Smile when You say that

Particularly if you say "Environmentalist." At one time, I proudly thought of myself as one, then I started listening to real "environmentalists." They turned out to be among the most anti-people, anti-industry groups I've ever met. I post-doc'd for a prof who was an environmentalist and member of the Sierra Club. The more he talked, the more I became convinced that the "environment" we had back in the '70's was something that only the elite could enjoy and the rank-and-file should be kept away. I looked and listened more, and kept hearing some of the most outrageous things being said.

I've met an exceeding few environmental saviours who have (a) read environmental regulations and (b) have any understanding of them although they will rant for hours about environmental criminals and the EPA. It's a real hoot to have one of the money collectors/petition mongers to come to the door for some cause and ask them a few questions. 99% have absolutely no understanding of the cause they are supporting.

Ever met an enviromental activist who has actually done work to improve the environment? How many tree lovers have planted more than a coupld of trees? Ever planted a thousand long-leaf pine seedlings by hand? Not much fun at all after the first hundred. How many have actually run a remediation job? How many have actually found ways to reduce or eliminate pollution? How many, experts on environmental law, have actually written a permit application and had to abide by the permit and the regulations? I've been at numerous meetings, hearings an on committees and heard the silliest stuff from "environmentalists." I guess the rule is the less you know, the louder and shriller you shout.

I had a couple of "environmental saviors" working for me. Both had degrees in "Environmental Management." Neither could tell me what the acronyms RCRA, CAAA, EPCRA meant. Neither could tell me what section of the Code of Federal Regulations contained environmental regulations. And these were folks educated at a college in "Environmental." I left them as shift operators in the waste water plant, under adult supervision.

When I read junk like that in the Guardian (see previous post), I don't know whether to laugh or cry. When I see groups like the Chesapeak Bay Foundation advertising in support of fixing a problem on TV and coloring all the adds in sepia tones and using very old photograhs to tell you how things are now, I don't know when to stop laughing. I don't laugh when I see some reporter, who probably took his last science class in the 8th grade, pan to lingering shots of cooling towers (water vapor) on a piece about pollution.

Several years ago, I took exception, in writing about a piece done on PBS. The "present danger" covered things that had stopped being done 15 years earlier and there were more shots of water vapor from cooling towers, steam leaks and steam traps when they talked about air pollution. The response from Lehrer was that he knew it, but needed to make a visual point. In other words, the whole cloth of this PBS piece, by a newsman of some supposed repute was an out-and-out fabrication.

I'm pro-environment and like to think that I've done a lot of good things to improve the environment. But don't call me an "enviromentalist." Them's fighting words.