Publication date:
19 February 2014Length of book:
130 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksISBN-13: 9780739189634
Everyone has heard of environmentalism, but what is it? Is it ideology or religion? Like socialism, environmentalism is a political program, but even more diffuse. Environmentalists hold diverse opinions, from wanting to take care of nature in human interest to putting nature above man. The latter is religious environmentalism, with nature taking the place of the supernatural. This book is a critique of this type of environmentalism, appropriately named ecofundamentalism. This may be a minority or even marginal opinion, but it seems to shape people’s thinking to an unwarranted degree. In the worst of cases, it would bring the end of civilization as we know it.
Without massive monocultures, supported by pesticides and fertilizer, we could never feed ourselves. Almost 90 percent of our primary energy comes from fossil fuels, without which there would be no air travel, cars and trucks, reliable electricity, and even much of our food supply. Putting a premium on biodiversity and getting serious about greenhouse gas emissions would force us to go without these things, putting us back in the Middle Ages.
Fortunately, there is no need to heed any of these environmentalist prescriptions. Contrary to the notion that economic growth is unsustainable and our core problem, it is actually the core solution. Economic growth and technology has made it possible for food production to outpace population growth since the industrial revolution. Economic growth is one reason why population growth worldwide has fallen so that the “population bomb” may never explode. It has also made us largely independent of the weather except for growing our crops. Meanwhile, ecofundamentalism would cause more harm than good.
Without massive monocultures, supported by pesticides and fertilizer, we could never feed ourselves. Almost 90 percent of our primary energy comes from fossil fuels, without which there would be no air travel, cars and trucks, reliable electricity, and even much of our food supply. Putting a premium on biodiversity and getting serious about greenhouse gas emissions would force us to go without these things, putting us back in the Middle Ages.
Fortunately, there is no need to heed any of these environmentalist prescriptions. Contrary to the notion that economic growth is unsustainable and our core problem, it is actually the core solution. Economic growth and technology has made it possible for food production to outpace population growth since the industrial revolution. Economic growth is one reason why population growth worldwide has fallen so that the “population bomb” may never explode. It has also made us largely independent of the weather except for growing our crops. Meanwhile, ecofundamentalism would cause more harm than good.
In this book, world-renowned fisheries economist Hannesson states that his goal is to debunk environmentalism of the ecofundamentalist variety as ahistorical, unscientific, and an outright threat to progress. Putting aside his technical and statistical tools to critically evaluate his subject, the author defines ecofundamentalists as people who put nature above humans and accuses them of being hypocrites benefiting from the comforts of the industry they deride and of self-aggrandizement promoting doom and gloom. According to the author, ecofundamentalists may be a minority and represent marginal opinion, but they are capable of shaping public thinking to an unwarranted degree. He does admit there are limits to the use of nonrenewable resources, but if experience is any guide, he concludes, people will probably do just fine. To environmentalists who urge precaution, Hannesson says the only way to learn about the dangers of a product is by using it. Possibly his most striking opinion is that people have learned the laws of nature and turned them to their advantage. A nonanalytical critique, this book is recommended as a reasoned counter to some of the arguments of environmentalism. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers.