The
Rational Argumentator
Al Gore, the Guru of Gaia, now seems to agree with this assessment and comes down clearly against the human race.
In an interview the former vice president argued that one way to reduce the carbon emissions that he claims are causing climate change is “to stabilize the population, and one of the principal ways of doing that is to empower and educate girls and women.” Specifically, “You have to have ubiquitous availability of fertility management so women can choose how many children have, the spacing of the children.” Gore states that, “You have to lift child survival rates so that parents feel comfortable having small families.”
What size families individuals choose to have is a very personal and private matter. In pursuit of their own happiness, individuals must balance their various goals in life concerning careers, family, and the like.
But Gore has a different balance in mind. He endorses smaller
families so that “the population [can begin] … to stabilize and
societies begin to make better choices and more balanced choices” with
the goal of reducing carbon emissions. Note “societies” making
decisions, not individuals.
Gore’s point here is not just that education, family planning
options, and lower infant morality are good things. It’s that
individuals should take account of the impact of the children they might
choose to have on the environment because children and humans in
general are a burden on the planet.
Here is the stark essence of how Gore and his co-religionists view
the world. The environment is not material to be used to support human
life and comfort, to be utilized by us for our food, shelter, and all
the great human enterprises and achievements. The environment has some
kind of intrinsic value apart from its value to humans.
If one accepts that premise, then one is always asking, “How can I
reduce my impact on the Earth? How can I reduce my carbon footprint?”
Returning to a more primitive existence might seem one way. But only a
small fraction of the global population of nearly seven billion and
rising can be supported if we all were to cut back on the technology and
advances that now support our lives. See the assumption here? Humans
are the problem. The obvious solution: Have fewer humans!
And sure enough, there are environmentalists who promote the idea of having no children because children are pollution. There is former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s environmental adviser Jonathon Porritt, who advocates cutting his country’s population in half, by 30 million. And there is a human extinction movement.
Some individuals might think that Gore and company only mean to say
that for the sake of humans, for the sake of our survival, for the sake
of our children, we must conserve limited natural resources. The planet
will certainly run out of a few non-renewable resources—fossil fuels,
for example—in the distant future.
But something is a “resource,” that is, of value to humans, because
we use our minds to discover how to utilize it. A hundred and fifty
years ago, oil was simply a nuisance to farmers when it seeped out of
the ground and spoiled their crops. It was our minds that figured out
how to use it for fuel. And there is no limit to the capacity of the
human mind to discover how to utilize the environment for our benefit,
assuming that the survival and happiness of individual humans on this
Earth is one’s goal.
Let’s thank Al Gore for clarifying the nature of a crucial struggle
in the world today. There are those who value the environment separate
from its value to humans and thus in conflict with the life of humans.
And there are those who value their own lives, families, friends, and
everything they gain from this world. If you choose the latter, don’t
miss opportunities to call to task those who advocate the former, to
point out the implications for their anti-human philosophy, and to
reject that philosophy wherever it rears its ugly head.
Explore:
Edward Hudgins, “Light Up the World for Humans” March 27, 2009.
Edward Hudgins, “Reducing Humans to Carbon Ash” November 16, 2009.
Robert Bidinotto, “Green Cathedrals: Environmentalism’s Mythological Appeal” September 2007.