My Greed Is Fine. Yours, Not So Much

Green evangelist George Monbiot has penned a lovely article wailing about the logical contradictions in the environmental movement. It's a treasure trove of logical contradictions in itself. Just picking one was difficult, but here we go.

Greed is the problem.

Accommodation makes sense only if the economy is reaching a steady state. But the clearer the vision becomes, the further away it seems. A steady state economy will be politically possible only if we can be persuaded to stop grabbing.

Accomodation refers to the act of developing sufficient "clean" energy sources and infrastructure to support the economy. Leaving aside for the time being the nonsense about "clean" sources, we come to the root of the problem: all of you out there who want something they don't have need to stop it immediately. Of course, if what you want is for me to agree with George Monbiot, that's OK.

Greed comes in lots of forms. It's shorthand for wanting more of something. George limits his definition of greed to material things, but he's larded up with greed just like anyone else. His entire career is filled with greed. The guy is a writer and an editorialist at that. George is greedy for people to think like he does. George wants you to buy his newspaper or patronize his advertisers so he can continue writing to convince more people that he's right. Greedy, greedy, George!

George wants more! No matter how much he has, he always wants more!