My Current Positions on Environmentalism

I am preparing to post an argument about a disturbing theme I see in the realm of radical left environmentalism. Before I do this, I thought it prudent to outline my stance on some popular issues so that my opinions are not assumed to be other than they are.

This is what I believe:

1. The human race developed over time through evolution and natural selection.

2. The Earth is a tumultuos chemistry set in which the weather and broader environment are constantly changing.

3. The human race does not understand the environment enough yet to make far-reaching proclaimations about climate change, its causes and effects, or what can be done to alter them.

4. Polluting the environment is harmful to the human race, and societies (not governments) should take action to minimize pollution everywhere that it is plausible to do so.

5. Scientific fact is not a "consensus." While scientists may reach consesus on issues that are possible or probable, these issues are not "fact" until all data always points to the same conclusion and all rational-minded men and women will obtain the same results from the same expirements.

6. Scientists must be aware of the difference between accidental and essential causes. For example, let us say an acorn grows into a sapling, and with water and sunlight that sapling becomes a tree. Water and sunlight are accidental causes of that tree, but they are not the essential cause of the tree. Water and sunlight exist in many other places and that tree, or trees like it, do not grow. It is the acorn (seed) which is the essential cause of the tree. Even further, one can record the degree of shade under the tree, and measure how the degree of shade increases in relation to the growth of the tree. Yet the shade under it is not a cause of the tree by any means.

It is far too easy in a world as complex as ours for amateur (or simply mistaken) scientists to record data and assign causes incorrectly. When so-called scientists are being paid by organizations with a financial stake in the outcome, incorrect results should be suspected. ESPECIALLY when there is other data that refutes it.