Who Are The Extreme Environmentalists ?

John Hinderaker at Power Line posted an article yesterday linking to an American Spectator article about the people who claim to be protecting the environment. The article points out that many of the environmental activists are part of a wealthy leisure class whose income and lifestyle will not be impacted by the policies they support.

The best quote from the article:

As the Forest Service used to say, the person who built his mountain cabin last year is an environmentalist. The person who wants to build one this year is a developer.

Further proof of this mentality can be found if you examine the ‘carbon footprint’ of some of those who believe in global warming and support restrictions on other Americans’ use of energy. Remember too that the wealthiest Americans fighting the development of American energy resources are not concerned about the rising cost of energy to the average American.

The American Spectator points out:

It is not that the average person is not concerned about the environment. Everyone weighs the balance of economic gain against a respect for nature. It is only the truly affluent, however, who can be concerned about the environment to the exclusion of everything else. Most people see the benefits of pipelines and power plants and admit they have to be built somewhere. Only in the highest echelons do we hear people say, “We don’t need to build any pipelines. We’ve already got enough energy. We can all sit around awaiting the day we live off wind and sunshine.”

In regard to the recent decision by the Obama Administration not to build the Keystone Pipeline:

The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) left the BlueGreen Alliance on Friday, citing a disagreement with the group’s members over the Keystone XL pipeline.

LIUNA, a vocal Keystone supporter, took aim at other unions for opposing the project.

“We’re repulsed by some of our supposed brothers and sisters lining up with job killers like the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council to destroy the lives of working men and women,” LIUNA General President Terry O’Sullivan said in a statement.

I hope some of the other unions wake up and realize the impact the policies of President Obama are having on American jobs. President Obama has blocked economic growth through excessive regulation and extreme environmentalism. Our economy will not recover until the over-regulation is dealt with. Protecting the environment is crucial, but it can be done in a way that allows the production of domestic energy and the creation of new jobs.

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