Customer Reviews

Trashing the Economy: How Runaway Environmentalism is Wrecking America

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It's obvious that our property rights have been seriously undermined. The Columbia Gorge story should convince you. Add to that the Kelo decision in CT and the CAO ordinances all over Washington State.
Ask yourself why the environmental movement hardly mentions the "other half" of the economy, i.e. the people that privately create jobs. Government spending to create jobs or save nature is not an "investment", as it is when you invest for a small gain (interest on the use of your money). Government "investment" is taxation.
And they did it by trickery.

In "Trashing the Planet", Arnold and Gottlieb pull the curtain back on the current environmental movement. They show that the policies and beliefs of most of the mainstream environmental groups would shock most of the "average" environmentalists. Being Green feels good, but cannot be intellectully supported by the new-luddites of today. Arnold and Gottlieb deliver a well reasoned, logical, expose of the movement.

It seems the authors of this book are writing by opinion and backing their opinions up with facts they find to make them sound right. I don't argue the fact that some Environmental groups can become overzealous in their cause and forget what their goal is BUT... what about the people like the average farmer who has been practicing conservation efforts from the begining. They till the earth, plant a crop, fertilize the crop with animal bi-products, reap the harvest, feed themselves and the animals, over and over, etc... Most people today have no idea what it takes to grow food for themselves, their families and/or their animals. All most people know is that they go to the store and their is food. Centuries ago, people grew their food and raised their animals and fed themselves. With the newest technology, we all WANT WANT WANT. What do you think all of this WANT does??? It causes the supply and demand curves of general economics to be put into motion. People need these high paying jobs just to live because we have caused the cost of living to rise so far that we cannot survive on the means of a famer, or simple laborer. We've caused this economic destruction ourselves by simple WANT and not NEED. So who do we blame??? Ask the authors and you'll hear what was written in the book, Environmentalists. Heaven forbid we blame ourselves.

Ask a child today where beef comes from. You'll probably hear "the grocery store". It is this false sense of nature and naturalism that "most" environmentalists are striving to help people recognize. People will not open there eyes to see the fact that each of us has an impact on the earth and people who sit back and say go ahead; drive your old clunky cars; drill oil; pollute the air, we won't be around to see the destruction it causes. They choose to live for themselves. The gift from God that we were all born with was free will. What we choose to do with it is determined by the individual. People gather into many groups to consolidate their efforts to use their free will. In almost every type of group, we see the end result of arguments over who is right and who is wrong.

The authors certainly make a big deal about presenting the "little known" FACTS about environmental groups that will supposedly support their premise that these groups are out to "trash the economy." First of all, this requires the premise that there is no financial value to the environment, no financial value to clean air and water. No where in this book do the authors present facts of actual & SUSTAINING damages to the economy resulting from these groups, except for the notorious case of the alar scare and the dolpin tactics used to control huge, out-of-control nets. They lump legitimate tactics with the fringe radical groups, painting all environmentalists with the same brush. They are very righteous about foot-noting their sources, most of who are malcontents, or who have their own hidden adgenda for which another book could be written. The authors continue to malign the groups for being "rich", large , and interconnected - SO WHAT! They operate just like big businesses, as they should. One example of many unsupported contentions is that the Nature Conservancy's buying of three islands off the coast of Virginia robbed the economy of thousands of jobs!! The authors failed to present facts to support that statement! They fail to include the dollars generated by eco-tourism, one of the fastest growing segments of our economy. I guess these guys would like to see bridges to the galapogas islands. What a one-sided rip!

I rated this book three stars because I haven't read it yet but wanted to make a few remarks regarding the above review entitled "Trashing the Truth." The review was not helpful to me because its author doesn't address the content of Mr. Arnold's book, preferring instead to resort to the informal logical fallacies ad hominem, circumstantial ad hominem, appeal to emotion, and appeal to force. I won't make a hasty generalization about environmentalists, but I can say that the doomsayers seem to get quite a bit of mileage out of fallacious or shallow arguments and omission of relevant facts which contradict their conclusions. It is unfortunate that intellectual immaturity so often carries the day. Read Julian Simon, for goodness sake!

This book is part of an ongoing effort by industry front groups and shills to convince us that what we are seeing with our own eyes is not reality.

The authors assert that the environment is overprotected, but most Americans over age 20 know that the neighborhoods they grew up in, the lakes, rivers and oceans they swam in, and the forests and other wilderness spaces they used to recreate in are in trouble.

Environmental protections laws are rarely enforced, and even when they are enforced, guilty parties are usually given no jail time, and small fines. Wetlands laws are especially ignored, and most land under federal/state supervision is being mismanaged and overexploited by destructive industries and groups.

Even our national parks are plagued by pollution, jet skis, snowmobiles, traffic jams and other unpleasant, destructive activities and conditions.

Our current economy is unsustainable, based on bulldozing, paving, cutting, burning, and raping the earth. Someday soon, when we are alone on this planet with only our domestic animals and livestock as company, when the oceans are dead and the forests chopped down, we will look at books like this and realize we were lied to by greedy, bitter people who served death rather than life.