At the end of 1990, Newsweek writer Jerry Adler penned a classic line that summed up the liberal environmentalist’s distaste with the ruinous human race: "It's a morbid observation, but if everyone on earth just stopped breathing for an hour, the greenhouse effect would no longer be a problem." In this week’s edition of the magazine, Adler reported on a new study showing our time in outdoors recreation is declining. He summarized: "So along with obesity and attention-deficit disorder, you can now, if you choose, blame videogames for the greenhouse effect." But then, he reconsidered the tawdry boorishness of nature-touring humanity, and concluded "maybe we’d all do better to give the World a break from us, so it can heal on its own."
Adler touted a study (which he dutifully disclosed was funded by the Nature Conservancy, which has an interest in promoting nature areas) by authors Oliver Pergams and Patricia Zaradic:
The implications the authors draw are dire. "There's a pretty direct pathway from exposure to nature, especially as a child, to caring about it," says Pergams. So along with obesity and attention-deficit disorder, you can now, if you choose, blame videogames for the greenhouse effect.
But is the problem really that too many people are staying home from the wilderness? Some, presumably including Thoreau, would say that the last thing nature needs is more people in it. "I have," he wrote in "Walden," "my own sun and moon and stars, and a little world all to myself." In 1850 he was able to find this a few miles outside Boston, but just let him try to duplicate it in Yellowstone park, say, on Memorial Day weekend. Or in Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina's Patagonia region, to which Dominique Browning, a New York editor, made an arduous and expensive pilgrimage recently. In an op-ed piece in The New York Times, she described her trip as a disappointing vista of litter glimpsed between the heads of boorish tourists while the boat's soundtrack echoed among the majestic glaciers. The experience left her, she says, with an appreciation of "the coffee-table book as a mode of travel." The wilderness looks best through the lens of a professional photographer, who can crop the plastic bags out of the trees.
The study didn't consider snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles or other motorized forms of "nature-based recreation," but Zaradic thinks they deserve a place in the wilderness, too, as long as they get people to the out-of-doors. This is, of course, a fairly controversial position in the environmental movement. Her faith in the transformative power of nature is impressive. It would be nice to get kids into the woods once in a while so they can learn, at least, how to swat a mosquito. But maybe we'd all do better to give the World a break from us, so it can heal on its own.
Nowhere in the article does Adler consider how perhaps humans think it would be better to stay indoors and avoid the threats of nature, like angry bears or heat exhaustion. The planet comes first. Its inhabitants (or its despoilers) come a distant second -- even though they buy the magazines manufactured from the slaughtered trees.
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
A COUPLE THINGS...
February 11, 2008 - 19:15 ET by danybhoySo me & my PS2 is part of "global warming"? I mean I only do a couple of sports games in the winter when the temp does'nt get about 15* outside. Not to mention that I just bought a 40" Samsung LCD HDTV, & I hooked it up to my PS2 & Dish Network receiver 2 hours ago. I guess I'm part of the "global warming" problem.
I noticed the part about snowmobiles, ATV's, & whatever else. I have yet to see anything about what kind of "carbon footprint" golf carts have. As someone who plays golf, I need to know, because if my footprint ain't big enough, I look into a coal powered golf cart. That & I drive 75 miles round trip to play where I'm a member. That must go some way to making me an eco-terrorist.
"Some of us are wise, some of us are otherwise" Mark Levin
TM solutions
February 11, 2008 - 19:21 ET by TruthMongerhttp://newsbusters.org/forums/topic-discussion/tms-environmental-platform-ideas-19127#comment-543080
I GET IT...
February 11, 2008 - 19:31 ET by danybhoyI agree with your post for the most part. I said I usually play in the winter months, not much more then a couple of hours at the most.Maybe 1 or 2 days a week, it's like drinking, 1 or 2 drinks are fine a dozen, not so much. It about moderation. There are people I know who would play 4-6 hours a day, almost everyday. That's insane.
"Some of us are wise, some of us are otherwise" Mark Levin
This reminds me of the
February 11, 2008 - 19:28 ET by KStormThis reminds me of the "Massive Human Diebacks" episode a few years back. I said back then that whoever supports mass extinction of the human race must set the example for the rest of us, and I say it again today. :)
The "Kylloto Protocol"
February 12, 2008 - 09:25 ET by scamoramaSlogan:
"Save the Earth; Kill Yourself"
If all of you who believe
February 11, 2008 - 20:27 ET by ArchConservativeIf all of you who believe in so-called-man-made-global-warming stop breathing, stop procreating, and stop eating, this world would so much better. Mother Nature would thank you all. So on behalf of the earth, take Adler's advice and stop breathing for an hour. Please. Now.
You support the troops by supporting the mission! If you don't support the mission, have the guts to say you don't support the troops.
