They keep getting it wrong. If being human isn’t what gives us the duty to practice responsible environmental practices, what does? Nothing. But the global warming hysterics and others attack HE as somehow supporting the rape of the planet.
Here’s an example from Australia. A very confused commentator extols science as the heroes of modernity, and then blames scientific triumphalism for our prosperity that is supposedly destroying the planet. But this is the part that is not only wrong, but gratuitous: From “Making Heretics of Scientists Casts a Shadow,” by Sean Hosking:
The literature of such groups [e.g. Heartland Institute] makes clear the objective to restore the integrity of science is secondary to a desire to reassert order and control in the face of uncertainty and change. Implicit in this view is the doctrine of human exceptionalism and a hankering for the kind of scientific triumphalism that facilitated much of the industrial growth of the 20th century under the assumption that humans could control and exploit the natural environment without limit, a perspective that resonates in particular with many older Australians.
Today’s Galileos are the scientists, not those who vilify them. To the challenges of our time, we must confront the distortions and false promises of ideology in much the same way as our Enlightenment forebears confronted irrationalities, myths and vested interests. This involves prioritising science over the politics of global warming. If not, the time for acting reasonably may pass us by.
We can argue who are the real ideologues about this issue another time. But whether one believes we are causing global warming or are skeptical, human exceptionalism is not the enemy. It is the ally. Unless, that is, you are misanthropic and believe in “nature rights,” making the large scale developments of resources an international crime (ecocide), and accept the anti human premises of deep ecology and Gaia theology. Then HE is the enemy because it puts human thriving first.
