[FreedomPoster]

A somewhat long read, but an interesting viewpoint to apply to enviralmentalism and enviralmental whackos.

[jocon307]

bump

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Interesting read!

[Mike Darancette]

Today, one of the most powerful religions in the Western World is environmentalism.

AMEN.

[Maria S]

In case you missed the ‘questions’ page that followed the article (on the original website), his answer confirms my belief that he DOES have a little common sense in addition to his book-learning smarts:


If Hollywood were destroyed by a freak accident tomorrow and you were asked to rebuild it, what changes would you make?
I wouldn't rebuild it. It's already an anachronism, and so is its product. Does anybody believe that in 50 years we are still going to go to cinemas to watch big computer-generated light-shows that make no sense, bear no relation to real life and are accompanied by earsplitting noise? Or that we will want to watch this product at home on our screens? No, this too shall pass.

[PoorMuttly]

Muttly need Footnotes.

Best if we have the data he is referring to...like DDT...so this presentation could have some teeth...harder to run away from.

It is, however, THE best roadmap - into the past, throughout the present, and into the future - that I have ever read...and I will use it. I just need the Science, or it'll just make people mad at me, and I'll seem prejudiced, politically...which is the big Spoilers' trick. I'd rather stay quiet, than offer that.

[KC_for_Freedom]

Michael writes like this in his non-fiction work "Travels" and having had a similar experience as him in Jamaica, I believe he does his research well, and is spot on about environmentalism. He is also right not to treat the GOP with any great favor, however, the environmentalist movement is a child and co-ally of the Democratic National Party. It is socialist in its dealings with the people and environmentalist plans to correct the situation certainly include government control of all our actions. He could have said all these things as well.

[SpeakLittle_ThinkMuch]

The other speeches and articles on the Crichton site are also a good read. The one from April 1993 seems particularly good.

[forester]

A good article for the ping list.

[massadvj]

that there is very little difference between the parties, except a difference in pandering rhetoric

Very true, and not just on the issue of environmentalism.

Bush, for example, turns out to be the most fiscally liberal president since Johnson, and yet people who call themselves "conservatives" love him while those who call themselves "liberals" hate him.

Had Gore been elected, he would never had succeeded in implementing an agenda as progressive as GWB's over the past 4 years.

[KAUAIBOUND]

The closest comparison I can make with the "fundamental religion" of environmentalism is that of the suicidal religion of Islamic fundamentalism. Both religions have believers firmly out of touch with reality and common sense. Also, here on Kauai, we are repeatedly reminded of the power of nature - 3 tourist deaths in the past 10 days or so in the ocean and rivers. A nearby ocean tourist attraction, Queen's Bath, has claimed 34 lives since 1970, almost all visitors. Yet when my 16 year old son warns the tourists of the dangers, they usually ignore him.

[RogueIsland]

Great find.

People who live in nature are not romantic about it at all. They may hold spiritual beliefs about the world around them, they may have a sense of the unity of nature or the aliveness of all things, but they still kill the animals and uproot the plants in order to eat, to live. If they don't, they will die.

Yup.

[Lil'freeper]

Brilliant! Except for the praise of the FDA. It, too, is subject to the pull of politics.

[Lancey Howard]

WOW!
Bumped and bookmarked.

[Tribune7]

Wow. Great post.

[edwin hubble]

Absolutely fascinating.

Strong science (procedural) viewpoint...(He's a doctor)

But, Crichton as a thinker, as one who has dealt with Hollywood,... I am amazed that he has such candor and courage.

I read his first novel Andromeda Strain in the early 70s and was amazed at how bright this guy is.

[okie01]

dirt, you'll want to read this.

[ladyinred]

All I can say is WOW!
Great find!

[rustbucket]

Excellent article. I agree with most everything he says.

I suspect that a lot of people who support the environmental movement do so because they accept what they've been fed over the years by schools and the media. They simply haven't the inclination or personal strength to question what they are told. It is a religion.

[Zeppo]

Thanks for posting the article - I'll have to bookmark it for future use. He has other gems on his site, for example this one...

[x]

This is a fine article that provides much to think about. It would be wrong to use Crichton as a stick to bang on the heads of all environmentalists though. When mankind was at the mercy of the environment the forces of nature were seen as the enemy, first to be propitiated by offerings to God or the gods, then to be soothed by conforming to natural law, and finally to be conquered by understanding the scientific laws of nature.

Today, mankind -- or its technology -- is in the saddle, and nature inevitably comes to look like something weak, fragile, and in need of protection. Ignorant environmentalists sentimentalize nature. Searching for a new object of veneration they go too far in idolizing the earth and denigrating humanity, but there is some chivalry in our modern attitude towards nature that one wouldn't want to lose.

There was much to be said for the passion to conquer nature in its time. We have benefited from the desire to fight back against famine, disease, scarcity, and natural disasters. And we still need some of that fighting spirit, but I wouldn't be too quick to condemn moderns for moving away from that passion.