Malthus

First of all, let me state that it is man's duty to carefully and responsibly husband the earth and its resources. The earth if ours; yet, like a home, it must be cultivated with love and reverence, as a sign of love and respect for the Master of the House.

That said, articles like this infuriate me.

Predictions of environmental disaster seem to be just as accurate as predictions of the Second Coming. And Malthusians seems to forecast gloom and doom just as often as millenarian nutcases forecast the "rapture."

Also, don't you always detect an anti-human element in stories like these? Case in point:

Because of human demand for food, fresh water, timber, fibre and fuel, more land has been claimed for agriculture in the last 60 years than in the 18th and 19th centuries combined.

You mean, [gasp] that people demand food and fresh water? And we demand more of it than before? Horror of horrors!

Perhaps this is due to the fact that over 6 billion people live on the planet. Of course, hardcore environmentalists think that's "too many." That phrase is generally code for either: 1) there are too many brown skinned people running around, or 2) man is a cancer that must be purged so that mother nature can flourish once again (think of the plankton!).

Sure man "exploit" the environment. In return people live longer, healthier lives. But every living thing exploits the environment. Plants leech nutrients out of the soil, lions brutally kill antelope.

True, man's impact on the world is much greater (sorry God made us smart enough to figure out a way to turn plants into medicines and cut down forests to grow more food; sorry most of us start from the proposition that humans are more valuable than artichokes). We can lessen that impact one of two ways:

1. Totally ditch civilization. People would pollute a lot less if they just moved back into caves and started foraging for nuts and berries again. If the doom and gloom forecasters would be willing to leave their air conditioned homes and showers behind first, then maybe I'll even consider the idea.

2. Continue to support free market innovations. As we become richer, we have an increased ability to be able to worry about the state of the environment. For centuries men tried to figure out how to ensure a steady stream of food and how to avoid death from infenctions, pneumonia, and other things a trip to the drug store fix nowadays. Since the demands of survival are not as pressing anymore, we can afford to spend money worrying about nature.

We can afford to set aside huge tracts of land for parks and natural preserves. We can afford to process waste before it's released into the environment. The list goes on.

Compare where we are now to the middle of the Industrial Revolution. Compare standards of hygiene, living conditions, etc. then and now. When would you rather live? You can thank mankind's industry and intellect.

Of, you can drag your knuckles in the dirt and look forward to dying of a tooth infection at the ripe old age of 28.