I've mentioned before that environmentalists, as a group, are economically and ecologically clueless. Recently, Senator John Kerry has decided to illustrate this, talking about the Cap and Trade bill and the effect of our current severe recession on the environment:

Let me emphasize something very strongly as we begin this discussion. The United States has already this year alone achieved a 6 percent reduction in emissions simply because of the downturn in the economy, so we are effectively saying we need to go another 14 percent.

In other words, we need to be down 20% in the economy to meet his environmental goals. Look around you at the effects of this recession. Do you believe, with him, that the economy must be significantly worse off, and that it is the business of government to push it down there?

If not, should you learn to be cautious about electing these environmentalists?

My own comment is to note that only in the rich societies of the world does major environmental cleanup go on, and that if we want to stop that from going on, losing the cash to make it happen is probably an effective way to go about it.

Al Gore continues to lead the parade of those who know better than Americans what America ought to do, especially if he can get those who don't have, but want, power over what Americans do on his side.

Think I'm exaggerating? Check it out.

The basic point is always the same: those on the hard Left hate America, no matter where they are in the world.

From erudito, in whose journal you should have noted this already, but you're reading mine instead, (PDF) One reason not to listen to the latest environmental catastrophe: they've said this before, and it didn't come to pass.

Sample:
If you do a Google search of “peak oil” you will find about 4.8 million entries, many dedicated to sounding the alarm of oil shortages. “Peak oil” supposedly represents the point in time when the peak of world crude-oil production will be reached, after which production will enter a terminal decline. Once we have run the pump dry, society will begin to collapse as the effects of oil shortages become a grim reality.

Predictions of oil shortages have run throughout the last half-century. In 1943, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox predicted a serious oil shortage by 1944 and oil exhaustion in the United States by 1963.23 In 1947, the New York Times wrote, “Every so often the fear of an oil shortage developing in the United States gains prominent mention. At present, such a campaign is in full swing.” The article explains that the unprecedented demand for oil will cause a shortage of energy.

And on....

From Gilbert Keith Chesterton, "The Napoleon of Notting Hill":

The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up. And one of the games to which it is most attached is called "Keep to-morrow dark," and which is also named (by the rustics in Shropshire, I have no doubt) "Cheat the Prophet." The players listen very carefully and respectfully to all that the clever men have to say about what is to happen in the next generation. The players then wait until all the clever men are dead, and bury them nicely. They then go and do something else. That is all. For a race of simple tastes, however, it is great fun.

One of the biggest problems with enviro groups is listening to them on the subjects of development and population. It only takes a little while before you recognize the undertone: the one where they wish all those "different" people would just go away and leave them alone.

I'm not the only one to have made the connection: the Orange County Register has, a brief course of reading catches the same trends (PDF), even lefty boingo sites have caught on, and there are attempts to point out why this process is badly thought through. All in all, however, the first link above does the best job of connecting development restrictions and racism.

There have been longer reports on the effects of land use controls. As with most longer reports, they are occasionally a pain to read.

UPDATE: On a related note, sustainable lifestyles is the new moral catchword of the ignorant and backward classes. Should some third worlder want to develop out of poverty, this will be used to bludgeon the upstart back in their place. I note, as well, the resurrection of the long buried "population bomb" arguments: one can only assume they haven't traveled very widely and noticed the large parts of the planet available to be improved.