For the uninitiated, the “negative externalities of consumerism” includes cattle farts.  Elie claims that if we ignore these negative externalities we will destroy the environment.  Elie says, “a certain amount of consumption is a good thing.”  He says nothing about who is going to determine what a “certain amount” is.  Obviously the only institution that could determine a “certain amount” is the government – and it would be enforced by the use of coercion.  It is the government that would define the difference between a necessity and a luxury.  But there is no objective way to define a luxury.  All that is necessary is a cave and a patch of berries down by a stream – everything else is a luxury.  If the government determines that cattle farts are a threat to the environment, you’ll eat bread and water and not steak.  There are “negative externalities” in everything you consume.  In fact you produce one of the “negative externalities” because you exhale carbon dioxide.

     Environmentalism is a religion and like religion it uses fear and guilt to subjugate the people under its control.  You must follow religious dogma or go to hell.  You must follow environmental dogma or you’ll make life on earth a living hell.  Religion inculcates its followers with original sin.  Environmentalists say the fact that you were born is a sin against the environment – they say there are too many people on earth.

     Elie says that because the earth is finite, “ever-increasing economic growth is a delusion,” He says that the moral of my story is “don’t ignore reality.”  But that’s exactly what he does.  It’s obvious that man can exploit the resources of the moon, asteroids, other planets, the whole solar system and beyond.  We can terraform Mars and maybe Venus just for fun.

     I’m all for clean air and clean water and it’s capitalism with the institution of private property that protects us.  It is private property, properly enforced, that prevents any person or corporation from doing harm to his neighbour.  It’s capitalism that makes the most efficient use of resources.  If a commodity becomes scarce, the price goes up incentivizing more exploration, re-cycling or the use of alternate materials.  If environmentalists didn’t concern themselves with cattle farts and actually cared about the environment they’d be fighting FOR capitalism and not against it.

Check this out
https://youtu.be/s6b7K1hjZk4