I have just finished reading an amazing book, entitled, The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World. He was the founder, the great grandfather, if you will, of the environmental movement. He influenced people into the 21st century, even though he died in 1859.
What is interesting is that all the significant environmentalists, from the 1700s to the middle of the 1900s, spent much of their lives living in nature, walking forests and plains, gathering flora and fauna, climbing mountains and studying nature. They eschewed even horse and buggy travel. And most of them lived on the verge of bankruptcy.
In contrast, today’s significant environmentalists are multi-millionaires, they live in palatial mansions, and fly around in carbon-spewing planes to visit oil exploration sites and dam construction sites.
Al Gore is a millionaire, David Suzuki is a millionaire, all the protesting movie stars are millionaires. What does this tell us about what has happened to the environmental movement? These people have suckered ordinary folks into giving them millions for their foundations so they can live lavishly. We’ve come a long way since 1770.
Alfred Schalm