[extropy-chat] Bill Moyers' Comments - Global Environment Citizen Award

[Mike Lorrey]

I'll note that Bill Moyers states that he and his fellow travellers
explicitly believe that the world is a zero-sum game of limited
resources. Extropians, who understand that exponentially advancing
technology increases resource utilization efficiency faster than the
rate of population growth, have more in common with the believers who
think that 'the lord provides plenty of room for all the people', than
with the chicken-littles who only believe in a malthusian, brutish
future of diminishing resources and decreasing choices.

As much as the more leftish here think that they are allied with the
humanists, you need to wake up. The humanists are no longer pro-human,
they are anti-human gaiaists.

--- Natasha Vita-More <natasha at natasha.cc> wrote:

> 
> >This is a chilling speech, worth reading, and in my judgment, well
> worth 
> >passing on.  Unfortunately, it will only be heeded by those of us
> who are 
> >not "believers."  The ones who need to understand it, won't...
> >
> >Donald R Emery PhD
> >
> >
> >On Receiving Harvard Medical School's Global Environment Citizen
> Award
> >
> >by Bill Moyers
> >
> >On Wednesday, December 1, 2004, the Center for Health and the Global
> 
> >Environment at Harvard Medical School presented its fourth annual
> Global 
> >Environment Citizen Award to Bill Moyers. In presenting the award,
> Meryl 
> >Streep, a member of the Center board, said, "Through resourceful,
> intrepid 
> >reportage and perceptive voices from the forward edge of the debate,
> 
> >Moyers has examined an environment under siege with the aim of
> engaging 
> >citizens." Here is the text of his response to Ms. Streep's
> presentation 
> >of the award:
> >
> >I accept this award on behalf of all the people behind the camera
> whom you 
> >never see. And for all those scientists, advocates, activists, and
> just 
> >plain citizens whose stories we have covered in reporting on how 
> >environmental change affects our daily lives. We journalists are
> simply 
> >beachcombers on the shores of other people's knowledge, other
> people's 
> >experience, and other people's wisdom. We tell their stories.
> >
> >The journalist who truly deserves this award is my friend, Bill
> McKibben. 
> >He enjoys the most conspicuous place in my own pantheon of
> journalistic 
> >heroes for his pioneer work in writing about the environment. His 
> >bestseller The End of Nature carried on where Rachel Carson's Silent
> 
> >Spring left off.
> >
> >Writing in Mother Jones recently, Bill described how the problems we
> 
> >journalists routinely cover - conventional, manageable programs like
> 
> >budget shortfalls and pollution - may be about to convert to
> chaotic, 
> >unpredictable, unmanageable situations. The most unmanageable of
> all, he 
> >writes, could be the accelerating deterioration of the environment, 
> >creating perils with huge momentum like the greenhouse effect that
> is 
> >causing the melt of the arctic to release so much freshwater into
> the 
> >North Atlantic that even the Pentagon is growing alarmed that a
> weakening 
> >gulf stream could yield abrupt and overwhelming changes, the kind of
> 
> >changes that could radically alter civilizations.
> >
> >That's one challenge we journalists face - how to tell such a story 
> >without coming across as Cassandras, without turning off the people
> we 
> >most want to understand what's happening, who must act on what they
> read 
> >and hear.
> >
> >As difficult as it is, however, for journalists to fashion a
> readable 
> >narrative for complex issues without depressing our readers and
> viewers, 
> >there is an even harder challenge - to pierce the ideology that
> governs 
> >official policy today. One of the biggest changes in politics in my 
> >lifetime is that the delusional is no longer marginal. It has come
> in from 
> >the fringe, to sit in the seat of power in the oval office and in 
> >Congress. For the first time in our history, ideology and theology
> hold a 
> >monopoly of power in Washington. Theology asserts propositions that
> cannot 
> >be proven true; ideologues hold stoutly to a world view despite
> being 
> >contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. When ideology
> and 
> >theology couple, their offspring are not always bad but they are
> always 
