The Environmental Creed
15th December 2019
Don Boudreaux, a Real Economist.
Careful observers often and correctly note that, for many of its adherents, environmentalism is a religion.
Too many environmentalists disregard inconvenient truths that would undermine their faith that calamities are percolating just over the horizon. It might well be that humans’ “footprint” on the Earth is larger than ever; it might even be true that this larger footprint creates some health risks for us modern humans that our pre-industrial ancestors never encountered.
But it is undeniably true that we denizens of industrial, market economies live far better and far healthier than did any our pre-industrial ancestors.
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What we almost never hear from self-proclaimed “environmentalists” is recognition of the upside of contemporary life. The commerce and industry that produce all the things that environmentalists ecstatically despise also produce incredible amounts of wealth, health and cleanliness — not to mention the leisure necessary for modern people to reflect upon and enjoy nature.