Environmentalism must be about people

Only science and astute leadership can produce the win-wins that are the way forward. Only success reinforces success.

The imperative is the human population and the rising quality of life, worldwide. The common denominator is the expanding human habitat, and the resulting shrinking wildlife habitat. There are many more local issues, also.

Those who label themselves as environmentalists have some members who have become very dangerous to humans. This smaller select group is dangerous politically, a threat to the financial security of too many families, and in an incongruous way, a threat to human and many animals existence. This last statement and situation is so ludicrous that only humans could have gotten us to this point. If ever the law of unintended consequences needed a poster example, the extreme environmentalists have provided it.

Examples are many and all around the world.
· Smokey the Bear campaigns for decades have taken prescribed fire out of most habitat management with catastrophic results to humans and wildlife today.
· Poor science and too early implementation of political rules about the Spotted Owl have damaged a region, many towns, and the livelihood of thousands of humans: workers, families, towns, and businesses.
· A rich European buying and setting aside thousands of acres of Brazilian rain forest has put 1,000 loggers out of business, all while mature trees will rot and fall down in the future. Trees don’t live forever. They get old and die just like people do.
· Kenya’s ban on hunting while promoting picture taking tourists has ended up reducing animal populations over decades. And those who support the continued ban on hunting and income generated by hunting use local problems as the reason to maintain this failing idea. Meantime the animal populations and habitat continue to decline in Kenya.
· Pacifist and anti-military politicians and people in Okinawa and elsewhere are opposing a new airfield that moves the noise away from the populated areas. They are using a sacred salt water manatee as the good reason. Thousands of construction and maintenance jobs hang in the balance, when smart science and leadership could make this a win-win and avoid the acrimony that is building unnecessarily. Worst case, the entire new airfield and associated military units and human jobs will move to other lands. That some of this battle is in US courts is astounding, given that the Japanese are paying for this new airfield in the remote Nago area.
· Some of these more extreme environmentalists have gone global, and in our name, though few have been elected by the people of the world. It is disturbing to read and hear that the science for the case of global warming is a slam dunk after hearing the head of the CIA use the same words to the President about WMD’s in Iraq. And their support of the Kyoto treaty will devastate economies and people’s livelihoods with little expected to show for it since China and India and others are exempted. Now I hear that Kyoto is just a first step. And there are those who choose to stop ocean sonar use and testing because of possible adverse effects on marine mammals. Sonar is part of our people’s defense, and to stop sonar use based on incomplete science is threatening we people and our way of life. Where are there proposals that include the ideas of mitigation and the effects on humans, especially their livelihoods to include their defense.

Those who choose to point out all the environmental abuses that adversely affect humans are welcome to do so. This author thinks he can match such abuse lists, and then some. These must be addressed, also. But in all cases, the effects on humans must be included. Environmentalism is about humans coexisting in the environment, and having jobs.

And there are so many win-win examples that reflect good science and leadership. The recovery in the US of the red-cockaded woodpecker in the eastern coastal plain, the creation and expanded use of conservation easements and legal Safe Harbors, and programs by governments to financially reward good management practices by private land owners are three good examples. Including sports hunters around the world in funding and managing for the future of man and animals in coexistence is another proven idea with a good success record. The point is that environmentalism is about humans, and good science and leadership will provide the win-wins the world needs to succeed in this area.