Environmentalism and Neo-Communism: A Very Frustrating Dialogue

The last few weeks of interaction with the wonderful folks from Open Source Theology have been exciting especially in light of the conversation on environmentalism, but also very frustrating when the conversation shifted to the political aspects of environmental action namely socialism, communism and forced redistribution of income being presented as the solutions to the looming environmental crisis threatening the existence of humanity. This alone is very telling of the true agenda of the modern environmentalist movement, which has become a vehicle for extremist socialist groups, apparently for the sole purpose of fundraising and promoting of Communistic, anti-globalization and anti-American ideology and propaganda.

This often marginalized connection between communists and environmentalist groups is best illustrated by the statement from the Sierra Club’s website, which answers the question “What do Labor Unions and Environmental Organizations have in common?” The answer is surprisingly honest:

“For decades, environmental groups and labor unions have found common cause in efforts to promote citizen action, hold corporations accountable, and fight for safe workplaces and healthy communities. Today, environmentalists and unions are forming alliances at the local, state and national levels to work together on a broad range of issues such as promoting clean energy solutions and holding corporations accountable.”

The Sierra Club is not the only environmentalist group to openly acknowledge an affiliation with labor unions and socialistic organizations; this is am almost universal reality for most if not all environmentalist organizations that are active today. Movimentgraffitti.org for example proudly displays a logo comprised of a raised fist next to a star on a bright red background, underlined by the motto: “Moviment Graffiti is active against oppression and exploitation of people, environment and animals. With a vision of freedom and radical democracy.” Some of their environment-awareness activities involve protests in front of McDonald’s restaurants, May 1st protests (also known as May Day or the Day of the International Solidarity of Workers), a rally against Israel’s incursion in Lebanon, and one to show “solidarity with all victims of this unjust war and to join all those in America who are against the war in Iraq.”

I am at a loss trying to understand what May Day, McDonald’s and the war in Iraq have to do with responsible environmentalism, but again, this only serves to confirm to a reasonable observer that environmentalist groups have been hijacked by extremists and do little or nothing to actually benefit the environment. The rhetoric is rife with anti-Capitalism and anti-Free market slogans, and one does not have to even be remotely familiar with the lingo in order to understand it. A simple Google image search of “environmental rallies” brings up a myriad of revealing pictures taken at those rallies to protect the environment. Amusingly, the vast majority of signs and posters displayed by protesters have nothing to do with environmentalism and instead display inflammatory messages such as “SUV Drivers should be drafted” and “Hybrid drivers against the war” making the rest of us who cannot afford the overpriced and over-hyped hybrids obviously pro-war and in favor of dirty air.

A real solution

The implications of this debate are serious, and many are suggesting that those of us who do not favor or abide by the proposals of the extremists (on either side) are in favor of “dirty air” or “polluted water.” It is a juvenile argument that has little to do with reality. As Christians who recognize the reality of Christ’s Kingdom, we are very much aware of the need to care for our environment, but we should not do so on the terms I outlined above. I already dealt with some of those arguments in an earlier article on the topic of Socialism, but I find it necessary to reiterate some of my points.

A secondary issue to be considered is the fact that many of the Christian groups advocating social programs to fight poverty are justifying their actions by the fact that Christ Himself appeared to have fought poverty when He was incarnate. That certainly seems to be the case, but Jesus never advocated taking wealth from one individual by force in order to give to the poor. In fact, Jesus used miracles to create food out of nothing (or out of a limited amount) in order to feet great multitudes. Creating something our of nothing is impossible in the marketplace, so if anything, Christ’s own actions teach us that free markets, creativity and ultimately capitalism and manufacturing is what truly helps the poor. Simply put, socialism would split a loaf of bread among a group of people while capitalism would sell the bread to the highest bidder in order to create more bread to satisfy the demand, which will eventually lead to the entire group having enough bread at all times.