> >blind. And there is the danger: voters and politicians alike,
> oblivious to 
> >the facts.
> >
> >Remember James Watt, President Reagan's first Secretary of the
> Interior? 
> >My favorite online environmental journalist, the ever engaging
> Grist, 
> >reminded us recently of how James Watt told the U.S. Congress that 
> >protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the
> imminent 
> >return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, 'after the last
> tree 
> >is felled, Christ will come back.'
> >
> >Beltway elites snickered. The press corps didn't know what he was
> talking 
> >about. But James Watt was serious. So were his compatriots out
> across the 
> >country. They are the people who believe the Bible is literally true
> - 
> >one-third of the American electorate, if a recent Gallup poll is
> accurate. 
> >In this past election several million good and decent citizens went
> to the 
> >polls believing in the rapture index. That's right - the rapture
> index. 
> >Google it and you will find that the best-selling books in America
> today 
> >are the twelve volumes of the left-behind series written by the
> Christian 
> >fundamentalist and religious right warrior, Timothy LaHaye. These
> true 
> >believers subscribe to a fantastical theology concocted in the 19th 
> >century by a couple of immigrant preachers who took disparate
> passages 
> >from the Bible and wove them into a narrative that has captivated
> the 
> >imagination of millions of Americans.
> >
> >Its outline is rather simple, if bizarre (the British writer George 
> >Monbiot recently did a brilliant dissection of it and I am indebted
> to him 
> >for adding to my own understanding): once Israel has occupied the
> rest of 
> >its 'biblical lands,' legions of the anti-Christ will attack it, 
> >triggering a final showdown in the valley of Armageddon. As the Jews
> who 
> >have not been converted are burned, the messiah will return for the 
> >rapture. True believers will be lifted out of their clothes and 
> >transported to heaven, where, seated next to the right hand of God,
> they 
> >will watch their political and religious opponents suffer plagues of
> 
> >boils, sores, locusts, and frogs during the several years of
> tribulation 
> >that follow.
> >
> >I'm not making this up. Like Monbiot, I've read the literature. I've
> 
> >reported on these people, following some of them from Texas to the
> West 
> >Bank. They are sincere, serious, and polite as they tell you they
> feel 
> >called to help bring the rapture on as fulfillment of biblical
> prophecy. 
> >That's why they have declared solidarity with Israel and the Jewish 
> >settlements and backed up their support with money and volunteers.
> It's 
> >why the invasion of Iraq for them was a warm-up act, predicted in
> the Book 
> >of Revelation where four angels 'which are bound in the great river 
> >Euphrates will be released to slay the third part of man.' A war
> with 
> >Islam in the Middle East is not something to be feared but welcomed
> - an 
> >essential conflagration on the road to redemption. The last time I
> Googled 
> >it, the rapture index stood at 144 - just one point below the
> critical 
> >threshold when the whole thing will blow, the son of God will
> return, the 
> >righteous will enter heaven, and sinners will be condemned to
> eternal 
> >hellfire. 
>
>(<?/bigger><?/color><?/fontfamily>http://www.raptureready.com/rap2.html)<?fontfamily><?param
> 
> >Arial><?color><?param 0000,0000,0000><?bigger>
> >
> >So what does this mean for public policy and the environment? Go to
> Grist 
> >to read a remarkable work of reporting by the journalist, Glenn
> Scherer - 
> >'the road to environmental apocalypse.' Read it and you will see how
> 
> >millions of Christian fundamentalists may believe that environmental
> 
> >destruction is not only to be disregarded but actually welcomed -
> even 
> >hastened - as a sign of the coming apocalypse.
> >
> >As Grist makes clear, we're not talking about a handful of fringe 
> >lawmakers who hold or are beholden to these beliefs. Nearly half the
> U.S. 
> >Congress before the recent election - 231 legislators in total -
> more 
> >since the election - are backed by the religious right. Forty-five 
> >senators and 186 members of the 108th congress earned 80 to 100
> percent 
> >approval ratings from the three most influential Christian right
> advocacy 
