Are Extremist Environmentalists Mass Murderers?

An open-minded review of what extreme environmentalists have wrought on the USA and on the world inescapably leads to the conclusion that they have caused millions of deaths and trillions of dollars in damages and losses. If you think this is incorrect or an exaggeration, let us consider the record with respect to just three issues: the snail darter, nuclear power and DDT.

The Snail Darter

In 1976, with the Tellico Dam on the Tennessee River 99% complete, its construction was stopped and its destruction was ordered after a tiny fish called the snail darter was discovered in that river. The case eventually reached the Supreme Court which decided that the Endangered Species Act did cover this fish, and the dam had to go. Fortunately cooler heads eventually prevailed, the dam was completed, and the hydro-power came on stream. Subsequently the snail darter was found in other habitants and also was successfully relocated as well, and it came off the endangered list in 1984. In order to stop this insanity, the US Senate had to pass a special bill exempting the Tellico Dam from the act. In pushing for the passage of the exemption, Senator Baker of Tennessee had this to say on the Senate floor:

“Mr. President, the awful beast is back. The Tennessee snail darter, the bane of my existence, the nemesis of my golden years, the bold perverter of the Endangered Species Act is back.

He is still insisting that the Tellico Dam on the Little Tennessee River—a dam that is now 99% complete—be destroyed.

In the midst of a national energy crisis, the snail darter demands that we scuttle a project that would produce 200 million kilowatt hours of hydroelectric power and save an estimated 15 million gallons of oil.

Although other residences have been found in which he can thrive serenely, the snail darter stubbornly insists on keeping this particular stretch of the Little Tennessee River as his principal domicile. . . .

Let me stress again, Mr. President, that this is fine with me. I have nothing personal against the snail darter. He seems to be quite a nice little fish, as fish go.

Now seriously Mr. President, the snail darter has become an unfortunate example of environmental extremism, and this kind of extremism, if rewarded and allowed to persist, will spell the doom to the environmental protection movement in this country more surely and more quickly than anything else. . . .

We who voted for the Endangered Species Act with the honest intentions of protecting such glories of nature as the wolf, the eagle, and other treasures have found that extremists with wholly different motives are using this noble act for meanly obstructive ends. . . .” Senator Howard Baker

Nuclear Power

Nuclear power generates about 20% of the electricity used in the United States today. In this we are far behind the rest of the world where nuclear power has been used extensively to reduce the need for middle east oil and reduce deaths from coal mining and coal-burning particulates. For example, France generates over 75% of its power from nuclear.

Nuclear power is clean, safe, cheap power. It is the lowest cost method available, and it generates power without putting particulates or greenhouse gases into the environment.


However, as I have previously pointed out, in 1979, Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon produced a shudder of fear with their starring roles in "The China Syndrome," a fictional evocation of nuclear disaster in which a reactor meltdown threatens a city's survival. Less than two weeks after the blockbuster film opened, a reactor core meltdown at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear power plant sent shivers of very real anguish throughout the country.

This combination of a nuclear accident and the sensational movie was pounced on by environmentalists to mount a campaign that overcame all reason and ended any efforts to develop nuclear power in this country.

What nobody noticed at the time, though, was that Three Mile Island was in fact a success story: The concrete containment structure did just what it was designed to do -- prevent radiation from escaping into the environment. And although the reactor itself was crippled, there was no injury or death among nuclear workers or nearby residents. Three Mile Island was the only serious accident in the history of nuclear energy generation in the United States, but it was enough to scare us away from further developing the technology: There hasn't been a nuclear plant ordered up since then.

In combination with their success in stopping domestic oil drilling and exploration, the environmentalists have therefore also been instrumental in tying our country to the oil-rich middle east. You might even say that the unintended consequences of environmentalists are one of the prime causes of the Islamic terrorism that has killed many thousands of innocents as well as the huge number of people who have succumbed to the health hazards of breathing the products of oil and coal burning.

DDT

Rachel Carson's Ecological Genocide

By Lisa Makson
FrontPageMagazine.com | July 31, 2003

A pandemic is slaughtering millions, mostly children and pregnant women -- one child every 15 seconds; 3 million people annually; and over 100 million people since 1972 --but there are no protestors clogging the streets or media stories about this tragedy. These deaths can be laid at the doorstep of author Rachel's Carson. Her 1962 best-selling book Silent Spring detailed the alleged "dangers" of the pesticide DDT, which had practically eliminated malaria. Within ten years, the environmentalist movement had convinced the powers that be to outlaw DDT. Denied the use of this cheap, safe and effective pesticide, millions of people -- mostly poor Africans -- have died due to the environmentalist dogma propounded by Carson's book. Her coterie of admirers at the U.N. and environmental groups such as Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, the World Wildlife Fund and the Environmental Defense Fund have managed to bring malaria and typhus back to sub-Saharan Africa with a vengeance.

"This is like loading up seven Boeing 747 airliners each day, then deliberately crashing them into Mt. Kilimanjaro," said Dr. Wenceslaus Kilama, Malaria Foundation International Chairman.

*************************
DDT makes a comeback to combat Malaria
Science/Health

New York, Sept 16 (IndianMuslims.info) Nearly 30 years after safety concerns led to the phasing out of indoor spraying with DDT and other insecticides to control malaria, the United Nations health agency said today it will start promoting this method again to fight the global scourge that kills more than one million people every year, including around 3,000 children everyday.

“The scientific and programmatic evidence clearly supports this reassessment. Indoor residual spraying is useful to quickly reduce the number of infections caused by malaria-carrying mosquitoes,” said Dr Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, World Health Organization (WHO) Assistant Director-General for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria.

“Indoor residual spraying has proven to be just as cost effective as other malaria prevention measures, and DDT presents no health risk when used properly.”

I do not say this of all liberals, but I would presume that since mankind began to form social groups, those who could apply reason and who knew some history have had to contend with ignorant multitudes who are basically emotion-driven. Emotion-driven extreme environmentalists have caused havoc in our society. These are the same kind of people who are prone to buy into conspiracy theories, and operate purely on an existential level. Those of us who can think have to fight against these people constantly; they obviously cause more harm than just forcing us to use water-saving toilets you have to flush three times. If we don't stop them on global warming, they will scuttle our economy and destroy our way of life.