The single-mindedness among do-gooders never ceases to amaze me—and not in a good way.
The World Bank recently approved a loan to Eskom, a South African utility, to build a coal-fired generation plant and a wind-energy plant. The Bank found that half the country lives below the poverty level and AIDS continues to spread without mitigation. Recognizing that the harnessing and transmission of inexpensive energy has delivered humans from the shackles of poverty all around the world, the Bank acted out of compassion in approving the loan.
But not everyone is happy. Not environmentalists. Not wealthy liberal Senators and Congressmen, three of whom sent a letter to World Bank President Robert Zoellick questioning the loan. It’s not that the crazy logic used by people in Washington drives me crazy; it’s the fact that they can’t see the craziness of their own logic.
Protests over the loan rose from those of liberal ilk who are more concerned about the mere theory of man-made global warming than the real, persistent fact of poverty. Those who suffer each day continue to suffer while ideologues theorize, pontificate and sacrifice lives to their narrow agenda. They are more interested in building unreliable windmills than they are in applying known solutions to poverty, namely reliable energy.
Wind and other alternative “clean” energy sources provide an estimated 7 percent of the Unites States’ energy. Why? Because these alternative sources have not matured to a point where they are reliable, inexpensive and satisfy the country’s needs.
China and India are not building their economic expansion on wind turbines and solar panels. Why then are environmental groups and liberal politicians advocating that the poorest people in the world adopt these means of producing energy? The immorality of these do-gooders is appalling.
In the 1930s a chemical company developed a product, DDT, that was used widely in the United States and Southern Europe to eradicate malaria. malaria is virtually non-existent in the US today because of it. Millions of lives were saved and the general welfare of the country improved.
However, malaria continues to plague Africa for one reason. In 1962 a book was written called Silent Spring. A largely unscientific tome, it claimed that DDT may be harmful to humans and the environment. Partially based on this book the World Health Organization and environmentalists deterred the use of DDT in Africa for decades. Millions of children in Africa died from malaria over the course of those decades.
These same environmentalists explored the use of “earth friendly” alternatives to solving the malaria problem. None worked as effectively as DDT, which is now being used in Africa. Sadly and without remorse environmentalists pat themselves on the back for saving the environment while water-borne diseases remain a leading killer of children under the age of five.
Once again, close-minded altruists are blocking Africans from modern-day advances that will save lives. Hiding behind a benevolent crusader’s veil, these people will do more harm to Africans than the unfounded crimes attributed to their boogie-men: colonialists, banks, oil companies and greedy capitalists.
Protected by the marketing associated with their cause, the cruelty inflicted by these bleeding hearts goes unnoticed. Only in a country as opulent as ours do elected leaders and environmentalists have the audacity to pass judgment on the world’s poor for not using expensive but antiquated energy generation sources to free themselves from the bonds of poverty.
Jeff Sural is counsel in the legislative and public policy group at Alston & Bird. He previously served as a deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Legislative Affairs at the Homeland Security Department and as Assistant Administrator for legislative affairs to Transportation Security Administration chief Kip Hawley. Sural also worked as a legislative counsel for Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-MI). He lives in Washington, DC.