Park Rangers with Respirators

“ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL MYTHS ANSWERED



The anti-environmental movement is aggressively promoting false
ideas and is having some success wherever the local economy is in
decline.



Here, in reply to the 10 most popular anti-environmental myths,
we offer responses prepared by the Environmental Working Group
(EWG) in Washington, D.C.



MYTH No. 1: The public is fed up with extremist environmental
regulations which deprive people of their private property
rights, restrict recreational opportunities, and put animal
rights before the welfare of people. The anti-environment
movement is a genuine grass-roots response to over-zealous
environmental regulation, representing millions of everyday
voters and taxpayers.



FACT: The anti-environment movement is really a loose coalition
of industry lobbies and other special interests that create
storefronts to make themselves look like grass-roots groups.
Their "roots" are about as deep as Astroturf. The members and
contributors more often resemble Fortune 500 companies
--corporations who have, for decades, profited from the unbridled
exploitation of resources and public lands --and the few (often
wealthy) greedy individuals who have made their fortunes feeding
at the public trough. The regulations they seek to eliminate and
characterize as "extreme" are the very rules which protect the
human rights considered fundamental by all Americans: the right
to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and to protect their
homes and property from the environmental onslaught of those who
would profit at any price. Further, the anti-environment agenda
betrays not only the broad public interest, but contradicts the
goals of its own supporters. For example, shrimpers allegedly
support the anti-environment agenda because of its opposition to
endangered species protections. But the coalition's stated goal
of undoing wetlands protection would wreak havoc on the
livelihoods of shrimpers, whose catch is dependent on the
survival of these critical ecosystems.



MYTH No. 2: Unbridled environmental regulation has resulted in
the loss of thousands of jobs in forestry, mining, recreation,
and other industries.



FACT: This is one of the anti-environment lobby's favorite fairy
tales. Environmental regulation has taken the rap for jobs lost
to everything from mechanization, exportation, and economic
downturns, to downright corporate profiteering. In fact,
environmental protection is a growth industry. Every year, the
environmental industry grows by five to six percent and what is
today a $200 billion a year international industry, is projected
to rise to a $300 billion dollar a year industry by the end of
the decade.



To remain globally competitive, U.S. firms must compete with
international businesses that employ pollution prevention, energy
conservation, and new technologies to more efficiently produce
products. Environmental regulations will foster the innovation
and investment required for a strong business future. (For
example, see REHW #344.)



MYTH No. 3: For over 100 years, public lands have been available
for grazing sheep and cattle. Now, preservationists are
threatening to lock up the land and put family livestock
operations out of business by increasing grazing fees.



FACT: Only two percent of all livestock operators graze their
cattle on public lands. The government's cheap grazing fees give
an unfair competitive advantage to corporations and wealthy
individual operators over small family ranchers, who must pay the
full cost of grazing their cattle on private lands. Meanwhile,
livestock overgrazing has eroded soils and despoiled riparian
[stream-side] areas, taking a huge toll on wildlife habitat, and
the scenic, archaeological, and recreational values of public
land that all Americans own.



MYTH No. 4: We don't need to save every endangered species and
subspecies, particularly when people's jobs are at stake.
Extinction is a natural part of evolution. Using science, we can
determine a balanced approach for protecting important species
and jobs.



FACT: While extinction is a natural part of evolution, human
activities have accelerated it 10,000 times. Natural selection
is the process for strengthening biodiversity, while the
unnatural selection prompted by people artificially robs the
Earth of its most important genetic resources.



The genetic information inside one mouse would fill all 15
editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica published since 1768. It
is this wealth of information which provides scientists with the
key to new miracle cures like taxol (derived from the Pacific Yew
tree), which benefits women suffering from ovarian and breast
cancer, and digitalis (derived from the purple foxglove), a drug
used to treat over three million Americans suffering from heart
disease. The cure for diseases like AIDS may be hidden in one of
the 100 species which become extinct every day. And many jobs
rely on the health of species and ecosystems --from a billion
dollar fishing industry to the pharmaceutical industry. The
annual value of drugs derived from plants alone is over $40
billion.



MYTH No. 5. Wetlands regulation has denied ordinary citizens
opportunities to build homes and businesses. If protecting the
environment is in the interest of "the public good," then the
public ought to compensate individuals for the lost value of
their property.


FACT: The number of individuals who are denied the total use of
their property from wetlands regulation are few and far between.
In fact, over 98 percent of permit applications for building in
wetlands are approved. Wetlands regulation protects millions of
American property owners whose homes would be flooded and access
to clean water disrupted by unregulated development. Not only do
more than 40 percent of endangered species rely on wetlands
habitat, wetlands support billion dollar commercial and
recreational fishing industries.



MYTH No. 6: Much of the so-called "wetlands" acreage protected by
the Clean Water Act are not really wetlands. Some areas aren't
even wet.



FACT: It is true that not every wetland appears wet. But, does
the inability to distinguish between a priceless diamond and a
worthless piece of glass make the diamond any less valuable? In
fact, scientists tell us that so-called "part-time" wetlands are
among the most ecologically valuable in preventing floods,
recharging groundwater and filtering out pollutants. Determining
which wetlands merit protection requires competent scientific
judgments, not political rhetoric driven by profit-hungry special
interests.



MYTH No. 7: "Global warming" is a myth generated by scientists in
the pockets of the environmental lobby; the extreme predictions
of the past several years have not come true. This is the
environmentalists' traditional Chicken Little approach to
obstructing development and economic growth.



