The Really Inconvenient Truths: Seven Environmental Catastrophes Liberals Don't Want You to Know About- Because They Helped Cause Them

by Iain Murray

Book Overview

Al Gore is bad for the planet...
Talk about really inconvenient truths--that's one of the many you'll find in Iain Murray's rollicking expos of environmental blowhards who waste more energy, endanger more species, and actually kill more people (yes, that's right) than the environmental villains they finger. Did you know that estrogen from birth control and "morning after" pills is causing male fish across America to develop female sex organs?...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1596980540
• ISBN13: 9781596980549
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Regnery Publishing
• Length: 354 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A Little Strident, But Factual

Although the tone of the writing sometimes put me off, I found the six of the seven examples well documented and argued. The author's conclusions were fully supportable from the evidence. However, the equating of "Liberals" to "Environmentalists" is not as exact as the author would like us to believe. But his analysis of environmentalism as a new and powerful secular religion (based in Mother Earth as God) is directly on target. To look at the seven (actually eight) cases: (1) Global Warming & Al Gore. Although Gore and the media claim there is general scientific consensus on global warming and that the warming is due to man's intervention, that statement is false. At the time of this review (12/08), there is evidence that the aveage world temperature has been increasing about a degree per century, but there is no irrefutable evidence that this is coming from any actions of man. (See Solomon, "The Deniers") Al Gore is making millions with his propaganda efforts to panic the American population with a doomsday scenerio that cannot be supported by scientific evidence. Sounds like a scurrilious politician to me. (2) The banning of DDT based on the propaganda work by Rachel Carson reversed the control of malaria and other diseases that had been achieved by the 1960s, and tens of millions of humans have died as a result. This is well-trodden ground, fully supportable by scientific evidence, but has not been reversed due to the environmental lobby. Even worse, Carol Browder, Clinton's head of the EPA, even banned Diazinon, the most effective controller of ticks and other pests since DDT, and now Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Fever are exploding in the US. One can argue that environmentalists are abject racists in seeking to ban the effective control of malaria in Africa, not caring about the people there because they are black, but I invite them to come to my ranch and spend a week outside. They will be bitten from one to five times by ticks, and I would like to see their lily-white, elitist reaction when they realize the possibility that they contracted Lyme disease. (3) Ethanol. The problem of burning food for energy instead of eating it for survival is covered extremely well. As a cattle rancher (horrors, I raise animals for FOOD!), I see the rise in the price of corn due to its diversion into a source for ethanol. Using ethanol in place of gasoline will cause widespread hunger throughout the Third World, but again, environmentalists are not concerned since they are all yellow, brown or black anyway and we need to start lowering the population. (When will the 3rd World wake up and see what is going on?) (4) Contraception pollutants: Estrogen released into the water is drastically altering animal reproduction. Again, this is based on solid evidence, but totally ignored by environmentalists who see this as a by-product of the wonman's right to control her own body and enjoy sex whenever she desires. OK, I understand the issu

Well Researched and Balanced Environmentalism

As anyone who pays any attention to current events knows, energy and food prices are spiralling upward. Many do not know the reasons for that. In this scholarly review of the subject, Iain Murray explores those issues and several others. He not only provides the reasons for many of our current predicaments, he also supplies solutions. As the subtitle states, this book deals with 'seven environmental catastrophes that liberals don't want you to know about - because they helped cause them.' Although many environmentalists likely have good motives, the unintended consequences of the policies that they push have been and continue to be disastrous for our planet and the human race. One example is the ban on the 'dreaded DDT'. Mr. Murray does a great job of showing how that ban has resulted in the deaths of a countless number of children in Africa due to malaria. Another is ethanol. Murray makes the case that the ethanol mandates enacted by the U.S. Congress have led to much higher food prices and shortages. Additionally, it is ineffective in battling the 'problem'. Ethanol may produce 1/3 less greenhouse gas than gasoline, but it uses more gasoline to produce it than it replaces. The Yellowstone Fire of 1988 is another great environmental tragedy brought about by the policies of so-called environmentalists. The war against logging and the anti controlled burn crusades created a powder keg. The fuel buildup was so huge that a massive fire was inevitable. In the case of The Endangered Species Act, Mr. Murray shows how it has created disincentives to protect some of the species it claims to champion while at the same time wreaking havoc on our economy. There are several other disasters that leftist environmentalist policies have caused. As Murray says, 'Liberal environmentalism, with its focus on box-checking rules, preference for word over substance, and its obsession with punishment of the guilty, has on too many occasions failed to prevent environmental damage, and in the meantime has harmed the economy and the humans whose well-being the economy represents.' This is an important and timely book. From skyrocketing energy prices to high priced food and shortages of the same, the policies of the radical environmentalist movement are greatly damaging the world food supply, economy, and the environment. This book should be read by all voters and policymakers.

The end of the world is not the only option

Iain Murray's book tells a dismal tale of the issues that the environmental movement failed. Patrick Moore (Greenpeace founder) has often talked about the reasons he left the movement he founded. He has mentioned the dismal view of humans, the radicalization of the movement, the lack of science-based policy pursuit. Iain Murray does not tell you that it is so, he shows you the issues that the movement abandoned and disregarded because it was convenient. The people involved in either side of this debate are often angry and defensive. The debate has been dirty for a long time. What struck me with Murray's book is his gentle voice, his descriptive, evidence based narrative. I grew up in the green movement; my first political engagement was in the Norwegian version of Friends of the Earth's youth group. I soon got disillusioned, and had I known the seven truths that Murray tells, I might have left sooner than I did. If you are serious about your desire do conservation work, if you are serious about your dedication to make the human footprint on earth smaller, read this book. There are other alternatives out there, where you can contribute to a greener, wealthier world. A world where humans flourish and the environment is protected. Don't by into the dismal view of the Malthusian totalitarians. As Murray shows in this book, their policies kills people and hurts the environment.

The Best Recent Book About the Environment. Period.

I'll make it simple: this is the best book written about the environment in the past five years. It's a well-researched, well-written, never boring look at the way that the liberal passion for central planning has damaged just about every aspect of the natural environment. Although the subject mater may seem dry at first glance, this book actually makes it fun. It's a must-read.

Outstanding

There are some issues which the press doesn't present in a one-sided fashion: the ones they refuse to mention at all. If you want to learn about problems which you won't hear about otherwise, this book is the place to start. If you read only the section on malaria you'll never look at environmentalism the same way again. Plus, this is the perfect Earth Day gift!