Peter Kareiva is the former chief scientist of the Nature Conservancy, and today is the head of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability at UCLA. With those prior advertisements, you might not expect him to write a terrific article entitled “Back to School: Unlearning Nine Environmental Myths.” But he has. Buckle up:
Myth 1: Human population is growing exponentially and it’s ruining the planet.Myth 2: Biodiversity is declining everywhere.Myth 3: Set up free markets with the right incentives for environmental innovation and we will “business” our way to sustainability.Myth 4: In the end, corporations are always enemies of the environment.Myth 5: If you question an environmental regulation, you’re automatically anti-environment.Myth 6: We have already used up 1.5 Earths and exceeded our planet’s carrying capacity.Myth 7: People who don’t think we should act strongly to stop climate change are just stupid/ill-informed/ignorant.Myth 8: Sustainability means eating locally.Myth 9: If we keep on our current path, Mother Earth will be destroyed and it will be the end of life on the planet.
Read the whole thing for the refutations. My questions are: Does UCLA know this guy works there? And how does he get around campus without an armed guard?
Another sign that even within the environmental community, the old time Malthusian religion is cracking up.
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