About 20 years ago, I remember being in Minnesota and seeing a bald eagle. (Please see MC previous post on this.) Anyway, I found this article interesting because of my history with this bird. I agree that eco warriors have created a level of "fear" that is fairly knee jerk. However, there is no denying that as the human population increases, we use more resources and whether we want to admit it or not, there is a consequence. I am not suggesting decreasing human population or whatever. I try not place any emotional value on that matter. Good or bad, we affect the environment and probably more than we on this forum like to admit. I am not a big fan of movies like "an Inconvenient Truth" which has one politician and zero scientists. But as a staunch Libertarian, I have always felt the only problem Capitalism has not been able to cure is waste output or the consumption of a finite level of resources and the resource levels are finite. I am not suggesting going back to the TeePee or caves because that was when man was truly a part of the evironment...and food chain. But, I am not going to dismiss every environmentalist view point just because they wear stinky oils and march on the streets of San Francisco. In closing, should we do everything in our power to make sure all species of life don't go extinct? Probably not since extinction is a part of the natural order of things. However, I will not deny that we as a species are directly responsible for much of that extinction and I can not fault those who are trying to slow down our progress.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/science/20070624-9999-lz1n24flying.html
5 comments:
I would not deny that people damage the environment, but I do deny that resources are finite. In order to not sound like a crackpot I will explain myself.
One of the favorite arguments used by Portlanders is "if you put rats on island with limited resources, they will soon eat all the food and end up starving themselves to death." As if there is some comparison between Rats and Humans. My argument is "Rats Starve and Humans learn to survive with what they have." The pie can be made bigger.
As for endangered species, I do believe people cause the extinction of other species, Dodo being environmentatlists favorite example (although wikipedia isn't too sure if humans are entirely the ones to blame), but protection agencies? Penn & Teller's "Bullshit" has something to say about the the endangered species act
Unfortunately the entire video has been removed from the net, so I only found a clip.
Interesting you say Tee-Pee, as if to imply that the great, sacred, American Indian was in total harmony with nature. Sitting Bull-shit.
There are plenty examples of ancient people all over the planet completely using up their resources. They were simpler people who relied on the planet to provide. Now days we're (mostly) smarter.
I'm with Blogust on this one, as techology progresses we will learn how to create more with less. 'Cept for the organic movement. If we follow their lead we will starve more of the planet, and probably kill more species due to the fact that organic farmers loose a lot more of their crop due to pests. Therefore, in order to feed people, MORE land would be required for the same food output. More land for food = less land for furry, cuddly things. Farmers tend to shoot at things that eat their crops too.
Here's a case in point that I was too tired to search for last night.
We've all heard of Round-Up. Crops have been genetically engineered to withstand Round-Up. You spray Round-Up on your crops, it kills the weeds and your crops survive.
Of course the eco-nuts instantly think this is a bad idea, much like they think radiation of food is a bad idea.
Ancient civilizations could not come up with cool stuff like this. This kind of technology allows us to feed more people with less land, which may help save a few species.
Considering it allows us to feed more people, then maybe it also contributes to larger human populations, which in turn may hurt other animal species.
Oh well, animals are stupid anyway.
I think my main point was missed. I am not saying Government agencies are in need or we should emulate the Indians. All I'm saying is when someone says to me "people have caused the extinction of a lot of animals." I will probably say "your right" and then continue to buy more stuff.
I feel the same way.
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