Humans have come to rely on chemicals not only to increase the fruits of our agricultural labor but also to stop other species from partaking in the feast. And the toll exacted by these “pest”-killing chemicals is immense.
Over 60 years ago, in Silent Spring, Rachel Carson detailed the effects of DDT, the first widely used chemical pesticide, on ecosystems and human health.
Throughout the month of June, many Americans frantically refreshed the Supreme Court’s website each morning, as immensely important cases appeared on the docket in rapid succession. It turned out to be a disorienting month. The freedom to get an abortion was stripped from 40 million people of reproductive age, gun control efforts were stymied, and the separation of church and state in public schools was weakened.
A year ago, I wrote about how a true-cost steady state economy would deal with water pollution. Last August, the alarming green slime at the west end of Lake Erie was so bad that it shut down Toledo’s water supply for half a million people. Who would pay the tremendous damages caused by the green slime? Certainly not the industrial agricultural interests who were responsible for about two-thirds of the problem!
Is anyone else ready for some refreshing honesty from the President regarding economic growth and the environment?
Brent Blackwelder remembers Ronald Reagan’s ruinous results for the environment and the economy.