I thought video games were
February 11, 2008 - 20:57 ET by balboaI thought video games were responsible for the downfall of western civilization, not destroying the environment.
OMG dude
February 11, 2008 - 23:18 ET by well99Dont you know all those people making uber uber leet leet characters in a game are destroying the environment?But it is cool if they can farm enough points they can save us from GlobalWarming.
GW not to be mistaken for Guild Wars could be stopped if we gave up gaming.Well maybe not.Oh well back to The Witcher.
But maybe we'd all do better
February 11, 2008 - 21:28 ET by MidAmericaBut maybe we'd all do better to give the World a break from us, so it can heal on its own.
That line shows the author doesn't understand nature. All the creatures out there are competing for existence. Why just remove humans? Why not trees? There's a lot of grass that would love the space trees are growing on. From the grass's point of view the earth could 'heal' if those dang trees would just die.
Second point, the world disappears if humans do. The earth (and universe) has no purpose what so ever without a self-aware species.
self-deprecation
February 12, 2008 - 11:14 ET by mbuelthese "creatures" are self-deprecating, and frankly they fit right in with Michael Crichtons view (which may be attributed to someone else.) that one _small_ change can cause catastrophic results in a species population. The change that our species is making, (and people by and large are buying into) is that humankind should stop reproducing, because we are a "virus" on the earth. As you point out, why aren't trees a virus? They steal the land from grassy plains. Why aren't spiders a "virus"? They kill all those poor little houseflies.
Within a generation, these self-deprecating morons will have bred themselves out of existence, because they REFUSE to reproduce. Until then, we'll have to deal with them, telling US that we should follow their ridiculous religious tenets.
I knew it
February 11, 2008 - 21:32 ET by general companyBlame Video Games for Causing the Greenhouse Effect?
I knew it, been telling my kids for years they were not good for anything.
"Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest". Mark Twain
Screw this, the Norse
February 11, 2008 - 22:49 ET by wiwfScrew this, the Norse didn't have video games and they still got pwned by the environment in the 1000s.
Glad to know that my consistent videogame playing is pissing off more than just my parents and n00bs :D
All this makes me want to do is play more CoD4!
The Rocky Mountain Collegian: Illustrating Idiocy
Mr. Graham I hope you read this and ponder it
February 12, 2008 - 00:05 ET by Lame CherryMr. Graham, I would hope that you would read this, ponder it and expand upon it with Mr. Bozell, because it shows the leftist dichotomy of the people they follow and the reality of their Walden Pond with a 150 Merc cruiser on it.
I will preface this with a factual statement by the same think tank globalists like Bubbles B daddy who wrote that China needs to be broken up so it is easier to be managed.
The world globalists like Prince Philip have musings about mass pandemics killing billions of people in ridding the earth of it's problem.
These same people are the part of the old eugenics labs which funded Hitler and spawned Planned Parenthood to curb populations of minorities and certain whites in America.
This cartel of globalists desires to remove the entire agrarian population from America and taking that land and making the US one big park for the rich to play in with millions of Americans caged in cities to be managed.
Al Gore speaking to the Future Farmers of America told them in his Vice Presidential message which stunned them this, "Do not go into agriculture but seek new venues of employment as America IS GOING TO IMPORT ALL OF IT'S FOOD".
Check it that story out as the FFA published the report when it happened.
I have tracked the Buffalo Commons movements to the current UN type directives in groups and all of them trace into South America and then the trail vanishes on who is really funding the movement to confiscate United States land and move people off of it.
This is what liberals like Adler deal with in wanting to food police citizens and not realizing that "food" is a genetic product now created in labs as hybrid gene manipulation to make people sick to fund the billion dollar Rockefeller medical business and is designed to make people fat and sloven so they are weaned away from the outdoor life.
The horrid conditions of people having Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and not finding a medical reason goes back to food in the body not being able to digest it on amino acid levels.
There are hosts of this movement which has switched while the NRA worries about gun grabbers. The gun grabbers did just that all under George W. Bush in taking away a hundred thousand gun dealers and harrassing the rest.
Pretty hard to get guns when the gun retailers are all out of business and America is now on a policy of expensive weapons unlike the old 20 dollar shotguns our parents grew up with.
Subtle they have raised fishing, hunting and trapping licenses to such costs that the poor can no longer afford what used to be a basic occupation.
While PETA and other profit in killing pets groups cheered, the entire nation has now been weaned away from a healthy lifestyle to one of mind warped video games, 15 second sound bytes programming them and a food akin to the very tested low protein diets which the KGB developed to affect people's minds so they are easily convinced and manipulated.
America is becoming 3 classes of humans. A Spirtual human, a human hybrid of giants and a human whose is regressing to animalistic form.
