The New Environmentalist

Who is this New Environmentalist (NE) and should he be studied, monitored, and to some extent feared? How do they compare to the Old Environmentalist (OE)? What is the cause and mission? Why did I make up the term, and should you even care? Lets look as some examples.

The NE has multiple houses and enjoys the output of industry. He doesn’t know or care about the impact of the materials used or the lavish use of landscaping water, and certainly doesn’t want to hear a windmill going whump-whump next door. The OE climbed up an old growth tree, made a platform, and refused to leave when the loggers came. He tried and usually failed to build a house out of sod.

The NE is busy researching the impact of cow farts and extolling the virtues of eliminating cattle and sheep ranching. That is not to say he fears a burger or a nice lamb chop, and certainly is not going to be a vegetarian. The OE raises hell and tries to get cattle grazing away from exposed streams, where they can trample the ecosystem and urinate and defecate in the water causing downstream algae bloom. He tries to snare game birds and starves.

The NE experiences a guided raft trip down Hells Canyon in August, extolling and blogging on the virtues of nature. The OE wants Hells Canyon Damn broached, making the river generally un-raftable the majority of the year. He doesn’t really care that 100K CFS river flow in the spring and 3K CFS in August will devastate downstream communities and agriculture.

The NE enjoys a wonderful sushi dinner, noting the seaweed wraps are a sustainable product, while the OE trys to ram a Japanese whaling ship with a rubber dinghy, getting maimed in the process.

The NE flies commercial and sometimes even private jets, uses taxis and is a frequent user of UBER, while touting the virtues of carbon tax. The OE walks and rides bikes, and in some cases forgets there is such a thing as snow, wishing he had a car with a heater as his hands and feet go numb.

The NE is on a campaign to eliminate plastic straws. The OE is disgusted with the amount of plastic being dumped into the ocean in Asia, which until fall of 2018 when China stopped taking US plastic recycling, came from the NE’s recycle bin.

The NE drives a Prius because it saves the environment and uses sustainable energy. He doesn’t care that most of the energy is generated by dams and coal fired plants, but hopes dreamily to use solar and wind to power cars. He doesn’t know that converting to solar and wind will drive the price sky high and completely eliminate the value of the electric car. The OE starts an on line blog about lithium carbonate, graphite, cobalt and nickel mining in countries with well earned histories of unethical mining practices. Those are the main components in electric car batteries. Nobody reads the blog.

The NE wants to convert to solar panels. He does not understand the payback time frames and the use of a basic compound interest calculator to determine when that technology makes sense. The OE also cannot calculate paybacks on solar panels; he really just wants to get off the grid because it makes him itchy. Both are really bad at math.

The NE wants to apply carbon tax to fuel prices, extolling the virtues and touting a doctrine that financially crushes the landscape company used to mow his yards. The OE wants cheap gas to run his generator when his solar panels are not generating enough electricity to run the refrigerator. He just wants his eggs to last.

The NE is an elitist, or someone who desperately want to be elitist. She talks about the virtues of the doctrine, and doesn’t care about the costs. She doesn’t care about the working class, and if we have to stop sending plastic bottled water to people in third world countries with no clean drinking water, so be it. The carbon impact of a NE is vast and growing. She requires her cell phone, spend little to no time in nature, and to quote a term of its most famous proponent, “are forced to live in the world today”. The OE was predictable, over the edge crazy, had few friends, and lived a life that represented their values. There was almost no carbon impact from the OE. Unfortunately, in some cases, the OE participated in or at least thought about environmental terrorism, when he wasn’t freezing his ass off.

In my opinion, the NE is way more dangerous. They represent the reason why almost every similar wide spread social movement has failed. This is the creation of an elite ruling class. Citizens of the US are bombarded with the elitism of capitalist extremist, but are being slowly stabbed by between the ribs by the elitist on the left without knowing it. The majority of Americans are in the middle, trying to survive, driving to work, buying healthy groceries when they can afford it, and willing to do things to help our environment, but still have to put food on the table. The OE had less impact than they should because they could not compromise, but were damn predictable.

As always, remember to think. When someone tells you we are going to require a vast sweeping change, think about who gets left behind. The world depends upon US agriculture, innovation, and extreme drive to succeed. If we change that, everyone suffers, not just the “Tippy Top”.

Speaking of thinking, did you catch the Bern and AOC easter eggs?? Or the more subtle Teddy Kennedy egg? Please comment below!