Search This Blog

De Omnibus Dubitandum - Lux Veritas

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

What Does It Mean To Be Green, Part IV

By Rich Kozlovich

Everyone who knows me knows what my position is regarding our industry going green. However, I have found that there are misconceptions as to what I think going green really means. First off, being green has nothing to do with whichever products or techniques are being used to control pests.

Some months ago I bought a steamer to use on bed bug jobs. As I was walking out with the steamer an industry friend, who knows me very well, said, “Rich, what is happening here? Is this IPM?” (IPM stands for Integrated Pest Management for those outside of pest control) I responded by saying, “No, it’s pest control”. Although he knew the answer and agrees with me, he just had to bust my chops.

I recently ordered some products from a company that is known for selling “green” products. The sales representative claims that this particular product will absolutely control bedbugs. I happen to know that efficacy testing is currently going on regarding these products, but I am not prepared to wait. I want to know now, so I ordered some for myself. This same person overheard this conversation and mockingly asked if I was backpedaling? They couldn't wait to chortle and tell everyone that "Rich is going green"!

And these are my friends!

I realized that I had to clarify my position. My view regarding pest control products and techniques is really quite simple. I will use any product or technique that works. I will just as quickly and assuredly abandon any product that ceases to work. Period!

My objection is not the products. My objection to the green movement is the philosophy behind it. I object to the malicious and false statements made by the green movement regarding pesticides and good health. I object to the disastrous consequences of their programs on so many poor people around the world.

Thirty years ago, I would have agreed with them. In fact until recent years I had an emotional affinity with their views. Having grown up around the coal mines, coke ovens and steel mills of rural Southwest Pennsylvania I know pollution, and was appalled by it. Worse yet, I was like the vast majority of the population; I was startlingly misinformed by a compliant media that will toot any horn the activists tell them to.

Now, I will not allow anyone to claim that the products we use causes cancer, autism, endocrine disruption, asthma or neurological damage without an argument. I will not passively sit by and listen to their unreasonable and irrational demands without comment. Why?  Because I took the time to look up the information to find out for myself as to what was true, and I was mortified to find that everything the activists say is a fallacy.

Fallacies aren’t all lies! Regarding fallacies the Fallacy Files states, "However, not just any type of mistake in reasoning counts as a logical fallacy. To be a fallacy, a type of reasoning must be potentially deceptive, it must be likely to fool at least some of the people some of the time."

Some fallacies are simply mistakes in reasoning that causes people to believe something that is true. Unfortunately many fallacies are deliberately twisted logic. Thomas Sowell outlines this in his book by saying:
“Fallacies are not simply crazy ideas. They are usually both plausible and logical – but with something missing. Their plausibility gains them political support. Only after that political support is strong enough to cause fallacious ideas to become government policies and programs are the missing of ignored factors likely to lead to “unintended consequences,” a phrase often heard in the wake of economic or social policy disasters. Another phrase often heard in the wake of these disasters is, ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time.” "
That is why it pays to look deeper into things that look good on the surface at the moment." Being green is a philosophy. A concept of life that believes that mankind is the world’s foremost virus.

Environmentalism is no longer a philosophy that shows responsible and proper concern for the environment. It has now become an excuse for massive and intrusive regulations, crippling taxes, a massive bureaucratic machine that will eventually govern all that we do. Green believes that gas isn’t priced high enough. Green believes we eat too much. Green believes there are too many of us. Green believes it should control the world. Green believes it must get a message of hysteria out to the public in order to panic them into giving them these controls. Green believes that any lie that promotes these goals is acceptable. Green believes that it is acceptable for tens of millions to die from malaria. Green believes it is acceptable for hundreds of millions to live in squalor.

Green is not about what products we use. Make no mistake about it, eventually all of these so-called green products will come under attack from the activists. They are not monolithic, and they have no command and control structure. Eventually one of the groups will attack these products with the same vigor they attack other chemicals. No matter what we do they will never be satisfied. They will never end their attacks on us. No amount of appeasement will work. The only way that we can possibly satisfy them is if we all commit suicide.

