Environmental scare tactics

By Brian Yates

Environmental scare tactics

In news destined to send shivers up and down the spines of all the environmentalists spouting their doom, gloom, and oil-is-evil philosophies, The Washington Times reported Friday that a study has found that nearly half the earth’s surface remains wilderness. A global analysis by more than 200 scientists, led by the group Conservation International, identified 37 wilderness areas on 46 percent of the earth’s land, which are occupied by only 2.4 percent of the world’s population. The president of Conservation International, Russell Mittermeier, said, “These very low density areas represent a landmass equivalent to the six largest countries on earth combined — Russia, Canada, China, United States, Brazil and Australia — but have within them the population of only three large cities.” This would seem to contradict the “Chicken Little” mentality of the environmentalist movement.

In case you’re wondering what exactly constitutes “wilderness area,” wilderness was defined as areas of approximately 4,000 square miles with 70 percent or more of original vegetation intact. Nearly half of the earth is made up of these wilderness areas, and yet these liberal environmentalists continue to press their agenda. Folks, they can’t back their stories up. They have no proof. They can’t even prove global warming exists; they have no facts.

All this brings to mind a report released this past July by the World Wildlife Fund and the World Conservation Monitoring Centre that proclaimed the earth’s extinction by 2050. No, I’m not making this up. The report stated that “Earth’s population will be forced to colonize two planets within 50 years if natural resources continue to be exploited at the current rate… more than a third of the natural world has been destroyed by humans over the past three decades… the seas will become emptied of fish while forests are completely destroyed and freshwater supplies become scarce and polluted… never has one single species had such an overwhelming influence. We are entering uncharted territory.” Pretty scary stuff, huh? So who’s right in this debate? The World Wildlife Fund, who lately has been spending more time throwing a hissy fit over who gets to be known as the WWF, or a scientific study led by over 200 well-respected scientists? I’ll take the scientific study.

The favored topic for all these so-called “concerned” environmentalists is by far global warming. Every time you listen to any liberal talk about the environment, or anytime Al Gore makes a speech on any Bush policy, global warming comes up. Let me tell you something: there is no proof that global warming exists. Environmentalist Paul Georgia of CEI stated that “there is no definite proof that the planet is warming.” Liberals also claim that even if the earth only warms one degree, the oceans will rise, and pretty soon the land will all be covered. We’ll all have to move way inland. Again, nothing but doom and gloom. According to Mr. Georgia, this would be a “rather small warming.” In other words, no big deal.

Now, I know all you liberals out there are going to throw statistics at me about how the earth has warmed. This much or that amount, blah blah blah. The key point to remember here is that the earth moves in cycles. We go through ice ages, then warmer periods, then back again. According to CEI, the earth emerged from a little ice age in about 1850. Therefore, it would only make sense for the earth to have warmed somewhat in the time since then. I’m no scientist, but even I can make sense out of this.

Regardless of what the environmentalist movement may say, the earth is not in grave danger here. Liberals love to say that the U.S. is trying to kill off the planet here; in fact, when you look at the numbers (something liberals never do; they hate being proven wrong) you find out that the earth is healthy. You know, liberals refuse to look at numbers for the same reason Janet Reno won’t look in a mirror: they’re afraid of what they’ll see. These threats of global warming, rising oceans, and sinking continents can’t be proven. The threats of all animals becoming extinct, forests disappearing due to the evil logging industry; it’s all a big myth. This latest study from Conservation International is simply one more scientific fact to refute the outrageous environmentalist claims.