So there was a big article yesterday in the Washington Post about how environmentalism is becoming a big thing on college campuses.
Now of course there's nothing wrong with studying the environment, or being "green" when it comes to efficiency or recycling. And the article even gave a few lines to global warming skeptics. But the real problem with environmentalism is that it's becoming an article of faith, a religion almost; and its adherents too easily move towards the notion that key parts of the catechism--that, for example, human action is the main cause behind global warming and that the globe has warmed beyond what could be seen as normal and expected--cannot be questioned.
And we see evidence of this from the article:
"But many school officials say there's a growing consensus about climate change. "Three or four years ago, I would hear that from people, that global warming's a fraud," said Randall Ott, architecture dean at Catholic. "I don't hear that at all now," especially from students. In his view, he said, "the evidence is overwhelming -- and very troubling. We at our university feel a certain ethical mission to be operative on this issue"....At U-Va., where students helped design a barge that will travel the Chesapeake Bay and that they hope will teach children about ecology, architecture dean Karen Van Lengen said environmentalism "is not a course at our school. It's a way of thinking. . . . It's a mind-set."
A "mind-set" not to be challenged? An "ethical mission" not to be questioned? Let's hope not. But one wonders.
