Forgive Me Mother, For I Have Sinned

Kobayashi Maru is highlighting a column by James Schlesinger which discusses one of my favorite theories. The theory that environmentalism has gone way beyond a matter of public policy and has entered the realm of earth worship and therefore should be deemed a religion and treated accordingly.

It was Michael Crichton who pointed out in his Commonwealth Club lecture some years ago that environmentalism had become the religion of Western elites. Indeed it has. Most notably, the burning of fossil fuels (a concomitant of economic growth and rising living standards) is the secular counterpart of man's Original Sin. If only we would repent and sin no more, mankind's actions could end the threat of further global warming. By implication, the cost, which is never fully examined, is bearable. So far the evidence is not convincing. It is notable that 13 of the 15 older members of the European Union have failed to achieve their quotas under the Kyoto accord -- despite the relatively slow growth of the European economies...

Schlesinger's piece is subscriber only, but KM has much of it at his site. It's worth a persusal.