Norman Moss

Moss is perhaps the most conventional green explored here. He believes in ooman progress, technological know-how, planetary management, anthropocentrism, carnivorism, etc. He shows just how little it means to be an environmentalist. This was first published in mm15.

High Technology brings Perpetual Daylight.

“We will be able also to improve on the global environment. We could eliminate darkness in a part of the globe by putting large mirrors in a geostationary orbit to reflect the sun when it is over the horizon.”[61]

Planetary Management.

“We don’t have any choice about whether to intervene in the ecology of the planet. We are doing so. We have to direct our impact and sometimes reduce it; that is management. We also have to decide among ourselves who does what; that is politics”[62]

The Colonization of Space.

“People will explore space. They will colonize planets and asteroids, if only to exploit them for their resources. A group of scientists at nasa .. have worked out how to terraform mars, converting its atmosphere into an earth-like one. Mankind will eventually intervene in its own evolution.”[63]

Anthropocentrism.

“We should be on the side of humankind. It is natural to be revolted sometimes by the havoc that people have wrought on the natural world, and it is healthy to prefer green things to grey and the field to the bulldozer. But this is an aesthetic reaction more than a moral one, and should not be allowed to topple over into permanent anger at one’s own kind to the detriment of human sympathies. Some environmentalists cast humankind as the villain in the drama of life, plundering and destroying with reckless abandon. ‘Deep ecologists’ argue that every species has an equal right to exist, and that to favour the human one over others is ‘speciest’. This position is pragmatically difficult to maintain and ethically dubious. Respect for other life-forms is an admirable guideline in behaviour but it should not override all other considerations. Between the farmer and the locust , our sympathies should be with the farmer. Humans have an intelligence that no other animal has. Humankind can think broadly. We can look into the future and see consequences. We are a unique species.”[64]

Carnivorism.

“Human beings are carnivores .. Humans have the right to impose their moral values on the rest of nature because they are the only creatures with moral values.”[65]

Vegetarian Meat.

“We may soon be able to produce meat that has never been a part of any living Animal. The meat will be produced with proteins and carbohydrates from the animal’s genetic material. We will be able to eat meat and fish without killing or imprisoning a living creature.”[66]

Promethean Man is Natural so what is Environmental Man?

“Since the enlightenment we have celebrated promethean man. He used his spirit and his intellect to bend nature to his will. Now environmental man has come along as our new role model. Environmental man treads softly. He respects nature, reveres it even, and regrets the damage he has done to it. Environmental man must guide promethean man. But he should not simply inhibit him. For we need promethean man also. Man is a part of nature, and it is part of his nature to create, to build and to explore. It is as natural for men to build a hydro-electric dam as it is for beavers to construct a log dam across a stream.”[67]

A Blind Bigot.

“Man .. can wreak havoc on a scale that no other animal can. That is why he must tred carefully. Fortunately, Man also has the intelligence  to see what he is doing, or if not that, then to see what he has done and correct it.”[68] This seems to imply it is not oomans’ intelligence that is responsible for wrecking the Earth.