Earth Day is one of those events that has become untouchable by any person that would question the motivations, practices or aims of those that advocate any kind of activist environmentalism. Opponents to the regulation-based environmentalism of the current environmental movement are routinely depicted as the sorts that would kill puppies for a buck, end sunshine to drive an SUV or that feel a need to consume all natural resources before their selfish children grow up and use them all.
The media loves to play into the environmentalist's hands by running softball pieces on Earth Day; the title of the recent CNN piece "Ode to Earth Day - Saving Mother Earth" is evidence enough of the fairly universal acceptance in the media of the mainstream environmental movement. All in all, it is clear that the members of the crusading green movement are the good guys while anybody opposing new regulations, like lets say the Kyoto Agreement, must be on Darth Vader's Rolodex.
It is extremely unfortunate that Earth Day and the environmental movement have been elevated to the place where they are, because they are both mistaken and a bit dangerous.
The assumption that humanity is harming the planet and that only a proactive regulatory plan can prevent irrevocable harm forms the basis of the mainstream environmental movement. Although this is a highly simplified version of the movement's overall belief, much of the policy proposals seem to mirror this. Disastrously, this assumption is as misguided a conviction as any of the past century.
I do not dispute that humans can have an adverse effect on their surroundings or that we have exhibited a dangerous tendency to consume past points where it would have been better to stop. I also do not question the assertion that government has a place in setting standards and regulating to a limited extent the actions of companies or individuals that pollute. What I do take issue with is the idea that a massive reordering of society is needed and that only a comprehensive plan drafted by environmentalists or caring politicians can save us from ourselves.
Seriously believing that somehow any one person or even a really large group of people can just come up with a plan that would end global warming or begin to address an issue such as it in a meaningful way is ludicrous. When was the last time a government on any scale showed the ability to properly draft and enforce a law remotely of the scope of the Kyoto Accords? The government can't properly administer Medicare and the UN functions more like a third rate charity when it comes to distributing funds for the world's poor. Why should we expect them to be able to manage a world climate with any better success?
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More mistaken is the idea that somehow a group of world politicians, spurred on by Al Gore for gosh sakes, could ever or should ever come up with a legitimate plan that would affect every individual on this planet. Kyoto is an exercise in arrogant idiocy, a plan drafted by ideologues and bureaucrats intended to tell the rest of humanity that they will just have to conform their lives to what a group of "concerned" environmentalists feel is the best way to develop and live. Scientists still aren't sure about how the Earth's complex climate works, let alone how to manage it. To assume that humans can begin to understand the proper way to address "solutions" to these issues we know so very little about is lunacy.
But surely we can't just ignore these problems, right? Of course we can and should ignore them. The past 30 years or so have been a hay day for serious prognostications of population crises or cataclysmic environmental events, none of which has come remotely close to fruition - much to the dismay of their authors. We should have faith in human ingenuity and market power to eventually solve these problems, just as it has solved the problems of the past thirty years.
The simple fact of the matter is that people will change their behavior when they feel that the benefits outweigh any downsides. Somewhere down the line technology will offer people a true alternative. Until then we should be content with what we have and refrain from the misguided belief that we have the ability to accurately plan out the lives of others. Celebrate the Earth and be cognizant of actions that affect it - just don't let it go to your head.
by Michael Carrasco
Daily Lobo Columnist
Questions or comments can be sent to Michael Carrasco at mjc_carrasco@hotmail.com.