While poverty was one of Christ’s concerns, it was not the why behind his earthly mission, nor was environmentalism. When asked by Pilate if He was a king, Jesus answered: “You say correctly that I am a king For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” (John 18)

The solution to poverty therefore seems to be found in the willing hearts of Christ’s followers which are motivated by truth, not by the desire to use someone else’s money and property to do so.

Frédéric Bastiat in his magnificent book The Law, identified – rightly so – wealth redistribution as “legal plunder.” Bastiat defined legal plunder: “See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime.” (Frédéric Bastiat , The Law) Bastiat also recognized that once the law is on the side of the plunderer, there is little those plundered can do about it. When the law is used to enforce plunder, people will die. I have seen it take place firsthand myself in Eastern Europe. Like Bastiat, I also recognize that plunder violates ownership, and since ownership is a fundamental principle of human existence, plunder, and therefore redistribution of wealth strikes directly at the heart of free market and the ownership-based society. Bastiat wrote: “I do not, as is often done, use the word in any vague, uncertain, approximate, or metaphorical sense. I use it in its scientific acceptance – as expressing the idea opposite to that of property [wages, land, money, or whatever]. When a portion of wealth is transferred from the person who owns it – without his consent and without compensation, and whether by force or by fraud – to anyone who does not own it, then I say that property is violated; that an act of plunder is committed.” (Frédéric Bastiat , The Law)

It is no question that there is a mentality of hoarding of wealth present in the human mind; however that is again, a matter of the heart as outlined by Christ in his message. It is not my place or even right to transfer wealth from its rightful owner to another without his consent and without compensation. That is outright theft, which is something also strongly condemned by Christ.

As a third and last issue I also want to point out that none of those who do promote Socialism or Communism and are active in the fight against free markets and Capitalism are willing to go live in Socialist or Communist countries or in places where Socialism is being actively used in governmental policies. The reason if of course due to the fact that Socialism fails whenever implemented – one would find it impossible to give a working example of practical and true Socialism, yet some continue to promote such failed ideology as a potential solution to humanity’s problems. It is not; it was proven to be a failure time and time again; it has killed people, trapped many into extreme poverty and continues to do so today. I have seen it and lived it firsthand, and anyone suggesting otherwise is insulting my sensibilities and my own experiences and observations.

If emerging Christians continue to promote extremist agendas like Socialism and Communism, they will lack the credibility needed to offer real solutions to those who truly are in need. Poverty-stricken people living in Cuba, Venezuela and China do not need to hear the same Communist propaganda they hear every evening from government-run media. They need real food, clothing and employment, and they need our willing hearts to help them, not our white-washed ideology they already know to be a failure, just as I do. Christ came to bring us social justice through social responsibility. That responsibility involves hard work, respect of ownership and property and rejection of what Bastiat called “plunder.”

There are three choices before us:

1. The few plunder the many.
2. Everybody plunders everybody.
3. Nobody plunders anybody.

Which one will Christians choose? Which one would Jesus choose? Like Frederic Bastiat, I choose the last: “This is the principle of justice, peace, order, stability, harmony, and logic. Until the day of my death, I shall proclaim this principle with all the force of my lungs (which alas! is all too inadequate)” (Frédéric Bastiat, The Law).

Care for our environment is necessary and justifiable especially in light of our fulfilled eschatology, but not at the expense of manipulating truth or at the expense of human lives. I do not believe that our God created a world that could be so easily destroyed by us humans. We live in an extremely complex environment. There are things we were created to do which end up having a negative effect on this environment, we breathe out CO2, expel unused food and water and create byproducts of our lives. Short of destroying humanity there is little we can do about it. There are other things we do that we could work on in order to reduce the environmental footprint we have as humans. But let us not lose sight of the hungry and poor in spirit who could not care less about smokestack emissions, and gas consumption. Those problems will not be solved by mixing a genuine care for the environment with legal plunder and it will hurt both the environment and the poor in the process.