I am an environmentalist and founder member of the Greens but I bow my head in shame at the thought that our original good intentions should have been so misunderstood and misapplied. We never intended a fundamentalist Green movement that rejected all energy sources other than renewable, nor did we expect the Greens to cast aside our priceless ecological heritage because of their failure to understand that the needs of the earth are not separable from human needs. We need to take care that the spinning windmills do not become like the statues on Easter Island, monuments of a failed civilisation. [emphasis mine]You can read the full letter by following this link and selecting the Lovelock letter at the foot of the post.
James, originator of the Gaia theory, joins a growing list of erstwhile devotees who are having doubts about their Green roots. Earlier this month I drew attention to the apology from Mark Lynas about his opposition to GM crops. A founder member of Greenpeace Patrick Moore has long since renounced that organisation and many of the causes it espouses.
Now 93 years old, James Lovelock has come to support nuclear energy and, more recently, fracking.
The worst aspect is that despite knowing all about the lack of evidence for harmful effects from what is turning out to be a minuscule amount of warming. Despite knowing just how much of the country would be swallowed by thise bird mincer and how many lives would be blighted ... he only changed his mind when it was in his back yard.
ReplyDeleteI could have respected him, if like me he had campaigned for global warming but changed when the evidence came out against about 2005. I could even have had a small amount of respect if he had stuck to his guns and said "I still believe it will be a lot worse than it currently appears ... so I'm in favour".
But to change his mind apparently just because someone is building a wind blight across his view ... shameful!