An Arrogant Crow

My wife and I spent her Spring Break in Southern California. I admit I am fond of California. I wouldn't want to live there, but it is a great place to visit. Its a bit like going to the Kingdom of Oz, even though it bears more resemblance to Girls Gone Wild than Judy Garland. But it is a land that lives in the midst of fantasy; but when we look behind the curtains we don't see the kindly old Wizard, but instead the Terminator.

My wife likes to take walks and I like to be with her, so I tag along. One morning we came upon a large well fed crow drinking from a puddle alongside the sidewalk. As we walked closer and then passed this bird, it showed absolutely no fear and gave us no more than an irritable stare. Much to my wife's annoyance, I passed into silence as I pondered what I had just seen.

How far we have come. Wild creatures, once known as vermin, that show no fear of man. Crows, prairie dogs, coyotes, et al. once feared us, and with good reason. We earned our reputation that Darwinist's of an earlier generation gave us, i.e. Killer Apes. But that was before Walt Disney taught us that rodents are just like us, only cuter. And then we discovered that we are hurting Mother Earth. All 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons of her are in danger and needs saving. As I said, we have come a long way baby.

But the fact is that earlier generation named us well. We are Killer Apes. We did not build our present civilization by being nice guys. It is no accident that wild animals no longer carry off our children for an easy meal or that rodents do not carry culture destroying plagues. Of course, we have changed and aren't like that anymore.

Ok, so what is the point? The point is that the environmental movement in the United States is probably coming to a reckoning in the next few years. The charming vision we now have of Mother Earth has joined apple pie, the flag, school teachers and emergency responders as icons we all love and respect in our culture. Yet since the beginnings of Western Civilization some 3,000 years ago, we have battled nature. We have seen nature as something to be battled or used, an opponent to test our mettle against.

So far, the environmental movement has not caused Joe the Plumber any pain. But now we are at the tipping point. Carbon control legislation offers enormous costs with no gain. Saving Mother Earth is now going to cost, its going to cost a lot. A fuzzy dreamy consciousness lies at the heart of modern environmental consciousness. We believe it because it makes us feel good about ourselves, and it doesn't cost anything. We get to have our cake and eat it too.

That is probably going to change. Western Civilization has always been about bigger, better, faster, cheaper. We will be pragmatic, we always have been. But we are also pretty ruthless when it comes to improving our standard of living. Maybe that crow will show a little respect next time we meet.