The Sierra Club, The Register, etc...

I had my annual visit from the Sierra Club yesterday afternoon. I gave them the brush last year. They must not have updated their solicitation list.

I used to be a member. I love the outdoors. I go on a wilderness canoe trip every year with my two sons.

But, like so many non-profits, The Sierra Club has become a front for left-wing politics. Add to that the fact that they need to promote their own institutional survival and you have a group that cries "DISASTER!!!" over every issue. Progress on the environment is anathema to them. How would they fundraise?

Anyway, there they are: two earnest, tattooed and pierced young men. One (who I took to be the leader) was short, thin and intense. The other was large and had a jovial and friendly expression on his face.

Before they start their spiel, I started mine. "...used to be a member, but you're too political."

Intense-boy replies with the utterly original phrase "... but the political is personal".

I cut him short with "When the Sierra Club again becomes a non-partisan conservation group, like Ducks Unlimited, you will again get my money. Thank you."

This was followed by a glare from intense-boy and a smile, nod and "thank you" from jovial-kid. And off they went to save the planet by leveraging middle class guilt.

I'm sure that these two young men would have been shocked and appalled to know that I believe that economic growth, increased affluence and globalization are they keys to improving the natural environment. Concern for the natural world is an upper middle class artifact... like Volvos and white wine. When your survival depends on slash and burn agriculture, you don't give a rat's ass for rainforest biodiversity. If you live in rural China and you just traded in your bicycle for an automobile so that you can more easily commute to your job at a steel mill, you're probably not angsting about global warming.

Speaking of global warming, the Register attained a new level of incipidness today. The Day After Tomorrow is a good summer flick because it may "... spur serious conversation." Oh yeah... a junk movie based on junk science will promote serious debate on the issue. More tax revenues to promote alternative fuels… NOW!