Anything Goes…. The World of Vulture Environmentalism

[Laxman]

Interesting read from my friend at Politics of the Environment

Vulture Environmentalism is Vulture Capitalism’s hungry and greedy cousin. Is it really surprising that a country that permits, or even lauds, the economic strip mining of our nation’s wealth for the benefit of a few would exhibit a similar mentality when it comes to our natural resources? Just as the pillaging of our economy by the privileged and favored members of our society undermines the strength of our economy itself, and the economy’s ability to work for average people, so too, the mindless exploitation of our resources saps our national strength and spirit. The end game isn’t pretty. Playing Vulture Capitalism out to its eventual end looks like the last moves in a game of Monopoly; with most of the players mortgaging their pathetic homes on Baltic Avenue back to the bank so the winner can build a couple of more hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place. Vulture Environmentalism has a very similar outcome. It ends with a depleted and barren natural world that can no longer provide the elements to sustain life after a relatively small number of people have profited handsomely from draining the available resources.

He's got some good quotable lines in there like this one:

As long as we allow businesses or individuals who take advantage of our economic and our natural resources to be measured only by their profits we will continue to have an imbalanced system headed for ruin. If the cost of lost jobs, environmental degradation, public health, lost quality of life and other societal expenses are not added to the equation, we are falsely assessing the true impacts. Its like allowing those who profit from this scheme to balance their checkbooks based only on the deposits, while ignoring the checks written, the withdrawals and the fees. Don’t worry the rest of society will pick up those costs

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

1. I hate musicals!

I've got to remember that whenever somebody calls Mitt Romney a vulture capitalist in the future I'm going to say,"that's not right! you're not being fair to vultures".

Let me finish with an apology to vultures. They may not be the prettiest birds, but they do serve an important and valuable function in our ecosystem. They do no harm and help keep nature in balance. Equating those who exploit our economy and our resources for their own gain with these creatures is not quite fair to the vulture. It’s unfortunate that the term “vulture” has come to describe people who serve only their own interests without any greater benefit. The vulture should not, in any way, be tarred by association with humans who apparently can’t exhibit the common sense of a bird when it comes to dealing with our resources and with the future.