Florida Today Letter to the Editor
July 7th, 2008

Dear Editor,

As rising oil prices wreak havoc on our economy, one thing becomes clear: the environmental movement has morphed from do-gooders advocating voluntary conservation to a totalitarian movement intent on controlling our lives, down to what we drive and the temperature at which we set our thermostats.

Today’s environmental movement doesn’t want us to use our resources responsibly – it doesn’t want us to use them at all. Bureaucrats have prevented US energy companies from tapping our resources for the last 30 years. In spite of the disastrous consequences we now face, both parties advocate more of the same.

The new environmentalist believes the Earth has intrinsic value in and of itself. Any attempt by man to alter the environment to suit his needs is a violation of the Earth’s “rights”. Animals that alter the environment by eating other animals or plants get a pass; but man, the rational animal, is condemned for using his mind – his primary means of survival – to rearrange the elements of his surroundings as necessary to further his life.

If we are to survive and prosper, we must understand that using Earth’s resources to further our lives is both moral and proper to our survival as humans.

- Matt Nye