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Environment includes humans
By Brandon Pearce
bpearce1@mscd.edu

The debate between politicians over environmental policy is not about choosing between a pristine earth or a strong economy; it is about finding the best balance between humans and nature. There is however, a prevailing concept in environmentalist thought that undermines the very attempt to achieve balance. It is the idea that natural equals divine. This idea follows that man-made equals evil. This deleterious notion has caused the leadership of many environmental groups to completely ignore the human side of the scale when making their policy decisions.

The most glaring example of this is the fight against the use of DDT in Asia and Africa. DDT was used until 1979 in developing countries to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne malaria. In a study that was later strongly questioned, it was shown that DDT was causing certain birds to lay eggs with thin shells. DDT became the hobbyhorse of activists, and they were able to ban its use. The impact on humans was a sharp increase in cases of malaria. The number of deaths in Asia and Africa caused by malaria is now more than one million every year and has become the leading cause of childhood death. Now, on one end of the spectrum is the negative consequence of DDT on birds, but on the other end is one million preventable human deaths. That seems a little out of balance to me.

The constant attack on the foresting industry is another example of the lack of equilibrium plaguing the environmentalist movement. Our fondness for wooden homes causes the United States to use more wood per capita than any other country. Dramatic pictures of recently clear-cut areas have been used to great effect by environmental groups trying to put an end to this. These propaganda pictures don’t tell the whole story. Within days the animals disperse into the remaining forest, in months, a grassy meadow will form, within 10 years, the trees have returned, and in 25 years, the trees will be 50 feet high and back to sheltering the animals. In fact, properly managed forests grow back faster than we can harvest them. During the booming ’90s, with its hot housing market, North America gained nearly 14,000 square miles of forest, according to the U.N. Environment Program. That is 745 square miles bigger than the state of New Jersey. Again, animals have to find new homes, but we lose our most important renewable building material. The environmentalists just seem out of balance.

David Forman, founder of EarthFirst, was following this nature-equals-god precept to a logical conclusion when he said, “Phasing out the human race will solve every problem on earth.” Tell that to the dinosaurs. For the modern environmentalist, however, humans equal problems. End of argument. Unfortunately their attempts to “de-human” the earth only makes for an inhumane world.