I recently went looking for a website, blogpost, something on the internet that I could criticize. Naturally the first place I thought to look was Foxnews.com. I also had the good luck of looking on the day that happened to be Earth Day, I figured this would help me find a wealth of articles, or opinion pieces that I could disagree with.
I did find something. “Earth Day A Reminder of the Benefits of Industrial Progress” The author of this opinion piece, Alex Epstein, ends the article with his main point;
“A real environmental catastrophe would be a world in which we cut down on these things--a world in which we stopped improving the Earth. Let’s not let that happen. Let’s improve our environment through industrial progress.”
He lists various ways throughout his article about how the Industrial Revolution has made the Earth a better place; fossil fuels have made all climates more livable for humans, modern transportation, grocery stores full of healthy foods, the average person lives longer and in better health, etc. I, myself, have a hard time seeing how any of these specific things have made the Earth or nature a better place.
Epstein goes on to say that “Nature, untamed, is not very friendly to human beings. It doesn't give us the food, clothing, shelter, and medicine, let alone leisure time, that we need.” I would argue that humans can and have for a very long time, found all of these things in nature.
Epstein is presenting such an egoistic mindset that as long as we keep advancing technology, there is no need to concern ourselves with the environment. This is not a mindset I can agree on.
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