Friday, January 1, 2010

Are greens human?

Fact -
Fossil fuels power our modern civilization-the reason why we are not shivering half-naked in a jungle(not that I have anything against going half-naked in a jungle) or the reason we can step out of a cosy home into a cosy car and go to work instead of toiling long hours in a field(no fossil-fueled machinery to help relieve the drudgery) or the reason your loved one's life can be saved by the timely arrival of a fossil-fuel powered ambulance and by doctors who make use of the latest advances in modern medicine. Remember rabies,small-pox,plague,millions dying in epidemics?You could die of a mere scratch if unlucky and many were.All that wasn't too long ago.But those were very low-emission times.CO2 "pollution" was negligible.There was misery,endless toil,thankless drudgerey,and humans falling dead like flies -but no pollution.The planet was safe.

Then came the industrial revolution that led to a fossil fuel powered civilization that saved millions from a painful death.As Ayn Rand put it(in The Return of the Primitive: The Anti-Industrial Revolution
p278) -

"If it were true that a heavy concentration of industry is destructive to human life, one would find life expectancy declining in the more advanced countries. But it has been rising steadily. . . Anyone over 30 years of age today, give a silent 'Thank you' to the nearest, grimiest, sootiest smokestacks you can find."

Another fact -
Environmentalists want to ban fossil fuels. They want to ban them despite having no workable alternative.

Question-
Are they humans?

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