So,
today is Earth Day. Yeah, can’t say that the day is really one to take notice
of. While I do enjoy nature and I appreciate many of the beautiful things that
it has to offer, I have other priorities in my life at the moment that take precedence
over the natural world. While some people will certainly be appalled by that
statement, the truth of the matter is that Earth Day is a celebration for those
that have the time, money, or skewed priorities. Some even embody the whole
trifecta.
When
you go on the Earth Day website you can see that this day was created to take
advantage of the people already protesting and the work of a bestselling
author. By combining the two and telling those people what to think, what they
consider ‘what is really going on’, you have a brand new day and the rapid
growth of a movement that now judges the world and condemns people and
companies if they offer the slightest doubt as to their conclusions.
To
be exact, here is what is posted on earthday.org:
Each year, Earth Day -- April 22 -- marks the
anniversary of what many consider the birth of the modern environmental
movement in 1970.
The height of hippie and flower-child culture in
the United States, 1970 brought the death of Jimi Hendrix, the last Beatles
album, and Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. Protest was
the order of the day, but saving the planet was not the cause. War raged in
Vietnam, and students nationwide increasingly opposed it.
At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas
through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little
fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as
the smell of prosperity. “Environment” was a word that appeared more often in
spelling bees than on the evening news. Although mainstream America
remained oblivious to environmental concerns, the stage had been set for change
by the publication of Rachel Carson's New York Times bestseller Silent Spring
in 1962. The book represented a watershed moment for the modern
environmental movement, selling more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries and,
up until that moment, more than any other person, Ms. Carson raised public
awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and public health.
Earth Day 1970 capitalized on the emerging
consciousness, channeling the energy of the anti-war protest movement and
putting environmental concerns front and center.
While
the people who originally started this whole movement may have fully embraced
the utopian ideals and honestly encouraged those to be conscious of their
actions and the repercussions on the environment, that sense of purpose is all
but lost. Environmentalism is now nothing more than a business venture with
dictatorship ideals. And now, if you don’t fully subscribe to the theory of
climate change and support all of the policies, regulations, and legislation
that furthers the cause of environmentalism that translates to the simple fact that you are a racist. That is the extreme that now exists and is largely
thriving.
While
I believe that there is much that we don’t know when it comes to the
environment and the exact impact that we are having on the planet, I firmly
believe that we should be cognizant of our actions and use that mythical thing
called common sense. We cannot completely reverse our way of producing and
living in this world overnight but we can make incremental progress. However,
overregulation and EPA power grabs are stunting the progress that could be made
by forcing people and companies into rushed compliance which not only has the
long term negative environmental impact but also the immediate economic impact
of overleveraged entities and reductions in the labor force. Additionally,
prices for things like gas, electric, and basic industrial commodities spike
and cheaper alternatives are shipped in from overseas where production isn’t as
highly regulated.
But,
I guess these environmental evangelicals could be worse… they could
work/volunteer for PETA. Then again, environmentalists probably support PETA
because, if anything, they prove that the Dodo isn’t extinct after all. Okay,
rant over, time to go hug a tree.
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