None of this is by accident and it is not conspiracy. It is simple an operational plan to make the world into what elitists deem is best for them. If that sounds far fetched, in the last 1000 years Europe was moulded and shifted by groups who then moulded and shifted aboriginal peoples to their ends in many cases.
Whether one appreciates it or not from our computer generated homes, Americans have become the Indian and we are about to be thinned out, herded out and placed onto reservations.
I saw a fascinating study by all of people the Jewish people who use parchment. I know you know what parchment is, but for those who do not know, parchment is calf skin used to record sacred texts.
Want to know what these people know? They only buy thee best parchment and that comes from the United States with a lesser quality but of value coming from South America. This might sound strange, but the people who track these things know there is something very different about the Americas and they are special in the quality of all things produced here as it is rooted literally in the soils. It creates the same things in people. The elitists want this all for themselves as much as Henry Kissinger stealing East Timor gold or George Soros stealing Romanian gold.
The current progression as we fight about Obillary or Mchuckabee for president is for 3 regional currencies to make profit taking easier. The end of this according to elitist plans is South America a food production region of enslaved labor. A ruling American and European elite with their vast playgrounds to oversee a technicrat society of Asia producing goods and advanced services.
Which all brings us back to Mr. Adler in his dilema as he does not realize he is a shill now bringing this all about. When it does though, like the Zulu were herded onto reservations to the Romans raping and selling the Icinni in England, they will remove the illegals and the first people to follow will be the liberal pundits as they are the ones always screaming about things the loudest.
Dan Rather created this problem and if he is still above ground Dan Rather will be one of the first herded up...........because after all being a criminal is easy these days already, don't wear a safety belt you are a criminal...........don't sign up for Hillary's health care and you are a criminal too.
It is easy in fascist and communist systems to make criminals out of citizens.........and America is a communist system as people now work for benefits first and worry about wages second.
All working out quite well too in the housing bust as now they are telling people "rent to own", just like mother Soviet Russia.
None of these liberals get it and they will not get it, because they cheered when kids were burnt alive in Waco and they cheered when a mother had her head blown off at Ruby Ridge.
The speak of Republican hate machines and never notice the creatures they have been turned into. Huffington Post a shadowy example of the putrid state of the human soul.
But as all of us now in hobby chase the Newsbuster in exposing the lie trail we are now meant to follow, the real agenda plugs on and slowly imprisons each American.
Behold George Washington the criminal:
1. Constructing buildings without a license.
2. Hunting without a license.
3. Breeding exotic animals without a license.
4. Running a business without a license.
5. Importing animals and other materials without a license.
6. Raising a militia without state approval.
7. Not obtaining a permit to study human and animal waste run off.
8. Making of smoked meats without an FDA inspection.
9. Building an agrarian operation too close to a watershed.
10........I will leave it there to just show how it all works.
*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS
Electronic games and Cell phones
February 12, 2008 - 00:26 ET by ScrapironSounds good to me. That's the next thing we should ban 100%. What would an Elitest democrat do without something stuck in their ear to cover up their actual stupidity?
Scrap.... ...in one ear
February 12, 2008 - 00:29 ET by bigtimerScrap....
...in one ear and out the other...
Liberalism Hurts the Earth
February 12, 2008 - 12:21 ET by mattmBig government causes inefficiencies which use up between 25 and 60 percent more of the Earth's resources than capitalism would. Restrictions on private enterprise leads to poverty, disease, famine, and social unrest; which leads to goverment intervention via military and policing efforts which are unproductive and wasteful.
Liberal solutions are extremely costly and they don't work resulting in a diversion of resources away from productive activities toward wasteful government activities that don't solve anything.
All of this, and more, results in both economic and environmental disaster. The poor areas are the most polluted, and are where the most environmental damage is being done.
End Liberalism, and save the Earth!!!
prepare for the socialists to take credit for climate change
February 12, 2008 - 17:10 ET by lunaticcringeradioyou may wonder why they would do such a thing since it has been anything that the evil greedy selfish earth destroying capitolists conservatives have done right?
well just sit back and watch this turd come down the pipe. soon we are going to fall into a cold snap, not due to anything we as man have done with all the silly schemes to prevent global warming, but because the solar activity has waned and we will start to feel the results of it. when this happens you are going to see a mass cry of i told you so's from the socialist global warmers. they are going to sweep in and take credit for a natural occuring event and label their political agenda as the only solution to manage mankind on the planet by saying that it was their efforts that prevented global warming. even though it was all due to the suns activity, they will lay claim to saving the planet for their efforts in eating bean curd chips and their need for undocumented day laborers running through dairy cattle fields capturing cow farts in mason jars, or what ever other crazy causes they can find that causes global warming.
mark my words, when we start to go into a cool cycle again, they will take credit for it, and use it as vindication and justification for envoking socialism globally and destroying capitolism.
lunaticcringeradio