change the path of the river, kill little creatures along its banks and uproot tribal people in the area." The locals, however, regarded the dam's cancellation as a crime against humanity because it would have provided electricity for 5,000 villages, low-cost renewable power for industries and sewage treatment, irrigation water for crops and clean water for 35 million people.
Another example is the drive to stop the use of Paroquat, a highly toxic but effective pesticide. The greens want rid of it - even though it and similar products protect 40% of the world's food supply.
My own favourite example of eco-imperialism is genetically modified foods. They could feed the world cheaply and safely - if only the eco-activists would lay off their so-far-unfounded claims that bio-engineered foods are unsafe.
All that money can buy
It's easy for western eco-imperialists to tell others what to do. They have electricity, indoor plumbing and all the media access money can buy. They can afford to buy their expensive organically grown veggies at any upscale food market. But as CORE and its sympathizers point out, most of the world doesn't have that luxury - or any other luxuries for that matter.
CORE wants to stop the "callous eco-manslaughter." It points out the average European cow gets a $250-a-year subsidy, while over a billion people survive on less than $200 a year, and that American farm subsidies, aid organizations and government bureaucrats all contribute to the greens' strength.
The eco-extremists have yet to find the imperialism accusations important enough to attack. But people like CORE seem to sense a turning of the public relations tide.
Eco-imperialism isn't a household term yet - but if there's any justice in the world, it will be.
Excellent post! I remember when (back in the early 70's) I was proud to be an active member in the Sierra Club, not only enjoying it's many outdoor anventure trips but also helping with projects like building a trail and cleaning up a park, etc. Now I am hesitant to even mention the name, lest people think I am "green".
(rimshot)
lol!
Try it this way: if TEN 747's packed mostly with children and pregnant mothers were to crash into Mt. Kilimanjaro EVERY DAY, then maybe people would react. That's what the death toll and economic cost of malaria is. All this bull-hockey about AIDS, SARS, mad-cow, etc. is from people with no brains.
Clive, please add me to your ping list -- this topic is on of my hot buttons
Those Greenies sure faded to black
when Saddam th' oilfields did attack;
Greenpeace? Not around.
Earth First? Was not found;
'Cuz they knew Saddam would shoot back!
Greenpeace: The only outfit in recent memory to have its ass kicked by the French.
Rush once opened a show with how many deaths were caused by Hitler, Stalin, and Rachel Carlson. Answer: Hitler 20 million, Stalin 50 million, Carlson 100 million.
The environmental and race unity movements have much in common. Both were terrific decades ago, and both have become extortion rackets. The pattern these days is for some corporation or jurisdiction getting flack from some mob of twits, to be followed by a "breakthrough were real progress is made" (read: massive cash settlement).
They can't deal with it when you use their own weapons against them.
DO NOT SUPPORT "ENVIRONMENTALIST" OR THEIR CAUSES!
Spread the word.
;-)
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