The Environment is a Value to Man (not the other way around)

A Blog for my Brother

                My brother claims that man should “be seen as valuable (to the environment) as long as we are valuable to it.”  The environment is not capable of valuing anything, and is not a value in and of itself.  Man is the only being that can pursue his values rationally.  Therefore, the environment becomes a value when man decides that he wishes to gain something from it.  If he wants oil, he has the right to dig it out of the ground.  If he wants to hunt and eat deer, there is no reason to stop him.  If he wants to clear land to live on, he should do that too. 

                Any argument to stop man from claiming the Earth is mysticism.  There is no rational or moral argument for environmentalism, biodiversity, or the cap and trade bill congress is considering.    The line is drawn when land has been claimed by another man, or if harm can be proved on an individual basis as a result of man’s actions.

                For instance, one plank of the Green movement is that carbon emissions should be regulated.  Factory smog is not a valid reason to regulate emissions.  Factories support every single modern economy.  To claim that they need to reduce productivity in the name of environmentalism is economic suicide.  If someone doesn’t want to live in a city with smog, he can move.  There’s plenty of space in rural America.  Only when harm can be proved on an individual basis is it legitimate to sue over pollution.  Man is the Supreme Being in the world, not the environment.