*SOLO-NZ Op-Ed: Save The World - Shoot a Greenie *

*By Lance Davey

**April 11, 2008 *

No, don't. Not really. I'm *mostly* kidding. That would be murder (and if I really meant that, it would be hate speech and aren't the greens a "protected" minority? I can't keep track).

But how interesting and amusing to see those political watermelons the Green Party issue two press releases* within days of each other: the first demanding a "food strategy" for production of basic and staple crops in New Zealand, because of an apparent impending food shortage crisis (food-riots, queues, rationing, anarchy, cats and dogs living together, etc. *ad nauseam*) and another, days later, vehemently opposing GE field trials of crops in Canterbury. Heh!

The 'Green' MO, whether from independent environmentalist activists or environmentalist political parties is the same – spread fear and guilt to gain converts to the faith. Much like the Catholics really.

The world's going to drown, the world's going to burn, the world's going to starve, we're all going to riot and kill and cannibalise each other – BUT there is salvation! Oh yes, there is salvation my non-gender-specific siblings! You only have to accept in your heart that humans carry original carbon footprint sins, that YOU are less important than your environment and accept Gaia into your heart! Halledamnlujah!

Well in the 1960s, long before both of the "climate crises" (the cooling one and the later warming one - you remember the cooling crisis don't you?), the *crisis de jour* was the "population crisis". Yep, the world was going to starve to death because overpopulation meant the supply of food would not be able to meet demand. It was *really going to happen *they said. The *science was settled *and the *debate was over *they said. Sound familiar? The Al Gore-like champion of the population crisis was the nutjob anti-human environmentalist Paul R Ehrlich:

*"The battle to feed all of humanity is over... In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now." *

Oh, except one course of action – taking radical steps to limit overpopulation. Effectively banning breeding. There's too many damn humans anyway, vile parasites! A global cancer! Sullying the pure goddess Gaia with their mere presence.

At any rate, prophet Ehrlich's apocalyptic message was partly grounded in some verifiable scientific facts. The then-population growth *was* outpacing food production. The obvious solution of increasing supply - by adapting production techniques and using emerging technology to boost yields – was dismissed as yet another apocalyptic scenario however. According to Ehrlich, the United States would see its life expectancy drop to 42 years by 1980 because of pesticide usage. Ahhh yes, "chemicals". Dirty, nasty, horrible, chemicals - we hates them, precious!

But here's where the story gets interesting. Along comes a titanic hero of the 20th century and a man who has probably saved more lives than any other in history: Norman Borlaug. Norman Borlaug is an American agronomist, and "father" of the *real* Green Revolution.

The revolution that actually managed to feed the millions of extra humans coming into the world. By dramatically increasing crop yields through genetic cross-breeding (vehemently opposed by greenie types at the time for being unnatural) and much smarter application of fertilisers and pesticides, Borlaug saved millions of lives and incidentally, millions of acres of "virgin" land from being converted to farmland thanks to increased crop yield per acre. He had to fight tooth and bloody nail to have his ideas accepted though, as smug environmentalists blocked him at every turn.

Because of this, before Borlaug could save millions, hundreds of thousands died from famine throughout India. In desperation his ideas and methods were adopted, and subsequently millions were saved. The same thing happened in Africa in the 1980s. While Band-Aid tried to feed the starving with music, Borlaug did something novel and tried to feed them food instead. Of course the environmental community went crazy, and demanded that western donors stop sending "non-organic" fertilisers, used in Borlaug's method, to Africa.

So while I am prompted to chuckle at the Green Party's recent press releases, not long after that comes a simmering anger because these uninformed, irrational, idiots - sipping organic chardonnay – continue trying to block potentially life saving bio-technology. Should any deaths occur from a food shortage in the developed world, the blame can be laid squarely at the feet of these ignorant Luddites. As it already should be for their interference in the developing world.

* *Out of control prices demand food strategy for NZ - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0804/S00238.htm Moves to kill NZ GE-free status by stealth - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0804/S00300.htm *

ENDS

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