THROUGH
Green-Colored
GLASSES
THROUGH
Green-Colored
GLASSES
Environmentalism Reconsidered
W ILFRED B ECKERMAN
INSTITUTE
Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1996 by the Cato Institute.
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Beckerman, Wilfred.
Through green-colored glasses : environmentalism reconsidered / Wilfred Beckerman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-224) and index.
ISBN 1-882577-35-3. ISBN 1-882577-36-1 (pbk.)
Environmentalism. 2. Economic development. I. Title GE195.B44 1996
333.7'2dc20 96-30858
CIP
Cover Design by Mark Fondersmith.
Printed in the United States of America.
C ATO I NSTITUTE
1000 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20001
This book is dedicated to my publisher, the late Colin Haycraft, a man of outstanding intelligence and exceptional courage, integrity, and independence of spirit, who was not afraid to publish this very "politically incorrect" work.
Preface to the U.S. Edition
I ought to have known better. I was very much at the center of the environmental debate in Britain during the early 1970s, and as soon as I had published my 1974 book In Defence of Economic Growth I got out of it. That was partly because I became boredand sometimes disgustedwith the low intellectual level of most of the environmentalist arguments deployed to attack economic growth or to claim absolute priority for environmental concerns. But it was largely because I became exasperated by the emotional tone of the debate and the wild abuse hurled at me for my views. People would come up to me and say, in effect, "Oh, so you are that wicked fiend Wilfred Beckerman, are you? Well, what about the Minamata disaster, or the demise of the bald eagle?" as if I were personally responsible for those phenomena.
So after I had published my 1974 book I could reply to such people by saying, "Sir (or Madame), I think you are talking nonsense. But I don't wish to get down in the gutter and argue about it with you. I have just published a book setting out my views. If you can find any flaws in the logic or errors of fact, I hope you will write an article in one of the serious academic journals, since it would then no doubt come to my attention in due course and I could do my best to reply."
The challenge has never been taken up. This did not, of course, prevent one or two hostile reviews appearing in odd newspapers or in the environmentalist press, but those were vastly outnumbered by favorable reviews. This time, the English edition of my latest book, Small Is Stupid, which appeared last year, has met with more hostile reviews, although there have still been very favorable reviews in the most prestigious and serious outlets.
I do not put this down to any significant change in the nature of my message in this latest book, nor in the quality with which my arguments have been presented. I put it down to the great strides that the environmentalist movement has made over the past two decades in mobilizing public opinion and gaining political support. It has been able to do so for a variety of reasons. One of these is that probably many more "environmental correspondents" are employed in the media, most of whom are committed ideologically to some of the environmentalist dogmas that I am attacking. But another reason is that environmentalism appeals to many quite different groups in society.
They include certain sections of the middle classes whose most immediate needs are satisfactorily met and whose priorities have moved now in the direction of environmental assets. For them it is morally satisfying to represent their preferences as a moral crusade against the crass materialism of modem industrial society. Also on the environmentalist bandwagon are certain politicians who find that catering to popular, if misplaced, fashions that have a high moral tone helps them on the road to political power. Other groups with a vested interest in extreme environmentalism include even many scientists whose research budgets depend on their claims that their research is needed to save humanity from impending environmental catastrophe. The media, too, have a part to play. A threat of environmental disaster is always good for attracting the attention of readers. And one must not forget the bureaucrats. In addition to the explosion of international and national commissions and committees to implement the agreements reached at the vast Rio de Janeiro "Earth Summit" of 1992, new rules and regulations to be imposed in the name of saving the world from the exhaustion of "finite resources" or some other exaggerated environmental threat.
Finally, there is the appeal of environmentalism to modem-day radical revolutionaries. Socialism now has been visibly discredited throughout most of the world. Everybody has been able to see that, instead of ushering in a society characterized by equity, justice, and comradely love, it led to the imposition of monstrous and incompetent regimes in many parts of the world. So the radical revolutionaries have turned to environmentalism as their rallying cry and their justification for acts of eco-terrorism and defiance of democratic processes of decisionmaking. Like most anti-democratic movements in the past they defend their activities by appeal to vague and meaningless sloganslike "sustainable development" or "the pre cautionary principle"and muddled mystical pseudo-philosophizing about the intrinsic value that nature would have even in the absence of human beings or the wonderful symbiotic relationship that existed between humans and nature in the Stone Age.
Taken together, these various passengers on the environmentalist bandwagon represent a formidable influence on society. They are behind the intrusion of bureaucratic regulation in our lives and livelihoods, behind pressures to restrict international trade or punish countries that do not share the same relative preferences for the environment as do the more prosperous nations, behind a disrespect for law and order in environmental policy, and behind a contempt for rational argument on the subject. Their propaganda at all levels, particularly among impressionable children who are particularly attached to animals, constitutes an obstacle to serious and balanced debate over environment.al policy.
Of course, there is always a grain of truthand sometimes more than a grainin the current concern with the environment. I became interested in the environment, and was made a member of the newly created Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, back in 1970 because of my concern with preserving the environment from excessive abuse. Concern with the environment reflects many of the best instincts of human beings, whether it is spiritual appreciation of the environment, or concern with future generations, or compassion for other creatures. But the environmentalist pressure groups advocate policies that are often inimical to the true interests of the environment or future generations. There are three reasons for this.
First, if economic growth were to be slowed down or stopped it would be impossible to improve the environmental conditions of most people in the Third World. Second, the widespread resort to regulations, instead of some market mechanism, to prevent excessive pollution, would only make environmental protection even more expensive, so that society would do less of it. Third, pursuit of the objective of "sustainable development" would, in fact, only reduce the welfare of future generations.
