The Environmentalist

Have you ever seen Al Gore’s TED Talks?

I have always found it most interesting that a large portion of those of us who would staunchly reject the God the Father on rational grounds would so readily adopt Earth the Mother with little else to go on than a growing consensus among federally-funded scientists and some anecdotal power point slides.  I will not debate the facts of global warming, as I would not debate the facts of global cooling or plate tectonics: earth systems are very large and still somewhat unpredictable.

My education and rational faculties, however, prevent me from a wholesale belief in anthropogenic global warming, and particularly in any governmental solutions to any such warming. What I do see and understand is that those who buy into man-made global warming are not content to change their own behaviors, but rather feel they must mandate the behavior of others.  Mr. Gore consistently applies his mantra: “Change the light bulbs – but change the laws” in this presentation.  He is asking his faithful to yoke all of our individual choices and tie them to governmental “solutions” of a global system.

It would seem the transparent desire of environmentalists is to worship the pure, natural Earth and punish dirty, industrial man.  This desire is evident in the cartoon winner (unsuspecting urbanites squashed by falling elephants representing CO2 emissions) and the slide series of the development of Bolivia (aerial shots of untamed green jungle giving way to brown geometric human habitat over 30 years).  We are told the answer is also in new designs (a hopeful moment) but not merely by encouraging those technologies by choosing them in the free market, but to nudge them through taxation penalties on those using old technology.

For me, the best part of the talk was the very last minute which showed some incredibly cool design ideas.  Of course, this was not part of the presentation, but rather put forth by Autodesk, a design software firm looking to make financial gains in this industrial world through the free market.

Instead of hopping on proposed preventative governmental interference which would no doubt lead to sacrifice, a lower standard of living, and a tremendous redistribution of our personal assets, why don’t we see what the great mind of man, the producer, can achieve and then choose for ourselves?

If a solution is needed, the free market would offer something better than any measures forced upon us by the government.