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Earth Day’s kick in the ash
Peter Foster, Financial Post Published: Wednesday, April 21, 2010
If one believed in cosmic irony, then the ongoing 40th of that unpronounceable Icelandic volcano might be taken as a message from Earth to those who will tomorrow celebrate the fortieth “Earth Day.” Although humans may stand in awe of the home planet, the home planet has absolutely zero concern for them. Meanwhile the disruptions in travel and trade caused by the vast cloud of volcanic ash give a tiny glimpse of the kind of world that environmental radicals praise: clear, blue, air traffic-free skies above, frustrated and deprived people below.
Earth Day, while masquerading as all about positive ecological values, was conceived in hysteria and has evolved as a focal point for ideological opposition to industrial society and the benefits it brings to ordinary people.
Here’s how celebrity doomster Paul Ehrlich described global prospects on the first Earth Day in 1970: “In ten years all important animal life in the sea will be extinct. Large areas of coastline will have to be evacuated because of the stench of dead fish.” Biologist and future presidential candidate Barry Commoner joined in the act, declaring “Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind. We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation.”
Two years later, the UN’s Stockholm conference on the environment was held as a festival of alarmism. Then the Club of Rome unleashed its Malthusian projections that many resources would be exhausted before the end of the century.
The 1970s and 1980s were marked by a slew of costly environmental legislation, and yet somehow the climate of eco hysteria never abated. Indeed, the more industry was forced to spend, the shriller the cries became. And yet the human ingenuity unleashed by increasingly free markets brought more and more people out of poverty.
By 1990, global warming had begun to emerge as the Mother of all environmental issues, although, as Al Gore noted on the 20th Earth Day, it was merely “the most serious manifestation of a larger problem: the collision course between industrial civilization and the ecological system that supports life as we know it.”
Nothing more clearly indicated that if there was one message the Earth Day crowd has always vehemently rejected, it is that the human environment is actually improving, primarily because of the spread of capitalist society, whose environmental sensitivity increases naturally with wealth (Indeed, the growth of the professional environmental movement is the clearest proof of that fact). When, around the 30th Earth Day, Bjorn Lomborg published The Skeptical Environmentalist, which used official statistics — and some rare objectivity–to establish that things were improving on all fronts, he was comprehensively vilified by the environmental establishment.
Radical environmentalism is clearly not a matter of objective analysis; it is a religious faith rooted in the same fetid anti-capitalist historical compost heap that had been accumulating since the Industrial Revolution, and whose first bitter fruit was Communism.
Celebrate Earth Day, Celebrate Lenin’s Birthday
Earth Day was created on April 22, 1970 on the 100th anniversary of Vladimir Illich Ulianov’s (aka Lenin) birthday.
And you know who created it?
You guessed right!! A Demotraitor (aka “Democrat”), of course.
Peter Foster is a proven liar.
Research journalist, Richard Littlemore, questions, “Is he [Foster] suffering stupidity, venality (i.e., susceptibility to bribery or corruption, as in the use of a position of trust for dishonest gain), or both?
Peter Foster has attacked Canadian scientist Andrew Weaver -- using an argument that the newspaper has admitted, twice before, is flat-out untrue — simply put, FOSTER IS a proven liar.
Peter Foster paints too broad of a brush in his herein article. It’s more of a environmental and political hit piece, supplemented with a few failed early predictions by 1970 futurists. Foster is one of the leading putdown journalists on environmental concerns, a prolific writer, but agenda is clear: A big proven lying voice of larger corporation.
A little shift of the iron-enriched magma of Earth’s core; another Krakatau “phreatomagmatic” event, which over a century ago was one of the most catastrophic natural disasters in recorded history; one of the many caldron like Yellowstone Nat. Park (smaler one by Amboy; a few 9.0 earthquakes; et cetera; could shut-down civilization as we know it. All of which are a reoccurring part of Earth history.
Naysayers are fooling themselves in connection with the fragile nature of acts of God. Things are a changing… .
Peters a liar? Ok, for the sake of argument I’ll agree. So is our president. Does that mean that nothing he says is true? I look at each topic on its own merits. What did Mr foster lie about on this post.
His own newspaper impeached his credibility. It’s up to you to try and restore it.
Are you going to answer Paparazzi’s question?
“Naysayers are fooling themselves in connection with the fragile nature of acts of God. Things are a changing”
I am asking what is changing that has any significance?
It is all based on speculation and modeling, they can’t even tell for sure if it is going to rain or not and yet we are supposed to take their word of doomsday,why can’t the ones that are saying the opposite be right? Is it maybe because then there would be nothing to worry about, and people could live their lives. Maybe you doom and gloomers are fooling yourselves.
The earth could care less about us, we are insignificant fleas on it.
You people talk about irreparable this and forever that, fragile this and sensitive that.
Have you ever noticed how unmaintained (even for a short time) man made things quickly begins to deteriorate? trails,roads, houses you name it.
Giant volcanoes erupt spew filth into the air and the earth cleans it right up, crude oil seeps naturally (or not) from the ocean floor and the earth takes care of that too.
We are not that bitchen.
Whats next are you going to tell me wildlife uses corridors to move about to avoid man? If that is true I guess they forgot to tell all those animals that pass through my neighborhood to get with program. Its funny that those same so-called wildlife corridors are the same places ohv’s could travel without disturbance
Fred, we’ll never come to terms even through another lifetime.
You’re a Will Rogers; I’m a Buckminster Fuller.
Yes there is a bunch of hocus-pocus science out coupled with (well-meaning) environmental extremists.
Still, we’re at the edge of a caprice of Earth changes. It’s all part of Earth history and the pages are turning.
Have a nice evening.
Well Buckminster, After saying what you say:
“Yes there is a bunch of hocus-pocus science out coupled with (well-meaning) environmental extremists.”
You then say: “Still, we’re at the edge of a caprice of Earth changes. It’s all part of Earth history and the pages are turning.”
Please explain what caprice we are at the edge of.
The earth is, has been and will be constantly changing, I find it strange that people cannot fathom that fact, and feel that it for some reason should remain the same in perpetuity and that any change that happens is somehow man doing.
The most humorous is that when they say the earth is doing something because of man and it doesn’t, it does the opposite the change their tune. Remember in the not to distant past all the fear mongering by the scientific community about the “coming ice age”? That didn’t happen, so it got pushed under the lab coat and they came up with “global warming”, even that didn’t work so they are pushing that under the lab coat and going with more encompassing “global climate change”
What I find capricious about those on your side is the willingness to embrace any and all that believe in “global climate change” as a whole, but downplay denigrate, belittle and poo-poo any and all that dare to challenge it. Your comments and research regarding the author of the article in this post are perfect example of it, that seems to be always the first thing you do when there is disagreement with you.
Where’s the middle?
Maybe Buckminster was wrong???
Hope you have a nice weekend.
PS. So what was Peter lying about?
Will Rogers, here’s a a Link if you are seriously interested: about Peter Foster‘s periodic diatribes against science where he attacked one of the most credible climatic scientist is Canada, scientist Andrew Weaver — “using an argument that the newspaper [Canada's National Post] Peter Foster writs in has admitted, twice before, is flat-out untrue.” Foster and his friends has “spent their credibility and they have left themselves no graceful line of retreat.”
Foster says the University of Victoria scientist -- one of the most frequently published and widely respected climate modellers in the world -- “unleashed a diatribe against the research of Ross McKitrick and Stephen McIntyre, who inconveniently exploded the IPCC’s alarmist ‘hockey stick’ graph. The Post has been forced to admit before, Weaver did no such thing.
Another Link: RealClimate.org
To tell you the truth BH it was not so much about Mr. Foster as it was about the ideas put forth in the article.
Apparently you seem unable to look at some things (not all) objectively and as one commenter on this post said he looks at each item separately on its own merits where you dismiss wholly.
My actual main intent was for people to see what Bjorn Lomborg had stated, I’m sure you will be able to find many belittling and dismissive diatribes about him from those on the “global climate change” alarmist’s side
So I guess according to your manner of reasoning that our President has impeached his and our nations credibility as well?
“Naysayers are fooling themselves in connection with the fragile nature of acts of God. Things are a changing… .”
I wonder if we threw a virgin into the volcano would that stop it?
Man caused it, surely a virgin can stop it.
Nice spam, but absent meaningless input.
Meaningless input…. And yes great spam
Maybe we can Al Gore to sacrafice himself for the sake of humanity! Both are full of hot air!
It seems that you can not provide any information about Peters column that is untrue. (:¬)
Paparrazi, quite certainly I’m not going to dwell on this any longer.I provided the Link as well as the information about Mr. Foster’s antics. He’s well known in for that in Canada.
Fred and I seem to agree on Earth changes in terms that it happened before, will happen again, and again, and again. Thus, the time frame is the relevant issue.
On climate change I feel like I’m engaging in a Flat Earth Society debate with you guys.
And yes, there is much false information out there on both sides of the issue. If you’re interested, take a look at Michael Crichton’s STATE OF AFFAIRS.
His novel gives birth to many divergent views, and he spend 3 years reading environmental texts. His AUTHOR’S MESSAGE at the end is awesome, exposing much of the bogus information about climate change, etc. His BIBLIOGRAPHY and APPENDIX count is 33 pgs.
Still, we are in troubling times in connection with our environment. This is the way it is, Earth will change many times over. Fred understands that. And you can’t deny the fact that rain forest are being lost, after which the land is mostly useless. Don’t tell me this is not going to have an affect on the environment. Why do you think world trading corporations are gearing up to use those shipping lanes in the Arctic. You are aware that where there were ice fields, they are no longer as they have been for the last 20,000 year — and very soon, the Arctic will be waterways and shipping lanes.
I know the game about discussing Earth changes and climate conditions. Been there done that, Paparrazi.
You will have the last word.
Your a hopeless romantic when it comes to environmental issues. For some reason you have mistaken me for someone that I’m not. Rainforest depletion. I believe in using other sources for the products derived from there. It’s better to those trees are there to shade me as I ride a dirt bike thru them.
Now thats funny… I don’t care who you are…. That is funny.
Aww Hell, Blame it on Bush. That’s what the loony left is doing anyway. If anyone would take the time to review the past few million years they would notice that nothing new is happening that hasn’t happened in the past. This present Icelandic volcano has already put more contaminates into the atmosphere than the whole human race since it appearance on earth, that’s a fact.