Whether it is IPM, organic, all natural or whatever else happens to become the philosophical flavor of the day, they will demand more until there is nothing left to give. Green is not about products, it is about philosophy. A philosophy that is a vile, contemptible, irrational and misanthropic!

Let’s take a look at the type of people populating the green movement. They are only good at finding fault…they are completely incompetent at finding solutions and when they do it isn’t long before they protest their own solutions and blame someone else. Which bodes well the question; why in the world do we listen to these people?

If you owned a company who had an employee who:
  • Challenged everyone’s integrity.
  • Challenged your authority and competence daily.
  • Constantly ran down the company.
  • Never offered any positive solutions.
  • Never produced anything for the company.
  • Made false public accusations against the company.
  • Demanded the company give him a seat at the board of director’s meetings.
  • Demanded veto power over company policy.
  • Demanded special compensation.
What would you do? In most companies they would be fired. Although they could probably make excellent anarchists, they would obviously and clearly be unqualified to hold down a job because you would immediately assume that anyone who acts in this manner has something wrong with their mind.

Why in the world do we then listen to people such as this in any other area of endeavor?

Is this a form of dementia that acceptable in the public arena?

Since the public arena is an arena that impacts human health and welfare so dramatically we should be especially concerned!

Whether it is IPM, organic, all natural or whatever else happens to become the philosophical flavor of the day, they will demand more until there is nothing left to give. Green is not about products, it is about philosophy; a philosophy that is a vile, contemptible, irrational and misanthropic; organized and run by seriously flawed human beings! When we claim to go green, we are enablers to that philosophy.

What Does It Mean To Be Green?
What Does It Mean To Be Green, Part II
What Does It Mean To Be Green, Part III
What Does It Mean To Be Green, Part IV


###

Sunday, April 6, 2008

What Does It Mean To Be Green, Part III

By Rich Kozlovich

Since I have been publishing Green Notes as a weekly E-Newsletter I have gotten some feedback from readers who have been appreciative and supportive and a number of them have sent me updates on issues and articles worth linking. There also have been some new acquaintances…… who have been….let us say…..not as supportive. But that is what Green Notes is all about; forcing dialogue about issues facing our industry. Green issues in particular. It really comes down to what it means to be green and why we would want to be green. We have to ask; what is this overwhelming need to change what and who we are?

I have linked large numbers of articles dealing with global warming and energy because they are inextricably interlinked. I use these two issues because as I follow them I keep being amazed how irrational this has become. I understand the greenies; they have embraced an irrational misanthropic philosophy with the ultimate goal of destroying humanity. (If anyone has any doubts regarding this I will be happy to forward that information.) Disagreeable and irrational as that may be, it at least this gives understanding to their actions. Yet people who have the intelligence and availability of information to see the long term consequences, and who should know better, keep right on pursuing the same insane course of acquiescing to greenie demands that has proven to be disastrous over and over again. To believe that you will get a different outcome by doing the same things that have consistently failed is insanity! Let’s take some examples.

• Irrational and easily refutable claims against DDT were thrown up? Solution? Ban it! What happens? Millions die! Solution? Ban more pesticides! The fact that millions have and are dying is immaterial to those demanding these bans.

• Availability goes down and the price of gas goes up. Solution! Tax it! What happens? Price of gas goes up. Solution! Forbid drilling and the building of refineries. What happens? Price of gas goes up! Solution? Tax it some more and demand less drilling and add more regulations on refineries and impossible emission standards. What happens? Less refineries and the price of gas goes up. Solution? Demand energy independence by imposing ethanol? What happens? Price of gas goes up and government subsidizes ethanol which is a hidden extra cost. What happens? The price of food rises over time because we are burning food as energy! Cost of fuel and food goes up. What should be obvious to the most casual observer is that eventually the cost of food and fuel will continue to climb and availability of both will diminish. What happens? People all over the world start to starve to death! Starting with those least able to deal with the costs or the lack of nutrition!

