Environmental Imperialism

It’s just wrong to export our environmental claptrap to limit population growth, development, and freedom in the third world. It’s pure Environmental Imperialism.

Many liberals in the US decry the fact that many of our social values are seeping out into the world, and overwhelming the native cultures in foreign lands. Meanwhile they are practicing Environmental Imperialism of which the latest vehicle is the Global Warming Crisis, the carbon bank concept, and the Kyoto treaty.

To the rest of the world they are saying:

Liberals in the West know what’s good for your country, you may not log your forests, you may not farm, you may not exploit your own resources the way we did to establish the modern western world. We would rather you become dependent on the handouts from developed nations and subservient to the Kyoto treaty and the world bank.

This neo-luddite cabal jets around the world to conferences on carbon neutrality, debates on carbon taxes, and other environmental socialist ponzi schemes. Since folks began pointing out how much carbon they are putting into the atmosphere with their antics, the Kyotites have developed a conscience and started planting trees to compensate. In their jargon, this creates “carbon neutrality”.

To demonstrate how ludicrous this all is, I propose a new rule for environmentalists — since methane is among those dreaded greenhouse gases, I think that every time an environmentalist farts that they should plant a tree. They are just plain hypocrites otherwise.

In the end these schemes amount to wanting the developing nations to remain weak, in capital and energy poverty, ripe for revolution, and dependent on the world bank. It’s really a plan for world domination through environmental bureaucracy. The technocrats know what’s best for us after all.

To put this in perspective, let’s look at the last stalking horse of the movement, saving the rainforest. During that period of environmental crisis, it became essential to save every tree in South America, and we heard nothing else for a decade. It was a movement replete with bad movies like “Medicine Man”.

The prior global scare from the Club of Rome, “Limits To Growth”, tried to limit their populations. The rain forest scare tried to limit their ability to feed their population — do you begin to see a pattern here?

Let’s take a moment and look at what happens when a nation ravages their country side, unlimited by any laws. In the US, we cleared vast acreages to feed our burgeoning populace, we built farms, and we logged to build houses. The outcome was the breadbasket of the world, unparalleled advancement in agriculture, husbandry of forests, and finally an equillibrium reached.

Many folks would tell you that the equilibrium was just reached, however this chart of acres under forest in the US tells the true story:

forest graph.jpg

Acres under forest in the US has remained in equillibrium since the 1890’s. Surprised? You really shouldn’t be — while the alarmist left is fond of hockey-sticks, they always fail to account for natural limiting factors in their trends-taken-to-absurd graphs. Capitalism is one of them. The economy can only support so many lumberjacks, and so many farmers before it becomes a non-paying proposition. Left alone, capitalism’s invisible hand would protect our forested lands.

It’s just wrong to export our environmental claptrap to limit population growth, development, and freedom in the third world. It’s pure Environmental Imperialism. If you don’t agree, then next time you fart go plant a tree.