In Defense of Industrial Civilization
By David Holcberg (sent to the Los Angeles Times on August 19, 2007)

Re "It took a village for documentary" (August 18, 2007)

Nadia Conners, co-director of 'The 11th Hour,' said that the "collapse" of the environment is "a symptom. The real problem," she claims, "is industrial civilization and how we organize society."

So there you have it, in a nutshell. Environmentalists see industrial civilization as the enemy--and their goal is to re-organize society according to their anti-industrial values.

What would a non-industrial civilization be like for humans? Life would be hard, short and miserable.

In a non-industrial civilization there would be no modern travel, modern communication, or modern medicine. No electricity and no machines to run on it; no air conditioners to keep us cool in summer and no heaters to keep us warm in winter. No means to protect us from global warming--or global cooling.

In a non-industrial civilization with no washers, dryers, or microwave ovens, women would revert to the back-breaking drudgery of thoughtless and monotonous housework. Human life expectancy would be cut in half, from 70 to 35 years. And infant mortality would skyrocket to ten times what it is today.

In a non-industrial civilization our land would become dirty, our water undrinkable and our air foul with thick smoke from wood stoves in our homes and bad smell from horse droppings in the streets.

Industrial civilization has made our lives healthier, longer, more enjoyable, and more productive. If Hollywood stars like DiCaprio really believe that industrial civilization "is the problem," they are free to stop enjoying its benefits--and to stop producing movies that industrial technology makes possible.