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Environmentalism As Self-Sacrificial Religion

I commented on a Den Beste essay a few days ago, using Houston's 55 MPH speed reduction as a local example of his broader argument.

Now that the TNRCC has decided to repeal the (retarded) 55 MPH speed limit, the letters are starting to flow into the Chron, and they help make my point. Here's an excerpt of a letter from one Devin Timmerman (Tomball) in Saturday's paper:

Our roads would be safer and commutes more tolerable (perhaps, even enjoyable) if we would think less about the time and other distractions and concentrate on the road.

Even if the science doesn't confirm that 55 mph leads to cleaner air, we may find it leads to a more spiritual view.

Someone needs to tell Mr. Timmerman that he's not supposed to admit it's not about the science. The RadicalTreeHuggingNuts won't like that.

More palatable to them will be Miss Janet Trimble (The Woodlands -- ironically, a sprawling "planned" development that continues to displace some of the last old-growth forest in this area!), whose "viewpoint" appeared in a recent Chron. It seems Miss Trimble once was a very bad steward of the earth, but the friendly environmentalists around her have helped her to see the light (and now she wants to blind the rest of us with it). Excerpt:

According to scientists, even if we eliminated all dangerous emissions beginning today, the Earth's climate would continue to change for the next decade. Do we throw our hands up in defeat? I've been willing to slow down, even if doing so makes only a small difference. And when my 1994 Jeep will go no more, I'm hoping to go electric. . . .

My efforts require a little more time from my already busy life and don't seem like much, but it's a start. I've decided I can be part of the problem or part of the solution. I choose to be part of the solution. My neighbor Cinda always says, "Do what you're comfortable with." I wonder. Seems to me that, as with strength training, where there's no pain, there's no gain. I challenge all who read this to get a little uncomfortable, to make a difference.

There you go -- it's all about the sacrifice! If it doesn't hurt, it can't be virtuous! But you can make a difference if you just "get a little uncomfortable." Does this really sound much different than various highly restrictive religions?

The part I like the best is her surprise (nay, SHOCK!) that the earth's climate will continue to change NO MATTER WHAT THE HELL WE DO WITH OUR LIFESTYLES. Now, I think she actually meant to write that it will change for the worse (and she's as bad a writer as she is a thinker), but maybe not. I just think it's hilarious that Miss Trimble is so ignorant of the science of climatology that she is shocked by the notion that climate change is natural and ongoing, yet would impose her sacrificial, minimalist lifestyle on the rest of us based on her (lack of) understanding of the natural world. Well, she would impose it as soon as her gas-powered Jeep wears out; "more sacrifice for thee and less for me" seems to be at work with poor muddled Miss Trimble.

Isn't that really what much of it is about? Wasn't that Den Beste's point?

[Posted at 23:45 CST on 06/08/02] [Link]

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