The Harm Done By Environmentalists

The damage done by contemporary environmentalism is a big topic. For now I want to note two important instances that are on my mind because they are fronts on which my organization, Center of the American Experiment, is battling self-interested or misguided environmentalists.

Environmentalists cause great damage by blocking needed development, including exploitation of mineral resources. This is grossly hypocritical, since the principal goal of today’s environmental movement is to replace fossil fuels by electrifying everything, while getting the bulk of our electricity from wind and solar power. Apart from being impossible, the amount of mining that would need to be done to supply the necessary electrical hardware and batteries would dwarf anything in human history. At the same time, however, environmentalists refuse to allow mining of the needed materials–copper, nickel, cobalt and others–here in the United States. In effect, they insist on massive environmental degradation, only not in their back yards.

We have produced a 30-second television commercial on this topic, which will be seen across the state of Minnesota beginning in a few days, as well as on the internet. The ad was created by our friend Justin Folk:

Environmentalists’ quixotic pursuit of unreliable wind and solar energy imperils the national electrical grid and has already led to blackouts in California and Texas, with fatal consequences. (Here is a question: Which has killed more people, reliance on wind and solar energy or unjustified killings by police officers? Our readers probably know the answer, but most casual followers of the news do not.) Those blackouts are a precursor of what will happen in every state, on a vastly more destructive scale, if environmentalists get their way. Wind and solar are essentially obsolete technologies, and the laws of physics will not allow our electricity to be generated predominantly by those intermittent sources. But the amount of damage that will be done as the environmentalists pursue their fantasy could be incalculable.

My organization has launched a campaign to publicize the need for reliable energy, focusing on the California and Texas blackouts. We are running radio ads and also have erected billboards that direct listeners and viewers to our web site GreenEnergyFails.com. This is what the billboards look like:

At GreenEnergyFails.com, you can watch videos that explain the Texas blackouts, and the site includes a lengthy and utterly definitive explanation of why those blackouts were, contrary to the desperate assertions of the environmental lobby, caused by Texas’s excessive reliance on unreliable wind and solar energy.

Like other organs of the Left, the environmental lobby is backed by an extraordinary amount of money. This is understandable, as enormous profits are being made on the “green” energy chimera by utilities and by wind and solar companies (many foreign-owned) that feed at the government trough.

Perhaps more significant is that the environmental movement, in its early stage, actually did some good. As Steve Hayward documented over a period of years, it contributed to a remarkable improvement in air and water quality across the U.S. That cleanup was a great achievement for which the environmental movement can take partial credit. Unfortunately, the good will that was created decades ago continues to boost environmentalism, even though in its current manifestations the movement is actually hurting not only public safety and our peoples’ livelihoods, but also our environment.

If you would like to help us fight for sane energy and environmental policies, you can go here to donate.

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