John Buckley of Carbon Footprint, an organization that helps companies reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, said Saturday that Live Earth will produce about
74,500 tons of the gas. “We would have to plant 100,000 trees to offset the effect of Live Earth,” he said, speaking by telephone. But, he added, “if you can reach 2 billion people and raise awareness, that’s pretty fantastic.
Certainly, on the way into the show, some of the 65,000 people who’d spent $110 on a ticket appeared unaware of the seven-point pledge that Al Gore, the event’s chief impresario, had asked all spectators to make. Asked about it, they offered blank looks and said they were there for Madonna (whose annual carbon footprint, according to Buckley, is 1,018 tons — about 92 times the 11 tons an average person uses per year)
…And a series of public information films featuring celebrities such as Penelope Cruz urged people to turn thermostats down and carpool while, in between, montages of happy animals were contrasted with pollution-belching power stations. [source]
But even more important than the blundering hypocrisy and childish stupidity of the “Live Earth” concert and the real point of my “Hollywood” post is neatly summarized by the following seemingly innocuous quote:
“I think that this will be very inspiring and show people that you can put on concerts and tours in a much greener way,” he said. “I understand concerns about Madonna’s carbon footprint. But nobody’s perfect, and at least we are now having an interesting debate about it, which will change behavior.”
“Nobody’s perfect” he say. This is the essence of environmentalism.
According to Buckley, what do you think it would mean to be “perfect”? Although he does not say, the answer is obvious and follows logically from the premises of environmentalism: NO “carbon footprint”.
Just as religious altruism pits man’s fundamental nature against him by demanding he be a self-sacrificial animal for God, so environmentalist altruism pits man’s fundamental nature against him by demanding he be a self-sacrificial animal for Earth. Both philosophy’s turn man into a guilt-ridden hulk never able to truly be “perfect” since perfection under either version would literally mean death. In Christianity, they call man’s inherent imperfection his “Original Sin.” In environmentalism, they call it his “Carbon Footprint.”
Afterall, eating is selfish and requires us to use the products of our labor which must be a part of the earth, but I guess nobody’s perfect. Living in a home with our families requires using the earth for materials, but I guess nobody’s perfect. Everything from the most primitive tool to a jet engine is the product of the application of human reason to the problems of human survival, but nobody’s perfect. This is why no solution will appease the environmentalists in principle. As long as man lives on earth, he must use it to survive. If we colonize another planet then we will use it. I can’t wait for “Live Mars.”
So is this an extreme interpretation? What “carbon footprint” would appease Buckley? Is it 10 tons per year or 1 ton per year? Who should be the judge of this? For now, the environmentalists overtly seem only interested in less. However, just as religionists of the past and present attempt to enforce their orthodoxy on us in order to realize their vision of “perfection” we are now seeing the inevitable result of the environmentalist crusade for their vision of “perfection.” As they stop companies from drilling for oil, expanding refinery capacity, building biotech parks or highways or homes lest they interfere with swamps and orange groves or snail darters we will continue to experience the direct impact of aspiring to environmentalist “perfection.”