FACT: Global climate change has been established by credible
scientists as a real threat to public health and safety. Natural
factors, such as the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, may temporarily
mask the effect of global warming. Still, if left unchecked,
global climate change could develop deserts where croplands now
flourish, dramatic sea-level changes would flood low-lying areas,
and shifting rainfall patterns would affect crops and fisheries.

The industries who try to hide the inevitability of global
warming distort the facts in order to protect short-term profits,
but may be hurting themselves in the long run. Some foreign-owned
companies have already responded to American consumers' demand
for products that produce fewer greenhouse gases, while others
are profiting from the technology used to cut emissions. By
ignoring these trends, American businesses may be left in the
dust in the race for global markets.



MYTH No. 8: All public lands should be managed for multiple use:
mineral/hydrocarbon development, timber harvest, grazing, and
public recreation. All these activities can be safely conducted
in national parks and wilderness areas without destroying
critical ecosystems.



FACT: The Federal Land Policy Management Act (P.L. 94-579)
requires the federal government and the Secretary of the Interior
to carry out "...a combination of balanced and diverse resource
uses that takes into account the long-term needs of future
generations for renewable and non-renewable resources including,
but not limited, to recreation, range, timber, minerals,
watershed, wildlife and fish and natural scenic, scientific and
historical values; and harmonious and coordinated management of
the various resources without perma-nent impairment of the
productivity of the land and the quality of the environment with
consideration being given to the relative values of the resources
and not necessarily to the combination of uses that will give the
greatest economic return of the greatest unit output."



"Balanced" and "multiple" use of resources are policies set down
in law for the responsible management of public lands.
Unfortunately, the environmental destruction lobby has adopted
these as buzzwords to justify the dominant exploitative use of
public lands at the expense of every other natural resource value
--trees that prevent global warming, riparian areas critical to
wildlife survival, and clean groundwater for human drinking water
supplies.



MYTH No. 9: Environmentalists essentially practice pagan tree
worship. Environmentalists are disconnected from what's important
to people. They're anti-God and anti-American.



FACT: This argument is based in as little truth as the absurd
McCarthy-era witch hunts of the 1950s with suspected "communists"
lurking behind every door. Today, more than 80 percent of
Americans consider themselves "environmentalists," and
conservation is as patriotic as motherhood and apple pie.



The conservation ethic has its foundation in Judeo-Christian
faiths. The Book of Genesis tells of God giving humankind
dominion over his creation. Those who suggest destroying natural
resources destroy not only God's gift, but the resources
essential to the survival of humankind.



MYTH No. 10: Nature is a hierarchy, and humans are at the top of
the heap. Science can achieve a balance between the needs of
people and the environment, and can even improve on natural
systems. Extreme environmentalists stand in the way of human
progress and threaten the quality of human life.



FACT: The fate of the natural world and survival of humans are
inextricably linked. The environmental movement has made great
strides over the past twenty years to improve the quality of life
for people --from improving air and water quality by pressing for
the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts, to warning communities about
the danger of toxic releases from manufacturers. The naive
belief that corporate scientists can replace what nature took
thousands of years to create will deprive our children of natural
resources.



Contact: Environmental Working Gropup: 1718 Connecticut Avenue,
NW; Suite 600, Washington D.C. 20009; 202-667-6982.”

“roseymonster:

What planet are you from? It sure as hell is not Earth.

If humans are so evil go to this site:

www.vhemt.org

and practice what is recommended there. I know you don't have the guts to follow through on what you and they advocate.

BTW -- know what kind of habitat grizzlies, deer, and elk love best?

CLEARCUTS!”

“No fair STEALING MY THOUGHTS before I have a CHANCE TO POST THEM gordon.”

“Look don't take this the wrong way but there are places for them to go but I don't know how many times I have seen people go places with dirt bikes,bikes,atv's,jeeps,etc....Where they are not allowed to be.

That makes me mad as he!!.

8|

They go where they go and we go where we go and thats the way it should be!”

“LOL @ Gordon! That site is great!

But don't put words in my mouth, Gordon. I never said humans as a species are evil. We've made some poor decisions regarding the environment and if it is possible, I'd like to see some of the damage undone.

As a side note, I currently don't have any kids and practice birth control to make sure I don't. I also would never advocate the extinction of humans tho I think we're leading ourselves down the primose path to it.

I haven't spoken to any recently but I would venture that animals prefer natural clearings.”

“In controlled studies browsers preferred clearcuts to burns.

I disagree that humans have screwed things up. We have made things better for some species at the expense of others. The sharp cutback in National Forest harvesting has created more 'old growth' in many areas than ever existed pre-white man. The Northern Spotted Owl has expanded east of the Cascade crest where it was never found before. Forest cover is expanding in the U.S., not decreasing, and densities are around 30-35% higher than ever existed (national average, some areas are 400-500% historic levels. National Forests are growing about 7 times as much wood annually as harvested. Montane meadows are disappearing, riparian hardwoods are shrinking, brush and forbs in the understory are diminishing, and springs and streams are drying up. All because the public somehow got this cock-eyed notion that logging is evil.

We cannot go back to some theoretical condition that existed 1,000 years ago. That is impossible and undesirable.”

“I think we're spreading the argument a little wide here. But just let me say the only reason humans had to do anything about the spotted owl is because of the ESA. The only reason the ESA was enacted was because humans were in the process of eliminating species left and right and we needed a law to stop that. Same goes for a lot of the habitat that's been created as well.

Now, the initial focus of this thread was the impact of snowmobiling. I submit to you, yes, humans are a part of nature. However, in my opinion, mechanization is not. Therefore, we should do our best to remove all forms of mechanization from environments we wish to keep natural.”

“THAT WAS THE ANSWER I WAS LOOKING FOR ROSYMONSTER WAY TO GO!!!!!!!

8)”