YOUR COMMENTS

On the specific subject of plastic bags:

Sure, they take less energy to make and are easier to recycle than paper ones - but in this specific case that isn't the point. Paper bags, if carelessly disposed of, fairly quickly rot and cause no more trouble. Plastic lasts practically forever, and causes all manner of mayhem especially in the form of bags; killing turtles by filling up their guts with indigestible rubbish, making great swathes of countryside unsightly as they festoon high branches of trees, etc. The same applies to drift nets, which drown millions of dolphins and albatrosses (both endangered) every year, by drowning.

The energy use is not the point. The indestructibility of many modern pollutants IS the point.
- Ian Campbell, U.K.

I used to have a salesman come by my machine shop trying to sell a water soluable oil coolant which he said you could drink, it was so safe. I kept saying okay go ahead and drink it. He never did. DDT is a polychlorinated biphenyl. Many of these chemicals seem to have long term effects upon reproduction and only recently have we developed the methodology to study those effects. Another one in the news now is Bisphenyl A which is in pretty much all hard plastics and seems to be related to the small size of your sons testacles. I worry when I hear those who make profit from some chemical saying it is just fine. Didn't we just do this with smoking, then second hand smoke, then mad cow, then global warming, then whatever. The results on DDT are mixed but no one that I know is putting it on their peanut butter sandwiches. It may be that the risk is worth the cost due to the enormous cost of malaria but that doesn't mean it is benign. Radical? Drink up.
- Robert, Deerfield

DDT has been proven harmless by many sources including the scientist that used to eat spoonfuls of it. He did this because the evidence he provided wasn't enough to convince the religious envirnmentalists who, apparently. Funny how Jonah talks about extremesists and then some of these extremists actually post extremism below.
- John II, Manchester

Steve & Robert,

I'm sure you are both intelligent enough to understand Mr. Goldberg's point--without mis-characterizing other's comments. One salient “environmentalist question” is “What is the difference—if any--between “climate change” and "global warming"?

Climate change on our planet is a fact; ice ages have come & gone many times over millions of years without being caused--or influenced--by man or his activities. On the other hand "Global Warming" is an assertion; (by definition--warming caused by man & his activities).

In spite of all the overblown rhetoric--that “the debate is over!”--there continues to be a lively debate as to whether phenomena; such as melting glaciers & ice caps; are caused by natural climate change or human activities; and what--if anything--human societies should do about it.

Similarly, we hear a lot about “endangered” species of plants & animals. While no sane person would argue for the wonton destruction of species or habitats, the geologic record contains fossilized remains; millions of years old; of many extinct species.

This suggests that extinction of species is just as much a part of the natural order of things as is the evolution of species—with or without the presence of mankind. So… Steve & Robert…take a breath!
- Paul, Hillsboro

Jonah's "distinction" does not really establish the difference. One way or another, humanity has one home and only one home: Earth. To the extent that we trash it, it won't make any difference whether we are "environmentalists" or "conservationists." We'll all be dead. In this case, I'd say the ends (catastrophe or salvation) make the choice of means a matter of life or death. Columns like this one split hairs, but don't deal with the substance of the problem.
- Webster, Williamsburg, VA

It is often all-or-nothing solutions that are bandied about. We ARE supposed to treasure and manage our environment, but it is also here to provide for us. Conservation and careful use of resources should be hand-in-hand with our ability to use those resources in a responsible way. Unscientific regulations need to be removed so we can all work together for efficient living.
- Ed Tipler, PE, Ridgecrest, Ca.

The posts below give us an object lesson in the mindset of the environmental left: any rational criticism of where the environmental movement might have gone wrong brings nothing but hysterics about dumping DDT and mercury. There's no room for reasoned debate with the left: in this case, you must either stay obedient to their controlling view or be cast as the worst sort of polluter.
- Rick M., Portsmouth

While Jonah's comments against the environmental extremists are welcome and refreshing, the urge to dump the entire concept of a cleaner earth as if it was somehow opposed to conservatism itself is taking it a step too far, and misstates the notion of conservatism. We don’t have a blank check to use up all of our nation’s resources, nor do we have the right to pollute wantonly, as if that was somehow the sign of “progress.” Plastic bags should be recycled, for example, and it’s conservatives who should be the most vocal about embracing local recycling programs. Doing so does nothing to degrade Capitalism, free enterprise or our way of life. In fact, in enhances it.
- Stephen A., Manchester

How about letting the tannery start dumping spent dye in the rivers and streams again? Oh the memory of red and yellow streams 25 years ago in NH. And why all the sewage plants? Lets just dump it in the Merrimack River again, clean water is way over rated and it might save me a little money on my taxes. How about a nuclear plant where the face of the Old Man of the Mount used to be? Wouldn't that be a true beacon of the rightious, all knowing, right wingers in NH for all the world to see! Enviro-terrorists must be stopped!!!
- Sid, Plano, Texas

It's easy to see who actually read and digested the article and those who read what they wanted to see. They clearly demonstrate the point without further comment.
- Ellen, Portland

Amen, brother! Power to the people. Dump that waste! I think I'll go out and buy some DDT and dump it in the river. Maybe change my oil in a field next to a reservoir. Marxist pigs telling me what I can and cannot do. See, moving back to NH has started to rub off on me.
- steve boyington, Chester

Amen brother! Nice to finally hear someone say what all of us rational-thinking Americans have known all along. Environmentalism is an anti-capitalistic movement that embraces symbolism over success, and fabrication over fact. It binds the hands of energy companies and entrepreneurs, who, left to pursue their passions, would have had this nation energy independent 20 years ago. Time to take our country back!
- Dave Jag, Goffstown

Some nice points raised here. It is good to see logic slowly making its way into this debate. I am also careful to call myself a conservationist in order to differentiate myself from the rabid green zealots who have made 'environmentalist' a pejorative.
- Tom, Campton

So let's hijack the environmentalist movement and give it back to the nuclear power industry, the tobacco industry, the utility companies. A couple more Clean Air Bills would help. Let's completely remove mercury output controls from power plants, let's appoint more "experts" whose knowledge base is the bible not environmental science and then we won't have to consider that plastic bags, though cheaper to produce are filling up land fills. Their cost to produce is not the point. The environment is the point. That is why we must stop destroying it with polluting cars, and coal fired plants and ingenious new chemicals, drugs, depleted uranium weapons and genetically altered foodstuffs that don't exist in nature and are setting us up for an unknown future.
- Robert, Deerfield

Sadly, the environmentist movement has been hijacked by politicians, and those who follow them, who wish to control how we live, what we think, do, and say. ( and they try to deflect this fact by pointing to conservatives who have problems with gay marriage...go figure). Conservationists believe in thewise use of natural resources, which of course is also subject to abuse by those to whom only the dollar is important. I have to agree with Jonah, the green movement is quickly becoming a new religion, and not a very friendly reglion if you don't bow at thier alter to pray, and fork over your income.
- jeff, goffstown