Conservationists or Environmentalists?

Although the Endangered Species Act of 1973, signed by Republican U.S. President Richard Nixon, was intended to save thousands of plants and animal species, only a handful have been saved, but at an enormous human cost. “Five species have recovered out of 1355 species in the past 35 years,” said M. David Stirling, author of Green Gone Wild: Elevating Nature Above Human Rights.

Over that same time period, 50 million people have died from malaria and 10,000 jobs have already been misplaced, as a result of the act.

“I have a question,” one woman said from the audience at the Heritage Foundation. “What if polar bears are added to the endangered species list?”

The presenter thought for a moment, then answered. “There is no true evidence that the polar bear [population] is declining, but if the polar bear is listed, any place that gives off gas emissions in America could be shut down.”

Yet, Congress is willing to take “any measure” as proclaimed by the Supreme Court, to protect a couple insects and plants. In fact, the act even violates the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Amendment says “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

Instead of justly compensating, Stirling, Vice-President at the Pacific Legal Foundation, said that the federal government took advantage of natural disasters and the disruption of the ecosystem by confiscating homes and property.

In addition, for the past four years, thousands of Pacific Coast Salmon employees have lost their jobs. Due to the Endangered Species Act, the salmon company cannot catch “wild salmon.”

“As a result [of the ESA], over 10,000 fishing families have gone unemployed over the past four years,” said Stirling. “The families receive tax-funded assistance from the same federal government which destroyed their lives in the first place.”

The ESA has stripped property and damaged livelihoods, but it has also killed thousands of people, a fact that the liberal left often overlooks.

In 1972, Nixon’s Environmental Protection Agency banned the use of DDT. The ban of DDT, a synthetic pesticide which environmentalists claim harms birds, has led to the deaths of thousands of children and adults.

“Over 50 million people have died from malaria. Those who live suffer brain damage,” said Stirling. “The ban of DDT caused millions of deaths of children. Banning DDT is one of the most disgraceful [acts] in 20th century America.”

Biologist Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, claimed that DDT was killing people and birds. Her book helped initiate the environmental movement in 1962. Stirling said that conventional media including the New York Times bought into the myths.

“Ms. Carson’s claim that people were dying from DDT was fictional,” said Stirling. “The only science she advanced was politicized science.”

And today, leftist politicians are buying into the same myth. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, even used the Bible to defend protecting the supposedly endangered environment.

Stirling quoted Pelosi saying that “‘the Bible tells us in the Old testament …that to ignore those in need is to dishonor the God who created us.’”

Even Old Testament scholars call Pelosi’s claim “fictional” and say that animals are not called “those in need” within the context of the Bible.

And according to Stirling, there is a clear difference between what the media call conservationists and environmentalists.

“The conservationist is one that believes natural resources such as forests and wildlife…should be available for peoples’ uses as long as they aren’t wasted,” said Stirling. “We are conservationists. We want clean air. We want and need jobs, places to live and work, sources of energy.”

And as conservationists, we should question why the government values a few animals and plants more than human life and livelihoods. And five species out of 1355 is less than a 1 percent recovery rate.

But instead of recovering the 80% of endangered animals that live on private property, the federal government punishes homeowners, and the owners retaliate. “The owners try to get rid of the species so they won’t get in trouble,” said Sterling.

Melinda Zosh is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.