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Anti-environmentalism.

Started by Kai, December 06, 2010, 02:59:17 PM

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Kai

Or,

Why I Hate the "Environmental Movement".


This may seem exactly the opposite of what you would expect of me, being a biologist. In fact, in the past I would have called myself an environmentalist of various sorts. And maybe, once upon a time, there was a good reason to do so.

The truth is, as the title may suggest, I despise the environmentalist movement. These days, whenever I hear a cry of "save the earth!" or "environment" or various other passwords, I step away. And the simple reason is this: the environmental movement is nothing more than a bunch of political hacks with half assed ideas and no real objectives or means for change, a bunch of hypocritical poseurs. It's an excuse for people to do minor inconveniences that makes them feel self righteous so they can feel okay about the impending disaster, the "it's not my fault, I recycle!" crowd, the "I drive a hybrid" crowd, the "I cycle to work" crowd.

The clean air and clean water acts of the 70s were some truly monumental pieces of legislation. Rivers in this country no longer burn and you can actually eat fish out of Lake Eire now. Industries were required to filter their waste, both gaseous and aqueous. We have overall benefited immensely.

And then, it faltered. Somehow, doing something became equated with putting recycling out to the curb every Tuesday and buying organic produce. Human morality is a balancing act of canceling good versus bad. You can easily see this with people who desperately need to loose weight and explain having a doughnut with "I walked a couple blocks this morning". The total effect is zero progress.

If the whole point of such "environmental" actions is to create a sustainable human society, these little things that people do are overall meaningless and pointless in the grand scheme. Recycling makes little difference if West Virginia is still going to have it's mountain tops stripped into a heavy metal wasteland. Buying organic makes no difference when population still continues to shoot up (now nearing 7 billion) requiring more and more land for agriculture which will inevitably become desert. Riding a bike to work, while a nice healthy activity, does nothing to counteract the millions of drivers still on the roads and the immense amount of methane released by cattle flatulence. And the worst one, PLANTING a /TREE/ does absolutely nothing about the ongoing biodiversity crisis and the continuous slash and burn clear cutting of forestland in the tropics, where millions of species are facing extinction before I as a biologist even has time to describe them.

So fuck Earth Day, fuck organic farming, and fuck bike lanes. And for fuck sake, FUCK environmentalism, because it doesn't do shit. It's all just hypocritical nonsense.

Me, I'm still looking for answers, because sure as hell none of the above are addressing the larger problems.

If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water. --Loren Eisley, The Immense Journey

Her Royal Majesty's Chief of Insect Genitalia Dissection
Grand Visser of the Six Legged Class
Chanticleer of the Holometabola Clade Church, Diptera Parish

Nephew Twiddleton

:mittens:

People don't like environmentalists anyway. The TV box has given me clues that environmentalists are dirty hippie Democrats who worship Al Gore.
Strange and Terrible Organ Laminator of Yesterday's Heavy Scene
Sentence or sentence fragment pending

Soy El Vaquero Peludo de Oro

TIM AM I, PRIMARY OF THE EXTRA-ATMOSPHERIC SIMIANS

Reginald Ret

Rah!

I actually like environmentalists if they are willing to listen to the horrible truth.
Sadly, most are human and therefore incapable of or unwilling to accept the horrible truths that Kai wrote so eloquently aggressive.
Lord Byron: "Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves."

Nigel saying the wisest words ever uttered: "It's just a suffix."

"The worst forum ever" "The most mediocre forum on the internet" "The dumbest forum on the internet" "The most retarded forum on the internet" "The lamest forum on the internet" "The coolest forum on the internet"

AFK

It's all about Energy.  Until we figure that one out, it's as Kai says, this other stuff is trivial, feel-good nonsense.  Imagine if all the people who spent so much time recycling and buying organic, instead, put all of that energy into writing Congressmen and testifying at hearings and protesting our continuing addiction to fossil fuels.  Imagine if THEY were at town halls shouting for clean energy technologies and policies.  

But we are so easily placated by token gestures that are really easy to do.  Not enough heavy-lifters.  
Cynicism is a blank check for failure.

Kai

If we want to go for efficiency, I've got the perfect solution. However, it's very unlikely to happen given how unpopular it is, even on this forum. So I'm not even going to say it.

