From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.
Eco-imperialism
describes the negative outcomes of
the acts of
environmentalists.
Eco-imperialism is said to
occur when environmentalists place
the well-being of the environment
over the well-being of humans,
especially humans in the
third world. Examples of
eco-imperialism include the
banning of
genetically modified foods in
a starving nation, barring the use
of
DDT in countries dying of
malaria and introducing
pollution regulations that
destroy many jobs in a developing
economy.
The term was popularized by
Paul Driessen in his book
Eco-Imperialism - Green Power,
Black Death. Like the European
imperialism of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries, Driessen
claims eco-imperialists use the
governments of developed countries
to keep developing countries
destitute for their own benefits.
Through the
precautionary principle,
corporate social responsibility
and
sustainable development,
environmental groups
legitimize their demands on
government but often engender
poverty and death in the process.
Driessen asserts that sometimes
their demands can even cause
environmental degradation. In
Eco-Imperialism, Driessen
points out that wind power kills
birds (400 turbines killed over
7,000 birds in Spain in one year)
and requires destroying hundreds
of times more acres of land than a
single nuclear power plant. 73,000
acres (295 kmē) are required to
generate 20% of the energy for the
US needs with nuclear power.
According to the American Wind
Energy Association, to make that
20% with wind energy, 23 million
acres (93,000 kmē) must be
converted--roughly the size of the
state of Virginia.
