Despite little promise of ever being practical and inexpensive, “renewable energy” has been promoted for decades by green activists–and backed by billions of dollars in government subsidies. As a result, plans are springing up all over the country for large-scale solar, wind, and geothermal projects.

But now, in addition to their enormous technical obstacles, these green power projects are facing fierce opposition . . . from environmentalists.

Applications for more than 130 proposals to build solar power plants on federal lands in the Southwest have been submitted to the Bureau of Land Management. New transmission lines to carry the power from the sun-baked deserts to places where electricity users actually live are also under consideration.

However, the solar applications are mired in environmental impact studies, which one solar industry executive said “could completely stunt the growth of the industry.” And the plans for new transmission capacity are being ferociously protested by environmentalists decrying the “permanent destruction of hundreds of thousands of acres of pristine public lands.” An exasperated Arnold Schwarzenegger said: “They say that we want renewable energy but we don’t want you to put it anywhere, we don’t want you to use it.”

But this shouldn’t be surprising if one considers the true objectives of green activism.

The basic premise of environmentalism is to leave nature alone–to preserve it untouched by human activity. Capturing and utilizing any source of energy–even ones that are supposedly green and renewable–will necessarily have some impact on nature, and will therefore inevitably be subject to environmentalist attacks and condemnation.

Ultimately, what this means is that environmentalists don’t actually want us to find alternative ways of producing energy; they want us to stop using energy altogether. And since the use of energy is an indispensable component of everything we do in our lives, the greens’ opposition to even such ridiculous, impractical sources of energy as solar and wind reveals their basic animus against human life.

Mr. Schwarzenegger added “if we cannot put solar power plants in the Mojave Desert, I don’t know where the hell we can put it.” But that is the whole point. On green philosophy, there is literally no place on earth for mankind.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 25th, 2008 at 12:01 pm and is filed under Politics .