• Business and political leaders have available to them all the real science that would allow for them to make wise decisions based on facts. What do they do? Agree to more insane greenie measures that, if followed, will ensure the eventual elimination of manufacturing, mining, logging, pest control, medicines and advanced living in an advanced modern world with all the benefits that entails!

How is it to be turned around? Recently a Green Notes reader sent me an e-mail discussing this very issue.  “Just follow the money now. Even when hard science debunks the climate change mass hysteria--- so much money [and so many political aspirations] are tied to the need to 'change' it will be like turning a large ship to moderate or reverse trends.  WSJ on 3-13-08 outlined how an English firm that is making millions or even billions trading 'carbon credits'--- it will soon be an important subsidy for US farmers as well as they begin to receive per acre payments for carbon sequestration. Once these practices become embedded--- some group becomes at least partially dependent--- then facts become less and less important.”

I agreed with him that in the beginning there would be a great deal of money made by a handful of people, but eventually the economy would force everyone to change course. Between the free flowing information of the internet and the economic costs of all of this nonsense people would demand a change of course.  After years of following this stuff, I’m no longer so sure. Armored from head to toe with the “invincibility of ignorance” the “momentum of the misinformed” is overwhelming because the informed are so colossally outnumbered.

There are three forces that are driving this insanity; the irrational misanthropy of the greenies, the short sighted greed and self interest of the business and academic communities and the pandering self interest of political leaders. They have instituted changes to society without consideration of the long range consequences, except for the activists; they know what they want. A pristine world!

The word “change” has become a mantra and is in the air constantly now. You can’t watch or read the news without being bombarded with this undefined “philosophy” with change as a goal. Change isn’t a goal! Change is an alteration! For change to be a goal it would mean that everything would be in a state of flux unendingly. There is a term for that – anarchy. So we have to ask ourselves; does change necessarily mean improvement? What are the overall costs of such actions? What are the benefits? What about unintended consequences?

When it comes to becoming “green” in pest control these are questions that are not being asked, yet the history of the green movement has been misanthropic since John Muir started the Sierra Club. Teddy Roosevelt is credited with being the first president to be concerned with preservation of the environment. That is a fallacy. The difference between Roosevelt and Muir was that Muir wanted “preservation” and Roosevelt wanted “conservation”. Those are two different concepts with two entirely different goals. Preservation wants everything pristine unsullied and primitive, untouched by mankind. Conservation implies continued use by humanity. Those two didn’t see eye to eye, nor did they like each other.

The leaders of our industry are making the decision to “go green”. This appeared as a promotion for activity at Legislative Day:
This is an action that I find disheartening and I have some questions.

• What does “taking green to the next level” really mean in the long term?
• How many levels of green are there?
• Is it a finite number?
• Is it possible that the number of levels is infinite?
• Who determines that?
• Who told them to do this?
• Do the directors of our national and state associations direct the industry or does the industry direct them?
• No one asked me what I thought; was I accidently left out of the polling? .
• Did the state associations decide this and then tell the national association that this is what they wanted? If that is the case, I don’t remember being involved in any discussions regarding this.
• Perhaps Ohio was left out of the polling?

Green demands will never cease and their actions in Canada should be a clarion call to all the pest control related industries. For pest control to become green is to publically take a stand that tells the world that we were wrong for sixty years. We are telling the world that the activists have enlightened us. We are telling the world that all the health claims by the environmental activists against us were right. "Being “green” is like being a little bit pregnant. The green movement is all consuming; once in, it is all or nothing. “You cannot cut deals with, or offer alliances to misanthropic environmental activists without being a promoter of misanthropic environmentalism or advancing the goals of misanthropic environmentalism.”

“The Green Council Meeting (Monday Morning). During Legislative Day there will be a forum discussion and an educational program that will include industry experts to take green to the next level. As a follow up to NPMA’s Going Green meeting in November, topics discussed will include the definition of green, the industry's approach to green, green consumer research, the industry's strategy to green, a review of the green tool kit, and much more.”

What Does It Mean To Be Green?
What Does It Mean To Be Green, Part II
What Does It Mean To Be Green, Part III
What Does It Mean To Be Green, Part IV

###