Happy Earth Day!

Founded in 1970 by then U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day has sought for nearly four decades to increase awareness of the many environmental issues facing our planet. Also created the same year was the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Efforts to make the earth a cleaner, healthier place for the sake of its inhabitants should be applauded, and there is little doubt remarkable progress has been made over the last 38 years.

We are in an era, however, in which the pendulum has swung the other way. The major problems facing our world today are not the result of environmental pollution. Rather, they are being caused by the attempted solutions thereto. 

Take, for instance, the hot-button topic of the day: global warming. (You might have heard it referred to more recently as “climate change,” for studies have shown that the Earth has, in fact, been in a cooling period for the last decade. Ironically, back in the early ‘70s when Earth Day began, scientists feared a looming ice-age for the Earth appeared to be getting cooler then, too.) 

Nevertheless, some still believe global warming is a greater threat than terrorism. As a result, environmental extremists have put pressure on our politicians to obstruct attempts to increase domestic drilling for crude oil.  (Environmentalists are also the primary reason there has not been a refinery built in the United States since 1983.) 

What happens when we restrict supply to the global oil market? Prices go up. Every politician running for national office the last few years has said, “We need to curb our addiction to foreign oil.” Unfortunately, by this, few actually mean drilling for more domestic oil. Instead, they mean developing alternative energy sources – which is great, by the way. We’re just not there yet – these sources of energy are not yet profitable.

Profit or not, when has that ever stopped the government? Not this time, either, as our politicians are now mandating the use of Ethanol, which is made from corn – the same corn used to feed cattle.

What happens when we increase demand for corn on the open market? Food prices rise. And the result of this is the current world hunger crisis – for which you can thank your friendly environmentalist.