The Environment - Essay Example

Unfortunately, the combination of cutthroat politics and special interests complicates things to the point where most people feel that some kind of nefarious scheme is perpetrated upon them. Instead of saving the world, words are used to push other agendas on an everyday basis, and one of those words has become environmentalism. Something that should’ve never been tainted. When did this taint begin to manifest?

After the mini-cultural revolution in America, during the 1960s, a shift happened in how media reports on issues. It is important for people to keep things in perspective and understand that Climate Change is nothing new. It is merely the latest rebranding:

• In the 1970s, the big scare of the decade was Global Cooling.
• In the 1980s, the big world-saving scare of the decade was Acid Rains.
• In the 1990s, the big world-saving scare of the decade was Ozone Layer Hole.
• Beginning with the 2000s, the mediatic/academic complex switched to Global Warming.

Eventually, Global Warming was rebranded to just Climate Change, a nebulous, encompassing phrase that tells people nothing. After all, it is inherent in the word ‘climate’ that it is always changing, every day. Therefore, any agenda can be attached to it. More importantly, the Global Warming/Climate Change computer models racked up an impressive record of failure to predict anything. According to most prominent ones, the entire coastlines should’ve already been submerged underwater.  The Antarctica ice was supposed to melt, but instead, the ice sheets are actually growing.

After a continuous, everyday barrage of failed predictions, hysterical and scientifically illiterate mainstream media, it is no wonder that people are getting tired of the latest climate frenzy. Although such a stance is reasonable, it is nonetheless the wrong approach to take. Policies and attitudes that impact our environment and our communities are exceedingly important irrespective of previously failed propaganda. To think clearly, we must get to the basics, what is the greatest threat to the environment?

In one word – overpopulation. Every conceivable environmental problem stems from it. As global capital seeks to elevate the living standards and life expectancy of every human on earth and pepper the lands with electricity grids, this causes a drastic explosion of population. However, not just any population. According to the UN 2012 projections, the only population that is actually rising is the Third World population. The peoples who created the modern world, as manifested in technology, law, philosophy, science, and medicine, are Europeans and East Asians. For many decades, nations with those genotypes have had very stable populations and in many cases under replacement levels.

Additionally, nations that created the modern world largely solved their environmental problems. Shocking images of rivers of garbage, pollutants, and smog can hardly be seen anywhere outside the Third World. In light of this, inevitable questions arise:

• Would mass immigration from the Third World into developed nations harm or help in the saving of the environment, as immigrants bring with them drastically greater birth rates, poor cultural habits, and significantly increase the carbon footprint?
• Would the current economic model of infinite growth harm or help in the saving of the environment?
• Would any environment-friendly measure, such as recycling, electricity efficiency, renewables, have any impact at all if the core problem – overpopulation – is left unaddressed?
• If Al Gore’s Oscar-winning “The Inconvenient Truth” is completely discredited, and it served as the main driver of the Climate Change narrative, is the overall narrative less or more legitimate?

In addition to these hard questions, we must also address the pretense of green energy. Countless studies have shown that the energy and resources required, in other words - carbon footprint - to develop alternative electricity sources fail in comparison to the carbon footprint of oil and nuclear electricity sources, which are far more stable and dependable to boot.

Of course, in some geographic areas, it makes sense to deploy hydroelectric dams, solar panels, and wind turbines for electricity. This does not mean, however, that people must put on ideological blinkers and push renewables everywhere at the cost of harming the environment further.

Lastly, neither recycling nor any other number of new environment-friendly technologies will matter if the core issue is not addressed – Third World overpopulation. We would be simply futilely running on a track ahead of a coming train.

Resources Used:

World Population Prospects, the 2012 Revision, UN

Michael Shellenberger, The Reason Renewables Can't Power Modern Civilization Is Because They Were Never Meant To, Forbes

Al Gore’s Science Fiction, A Skeptic’s Guide to An Inconvenient Truth by Marlo Lewis, Jr., Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)