Devout Rod Dreher, a thoughtful man who posts from considerably to the right of the Catholic Church, hates it when the right sneers at environmentalists for caring about the planet. Interesting to hear this kind of disdain coming from one inclined to dislike environmentalists:
This flopped over the transom this morning [he writes]:
"The Young Conservatives Coalition (YCC),
an advocacy organization dedicated to leading the next generation of
the conservative movement, will hold a rally on Earth Day at the US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to offer alternative solutions
for environmental problems. The YCC's aim is to promote the use of
market-based solutions and utilizing alternative energy resources,
instead of the Obama administration proposed "cap & trade"
policies."For far too long there has been a one-sided debate in this country
in regards to environmental policy," stated Christopher Malagisi,
president of the YCC. "It's about time the public learned about
alternative environmental solutions that truly work instead of
injurious proposed policies from the Obama administration."The event will take place on Wednesday, April 22nd from
11:45am-12:45pm. The two feature speakers will be Chris Horner, author
of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming &
Environmentalism, and Andrew Langer, president of the Institute for
Liberty. A proposed legislative resolution will be offered along with a
free lunch and complimentary granola bars."
Granola bars? Oh, you wits.
See, this is why people hate conservatives on the environment. Understand, I'm not
talking about conservatives who object to anthropogenic global warming
theory, or people on the right who generally criticize environmentalist
sanctimony and alarmism. I'm talking about the frat-boy sneering at a
topic of great moral seriousness. Does anybody really think that stunts
like this serve to convert anybody to climate skepticism? Well, imagine
a feminist group showing up outside a Catholic parish on Respect Life
Sunday to mock pro-life concerns by handing out rosaries with a "Pray
for Choice" label on them, or some similar gimmick making fun of the
seriousness with which pro-life Catholics take the abortion issue. Do
you think pro-choice feminists would win more converts that way, or
would they be more likely to confirm pre-existing stereotypes of
feminists as heartless jerks who don't deserve to be taken seriously?
National Review senior editor Jeffrey Hart's observation: "It is
depressing to hear cigar-smoking young conservatives wearing red
suspenders take a reductive view of, well, everything. They seem to
contemplate with equanimity a world without lions, tigers, elephants,
whales. I am appalled at the philistinism that seems to smile at a
future consisting of a global Hong Kong."
Nothing conservative about trashing the planet. Why is that so hard for the National Review to get?
Kit Stolz 
There is no doubt that people with the scientific (but not the sociological) knowledge I possess can hate conservatives for their green scepticism. Having seen a rainfall decline of 40 percent in my home of Melbourne that I know from (almost unknown) paleoclimate records to be unprecedented during the Holocene it is impossible for me to accept even the soundest arguments of climate sceptics and their allies in the Austrian School.
Yet, as I witness Australia’s appaling status as the largest per-capita emitter (I know enough science to show it should be by far the world’s smallest), I am coming to realise that conservatives can certainly take another tact. They can, for one thing, show that materialistic liberals really do not care about climate change because they continue to buy food grown in Australia on land that was never ecologically sustainable farmland simply because it is cheaper and uses less labour. An effort to conscientiously boycott Australian-grown crops simply because people like Tim Flannery and Tom McMahon have demonstrated Australia’s unsuitability for agriculture would I hope do a lot to combat climate change. So would efforts to set stringent guidelines for those wishing to visit Australia so that they use a tiny fraction the appalling energy consumption of most Australians with the country’s dirt-cheap petrol and electricity.
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I have no doubt that farming in Australia (as in California) can be ecologically unsustainable, but I don’t see the connection to climate change…if you have a chance, please explain. (I’d like to understand that.)
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