THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 93, April 23, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
KILLING PEOPLE TO "SAVE" THE ENVIRONMENT
By Alan Caruba
THE ASTONISHING TENACITY OF THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS IN SEEKING TO CONTROL THE ENTIRE WORLD & THE
LIVES OF ALL ITS PEOPLES -- A LOOK AT WHAT THE RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK IS UP TO, AS IT SEEKS THE POWER OF
ABSOLUTE VETO OVER ANY LOANS AMERICAN BANKS EXTEND TO THIRD WORLD NATIONS & DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IN
THOSE NATIONS
FULL STORY:
I confess it took me a long time to realize that much of what passes for the environmental movement, or environmentalism, involves
imposing restrictions that (1) destroy economic growth and (2) often destroy lives.
A perfect example of both these Green objectives is the utterly vile efforts of the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) that have been
directed of late against major financial investment companies such as Citicorp and Bank of America. Both ceded their lending
decisions to RAN in 2004.
Their latest target has been J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, whose Chief Executive Officer, William Harrison, has been under siege in his
home in Greenwich, Connecticut. As Steve Milloy of JunkScience.com has noted, “RAN wants to dictate J.P. Morgan
Chase’s lending policies for the developing world, especially with regard to energy projects and logging. As an environmental
extremist group railing against oil, wood and meat consumption, RAN wants to block lending to projects it claims may contribute
to global warming or involve logging in ‘sensitive’ areas.”
One of my personal heroes, Niger Innis, the National Spokesman for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), has said, “RAN does
not deserve a seat at the table of any bank, and certainly should never been given veto power.” He criticized the World Bank,
Citigroup, and Bank of America for having “shamefully compromised” their lending policies as the result of RAN’s threats. An
Ugandan, Diana Koymuhendo, asks, “What right do they have to tell poor people they must settle for whatever crumbs Rainforest
Action tosses to them?”
Without an investment in the provision of energy in Third World nations, they are going to remain mired in poverty. Nothing
happens in this world until you flip a switch and a light turns out, a water pump starts up, or anything else we associate with the
modern world begins to function. Life without electricity condemns people to a life of poverty, disease, and premature death.
Would you believe that, worldwide, two billion people still have no electricity? If RAN manages to intimidate J.P. Morgan Chase
Bank, that condition will continue because the bank will elect not to support the changes needed to truly create a global economy.
With other banks having already caved in to these outrageous demands of the radical environmentalists, poor Third World
countries will have nowhere to turn for financing.
And this, of course, is RAN’s agenda for the poor developing countries. They are to remain traditional, indigenous and
impoverished, requiring few of the Earth’s “finite” resources, and keeping their populations in check through disease,
malnutrition, and starvation.
That means 800 million people will be chronically undernourished, with 14 million Africans facing starvation in southern Africa
alone. More than 230 million children will continue to suffer from Vitamin A Deficiency, suffering a condition which currently
causes a half million of the children go blind every year. Two million will continue to die from problems directly related to VAD.
None of this is necessary. Modern biotechnology can save human lives, while preserving wildlife and wildlife habitats. It would
let farms grow more food on less land, but RAN and other Greens declared war on biotechnology years ago. They cry out that it
requires widespread use of pesticides, but that is just another Green lie. Biotech crops can withstand insects and viruses without
heavy use of pesticides. Some crops have been created to grow better in saline and nutrient-poor soils. Others can thrive despite
severe droughts. Meanwhile, RAN and its allies spend $35 million a year battling the introduction of biotech crops.
RAN is among those Green groups that lobbied to get the United Nations to ban the use of DDT to protect people against malaria.
Malaria infects an estimated 400,000,000 people a year in Africa alone. It kills 2,000,000, half of them children. The loss of revenue
to poor African nations is in the billions annually, because a third of their workforce is sick much of the time.
There is something obscene about the opposition of Green organizations to anything that would improve the lives of the very
least among us, the poor and the starving masses of the Third World. That, however, is the objective of the environmentalists.
Their concern is for wildlife or for forests that anyone knows can replenish themselves. Cutting down a tree does not mean
another will not grow in its place, but not cutting down a tree often leaves people without ground on which to grow crops or an
income from that tree when sold as lumber.
From the rainforests of South America to the parched lands of sub-Saharan Africa, RAN is plotting ways to insure that people,
no different from you or I, remain trapped in poverty, lack of adequate food, a constant threat of disease, and the specter of death
by age 35 — if they make it past infancy. That is what the modern, perverse vision of environmentalism is really all about.
As this is being written, we are waiting to see if J.P. Morgan Chase Bank will cave into RAN as other major investment
institutions already have. One can only hope Chase Bank's CEO will resist the siren call of death in RAN’s message.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, Communications Director of the American Policy Center,
and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly
column, "Warning Signs," posted on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center
(www.anxietycenter.com). A compilation of his past columns, entitled Warning Signs, is published by Merril Press. In addition
to Warning Signs, Caruba is the author of A Pocket Guide to Militant Islam and The United Nations vs. the United States,
both of which are available from the National Anxiety Center, 28 West Third Street, Apartment 1321, South Orange, New Jersey, 07079.
© Alan Caruba 2005
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume VII, 2005
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues