Tuesday, June 17, 2008

When Environmentalists Cause Harm

World’s Scariest Words: ‘I’m an Environmentalist and I’m Here to Help’
June 11

Two weeks ago the media was thrilled and alarmed by a film of a “lost” tribe of naked, painted Indians, living somewhere on the Brazil-Peru border and firing arrows at a helicopter flying overhead. Some reports claimed that this tribe was previously uncontacted by the modern world. But some anthropologists admitted that “this group is one of many in the Amazon that have chosen isolation.”

The fact that this tribe chose isolation did not stop the activists from the Brazilian government’s National Indian Foundation from distributing these films worldwide. They deliberately violated this tribe’s privacy because they wanted to use these Indians to prove that logging can be harmful to indigenous people.

Of course, the film shows no proof that loggers have violated this indigenous group’s privacy. It only shows proof that environmentalists violated their privacy. It also shows how much the natives appreciated their presence. Read More

Environmentalists have never looked at the law of unintended consequences. Some of their proudest accomplishments have worsened the human condition. Malaria was once nearly eliminated throughout the world until DDT was banned to allegedly save the birds. And also consider this, countless numbers of birds have died from West Nile disease because DDT isn’t available to effectively control mosquitoes.

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