Environmentalism

To be clear, protecting the environment is a laudable goal. But while a certain degree of naïveté may be endearing in young people, it is embarrassing for a profession that likes to call itself “learned”.

I have never been the greatest fan of PETA, the radical animal rights organisation. But PETA’s latest publicity stunt made me rethink my prejudices.

The rise of the Greens in Baden-Württemberg should provide food for thought to the Greens – and perhaps even more so to National.

If politicians actually tried to find hard evidence for their green growth claims, they might look in vain. Instead, we may need to revert back to the old days of common sense when nobody expected environmental regulation to cause anything else but economic costs in return for environmental benefits.

Politicians love ‘creating’ jobs, especially when these jobs serve a ‘greater good,’ such as fighting climate change. Greens leader Bob Brown recently praised Germany’s renewable energy policy.

Christmas is when two great religions collide: Christianity and environmentalism. It’s God v Gaia, Christmas trees v tree huggers, and peace on earth v Greenpeace. Christians do not see nature as an end in itself. As Genesis puts it: “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

By putting an overemphasis on risk, Europe has turned itself into an inward looking, stagnant society. No wonder that path-breaking research increasingly happens outside the EU.

Worshipping their new goddess nature, the environmentalists have forgotten something. We human beings may not all be cute and cuddly, but we deserve at least as much love and attention as our distant relatives in the animal kingdom.