“What’s Good For People is Good for Nature,” Environmental Leader Says

CALGARY, Canada–Free markets, private property, and the prosperity they produce are not just good for people, but they protect the environment as well, explained Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT) Executive Director Craig Rucker. In an interview with The New American, Rucker pointed out that the countries with the cleanest environments are also the most economically free nations. “What’s good for people is good for nature,” he said, calling for pro-growth policies that benefit people rather than government-enforced scarcity. “It’s like the old Chinese proverb: When there is food on the table, there are many problems; when there is no food on the table, there is one problem. Societies that do not take care of their people don’t have the resources to take care of the planet. So it’s no surprise that countries like the United States, like much of Europe, Australia, Japan–those that have the resources are the environmental leaders, and they are the ones attacked by the greens!” By contrast, societies with overbearing or even socialist governments such as the former Soviet Union have “abysmal” environmental records. He also drew a distinction between the “conservation” ethic, in which man is included in how to protect the planet, and the “preservation” ethic and the “Deep Green ecology” that views man as a “virus on the planet” that needs to be removed.