> >groups. They include Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Assistant
> Majority 
> >Leader Mitch McConnell, Conference Chair Rick Santorum of
> Pennsylvania, 
> >Policy Chair Jon Kyl of Arizona, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, and 
> >Majority Whip Roy Blunt. The only Democrat to score 100 percent with
> the 
> >Christian coalition was Senator Zell Miller of Georgia, who recently
> 
> >quoted from the biblical book of Amos on the senate floor: "the days
> will 
> >come, sayeth the Lord God, that i will send a famine in the land.'
> He 
> >seemed to be relishing the thought.
> >
> >And why not? There's a constituency for it. A 2002 TIME/CNN poll
> found 
> >that 59 percent of Americans believe that the prophecies found in
> the Book 
> >of Revelation are going to come true. Nearly one-quarter think the
> Bible 
> >predicted the 9/11 attacks. Drive across the country with your radio
> tuned 
> >to the more than 1,600 Christian radio stations or in the motel turn
> some 
> >of the 250 Christian TV stations and you can hear some of this
> end-time 
> >gospel. And you will come to understand why people under the spell
> of such 
> >potent prophecies cannot be expected, as Grist puts it, "to worry
> about 
> >the environment. Why care about the earth when the droughts, floods,
> 
> >famine and pestilence brought by ecological collapse are signs of
> the 
> >apocalypse foretold in the Bible? Why care about global climate
> change 
> >when you and yours will be rescued in the rapture? And why care
> about 
> >converting from oil to solar when the same God who performed the
> miracle 
> >of the loaves and fishes can whip up a few billion barrels of light
> crude 
> >with a word?"
> >
> >Because these people believe that until Christ does return, the lord
> will 
> >provide. One of their texts is a high school history book, America's
> 
> >Providential History. You'll find there these words: "the secular or
> 
> >socialist has a limited resource mentality and views the world as a 
> >pie…that needs to be cut up so everyone can get a piece." However,
> "[t]he 
> >Christian knows that the potential in God is unlimited and that
> there is 
> >no shortage of resources in God's earth……while many secularists view
> the 
> >world as overpopulated, Christians know that God has made the earth 
> >sufficiently large with plenty of resources to accommodate all of
> the 
> >people." No wonder Karl Rove goes around the White House whistling
> that 
> >militant hymn, "Onward Christian Soldiers." He turned out millions
> of the 
> >foot soldiers on November 2, including many who have made the
> apocalypse a 
> >powerful driving force in modern American politics.
> >
> >I can see in the look on your faces just how hard it is for the
> journalist 
> >to report a story like this with any credibility. So let me put it
> on a 
> >personal level. I myself don't know how to be in this world without 
> >expecting a confident future and getting up every morning to do what
> I can 
> >to bring it about. So I have always been an optimist. Now, however,
> I 
> >think of my friend on Wall Street whom I once asked: "What do you
> think of 
> >the market?" "I'm optimistic," he answered. "Then why do you look so
> 
> >worried?" And he answered: "Because I am not sure my optimism is
> justified."
> >
> >I'm not, either. Once upon a time I agreed with Eric Chivian and the
> 
> >Center for Health and the Global Environment that people will
> protect the 
> >natural environment when they realize its importance to their health
> and 
> >to the health and lives of their children. Now I am not so sure.
> It's not 
> >that I don't want to believe that - it's just that I read the news
> and 
> >connect the dots:
> >
> >I read that the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection
> Agency 
> >has declared the election a mandate for President Bush on the
> environment. 
> >This for an administration that wants to rewrite the Clean Air Act,
> the 
> >Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act protecting rare plant
> and 
> >animal species and their habitats, as well as the National
> Environmental 
> >Policy Act that requires the government to judge beforehand if
> actions 
> >might damage natural resources.
> >
> >That wants to relax pollution limits for ozone; eliminate vehicle
> tailpipe 
> >inspections; and ease pollution standards for cars, sports utility 
