The Animal Planet cable network has been running the program Whale Wars. The show traces the action of a group of volunteers who have given themselves the mission of stopping whaling. Their leader is Paul Watson. He was an early member of Greenpeace but was removed from the board for his support of “direct action.”
For some reason, I found myself rooting for the Japanese. The most enjoyable moment for me came when a Japanese vessel crashed into an expensive little speedboat, the Ady Gil, and sank it.
Watson’s people always struck me as self-righteous, cultish and overly impressed with themselves. But I was left with the question of why I was rooting so intently for the people they were trying to stop. What difference would it make to me if a bunch of people want to try to save the planet? Why should I care? I don’t eat whale meat. It’s not like they were impacting my diet.
The reason came clear when I heard the introduction to this season’s shows. The lead-in says that Watson’s people “will wage a war against a group of blue-collar fisherman whose chosen catch is whales.” To reinforce this, the theme song for the series says, “The world is a vampire…”
But, what does “The world is a vampire” mean? What part of the world? I assume they are not talking about vampire bats. Bats are only doing what comes naturally. I would guess they are not talking about predatory animals like lions, tigers and bears which live by killing other animals, or the vultures that live off the remains.
What do they mean when they sing, “The world is a vampire …”? They are talking about us. It may sound noble when they say they are willing to “fight for a species other than their own”. But where does that leave “their own”? Is the human species the only one to be prohibited from surviving by using the world’s resources and eating plants and animals?
Apparently so. One group’s goals are described (by an environmentalist web site) as follows:
Forest Guardians, the Santa Fe based environmental group … has decided to take on a bigger role than just being the “guardians” of our forests. Now they’re prepared to be the guardians of the earth – the WildEarth that is, the earth sin gente. That’s the philosophy that underlies their mission: saving nature apart from man, who is the scourge of the planet (see review of Jake Kosek’s book, Understories: The Political Life of Forests in Northern New Mexico, in the December 06 and January 07 issues of La Jicarita).
One would think that in a sane world, or a sane political system, people who consider humanity “the scourge of the planet” would be kept far away from the policy making tables. Au contraire! The EPA is using a lawsuit filed by this group to make an “out of court settlement“.
“Aging coal-fired power plants across the West could be forced to install costly pollution control equipment,” reports the AP “under an agreement between federal regulators and environmentalists aimed at jump-starting a delayed clean air initiative.”
The agreement entered into by the Obama administration with the environmental whack-jobs WildEarth Guardians will cost utilities at least $1.5 billion and put at risk the operation of 18 coal-fired electric plants in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming by next year.
Like anyone else, I am glad the environment is cleaner than it was when I grew up. But there are limits. The “Golden Rule” tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves. In its extreme, the “Green Rule” seems to be to love all creatures except your neighbor.
Clearly there are those in the Environmental movement who are convinced that humanity must be either virtually or totally eliminated to protect the planet. They have apparently declared war on the human race. It seems obvious to me that those extremists are the threat.
When a significant number of people start to believe their neighbors must cease to be in order to save the planet, something very sick is happening. My neighbor is not a “vampire” or “the scourge of the planet.”
I want my political leadership to stop those who hate their neighbors. I expect governments to fight for us as well as the planet: to work for a balanced effort which protects the planet and recognizes the need of people to eat and make a living for themselves and their children.
In the movie, Independence Day, the U.S. President addresses a group of pilots going out to face aliens who want to annihilate the human race. I am looking for leaders who will proclaim with him:
We are fighting for our right to live. … [t]o exist. “We will not go quietly into the night!” We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive!
DalesIdeas.COM 
Most excellent!
You put your finger on the short coming of at least a significant part of the environmental movement–they cannot love their neighbor because they do not love the human community. Rather they see humanity as a cancer that has invaded the body of Gaia.
This is worse than paganism. It is self-hatred disguised as concern.
A blessed 4th of July to you and yours!
In Christ,
+FrG