Dan Sernoffsky har skrivit en bra editorial, ”Death by ecology”, i vilken han avslöjar miljörörelsen för vad den är. Jag håller inte med allt han säger (som t ex att miljörörelsen skulle vara en produkt av industrisamhället), men jag håller definitivt med om detta:

Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot.

The great mass murderers of the 20th century had one thing in common beyond their predilection for amassing power and their utter disregard for human life: they, and the political ‘philosophy’ they espoused, was based on a premise of absolute control over the societies they governed.

But there is at least one more name that should be added to that list, and while she may not have shared the same meglomanical pursuit of power the others did, the result of her efforts created the unintended consequence of leading to the deaths of millions.

Her name was Rachel Carson, the patron saint of Earth Day.

Carson’s book, ”Silent Spring,” became the manifesto of a movement that continues to result in countless deaths and untold economic damage throughout the world. Published in 1962, ‘Silent Spring’ posited that the use of the pesticide DDT threatened the extinction of birds (hence the book’s title, no chirpping robins to welcome the arrival of the vernal equinox), and therefore representing a clear and present danger to humans and the environment. The outcry raised by the book ultimately led to a ban on DDT in the United States in 1972, similar bans throughout the world, and an overall demonization of the pesticide.

Ironically, even when the ban on DDT was being debated in the United States, there was an increasing body of evidence indicating that much of what Carson wrote was based on faulty analysis of data and manufactured conclusions. But the evidence that DDT was not the threat Carson portrayed it to be was ignored, and continues to be ignored. As a result, one of the most effective, and inexpensive, pesticides available is largely eschewed, and mosquito-borne diseases like malaria are exacting a frightening toll. Verifiable estimates put the number of preventable deaths due to malaria in the vicinity of 100 million since 1972, a large percentage of those deaths occuring in Africa.

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