> >vehicles and diesel-powered big trucks and heavy equipment.
> >
> >That wants a new international audit law to allow corporations to
> keep 
> >certain information about environmental problems secret from the
> public.
> >
> >That wants to drop all its new-source review suits against polluting
> 
> >coal-fired power plans and weaken consent decrees reached earlier
> with 
> >coal companies.
> >
> >That wants to open the arctic wildlife refuge to drilling and
> increase 
> >drilling in Padre Island National Seashore, the longest stretch of 
> >undeveloped barrier island in the world and the last great coastal
> wild 
> >land in America.
> >
> >I read the news just this week and learned how the Environmental 
> >Protection Agency had planned to spend nine million dollars - $2
> million 
> >of it from the administration's friends at the American Chemistry
> Council 
> >- to pay poor families to continue to use pesticides in their homes.
> These 
> >pesticides have been linked to neurological damage in children, but 
> >instead of ordering an end to their use, the government and the
> industry 
> >were going to offer the families $970 each, as well as a camcorder
> and 
> >children's clothing, to serve as guinea pigs for the study.
> >
> >I read all this in the news.
> >
> >I read the news just last night and learned that the
> administration's 
> >friends at the international policy network, which is supported by 
> >ExxonMobil and others of like mind, have issued a new report that
> climate 
> >change is 'a myth, sea levels are not rising, scientists who believe
> 
> >catastrophe is possible are 'an embarrassment.
> >
> >I not only read the news but the fine print of the recent
> appropriations 
> >bill passed by Congress, with the obscure (and obscene) riders
> attached to 
> >it: a clause removing all endangered species protections from
> pesticides; 
> >language prohibiting judicial review for a forest in Oregon; a
> waiver of 
> >environmental review for grazing permits on public lands; a rider
> pressed 
> >by developers to weaken protection for crucial habitats in
> California.
> >
> >I read all this and look up at the pictures on my desk, next to the 
> >computer - pictures of my grandchildren: Henry, age 12; Thomas, age
> 10; 
> >Nancy, 7; Jassie, 3; Sara Jane, nine months. I see the future
> looking back 
> >at me from those photographs and I say, 'Father, forgive us, for we
> know 
> >not what we do.' And then I am stopped short by the thought: 'That's
> not 
> >right. We do know what we are doing. We are stealing their future. 
> >Betraying their trust. Despoiling their world.'
> >
> >And I ask myself: Why? Is it because we don't care? Because we are
> greedy? 
> >Because we have lost our capacity for outrage, our ability to
> sustain 
> >indignation at injustice?
> >
> >What has happened to our moral imagination?
> >
> >On the heath Lear asks Gloucester: "How do you see the world?" And 
> >Gloucester, who is blind, answers: "I see it feelingly.'"
> >
> >I see it feelingly.
> >
> >The news is not good these days. I can tell you, though, that as a 
> >journalist, I know the news is never the end of the story. The news
> can be 
> >the truth that sets us free - not only to feel but to fight for the
> future 
> >we want. And the will to fight is the antidote to despair, the cure
> for 
> >cynicism, and the answer to those faces looking back at me from
> those 
> >photographs on my desk. What we need to match the science of human
> health 
> >is what the ancient Israelites called 'hocma' - the science of the 
> >heart…..the capacity to see….to feel….and then to act…as if the
> future 
> >depended on you.
> >
> >Believe me, it does.
> 
> Natasha Vita-More
> http://www.natasha.cc
> [_______________________________________________
> President, Extropy Institute http://www.extropy.org
> [_____________________________________________________
> Founder, Transhumanist Arts & Culture http://www.transhumanist.biz
> > _______________________________________________
> extropy-chat mailing list
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org
> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo/extropy-chat
> 


=====
Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                      -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sadomikeyism


		
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