Also, protesting and mailing congressthings can be considered token gestures under most circumstances.
If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water. --Loren Eisley, The Immense Journey

Her Royal Majesty's Chief of Insect Genitalia Dissection
Grand Visser of the Six Legged Class
Chanticleer of the Holometabola Clade Church, Diptera Parish

AFK

Quote from: ϗ on December 06, 2010, 03:41:53 PM
If we want to go for efficiency, I've got the perfect solution. However, it's very unlikely to happen given how unpopular it is, even on this forum. So I'm not even going to say it.

Also, protesting and mailing congressthings can be considered token gestures under most circumstances.

At current levels, yes.  But look at how the Tea Party nuts were able to take control of the national agenda by going to town halls and hollering at people.

I'm saying that if environmentally-minded people could harness that kind of civic energy, perhaps something would be done, or at least, there would be some meaningful national discussion. 

I don't think it is likely to happen, mind you. 

Cynicism is a blank check for failure.

LMNO

Quote from: ϗ on December 06, 2010, 03:41:53 PM
If we want to go for efficiency, I've got the perfect solution. However, it's very unlikely to happen given how unpopular it is, even on this forum. So I'm not even going to say it.

Also, protesting and mailing congressthings can be considered token gestures under most circumstances.

Nuclear, or Soylent Green?

hooplala

I completely agree Kai. 

I, for one, do support nuclear energy.
"Soon all of us will have special names" — Professor Brian O'Blivion

"Now's not the time to get silly, so wear your big boots and jump on the garbage clowns." — Bob Dylan?

"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
— Walt Whitman

Nephew Twiddleton

I'm not opposed to nuclear either. Granted we'd still have to end up coming up with something else eventually, since that's also a finite resource.
Strange and Terrible Organ Laminator of Yesterday's Heavy Scene
Sentence or sentence fragment pending

Soy El Vaquero Peludo de Oro

TIM AM I, PRIMARY OF THE EXTRA-ATMOSPHERIC SIMIANS

Kai

Quote from: LMNO, PhD on December 06, 2010, 04:01:18 PM
Quote from: ϗ on December 06, 2010, 03:41:53 PM
If we want to go for efficiency, I've got the perfect solution. However, it's very unlikely to happen given how unpopular it is, even on this forum. So I'm not even going to say it.

Also, protesting and mailing congressthings can be considered token gestures under most circumstances.

Nuclear, or Soylent Green?

Neither. But it's definitely something we've argued about here before, so I'll stay my tongue.
If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water. --Loren Eisley, The Immense Journey

Her Royal Majesty's Chief of Insect Genitalia Dissection
Grand Visser of the Six Legged Class
Chanticleer of the Holometabola Clade Church, Diptera Parish

Pope Pixie Pickle


Jasper

I had an argument with Kai once about the idea he's not mentioning.

I'm less opposed to this idea than I once was.

Just saying, in case he feels like mentioning it ITT.

Cool rant.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: ϗ on December 06, 2010, 02:59:17 PM
and you can actually eat fish out of Lake Eire now.

I wouldn't.  Not anymore.  Things changed in 2003/2004.  They're busy dumping any old shit back in Erie.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Kai

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on December 06, 2010, 09:31:05 PM
Quote from: ϗ on December 06, 2010, 02:59:17 PM
and you can actually eat fish out of Lake Eire now.

I wouldn't.  Not anymore.  Things changed in 2003/2004.  They're busy dumping any old shit back in Erie.

Great.
If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water. --Loren Eisley, The Immense Journey

Her Royal Majesty's Chief of Insect Genitalia Dissection
Grand Visser of the Six Legged Class
Chanticleer of the Holometabola Clade Church, Diptera Parish

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: ϗ on December 06, 2010, 09:40:18 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on December 06, 2010, 09:31:05 PM
Quote from: ϗ on December 06, 2010, 02:59:17 PM
and you can actually eat fish out of Lake Eire now.

I wouldn't.  Not anymore.  Things changed in 2003/2004.  They're busy dumping any old shit back in Erie.

Great.

Nixon fixed shit.

Bush decided to fix it betterer.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.