This blog came into existence because the greens have done their job too well. Their message saturates everyday life to the point where people like me feel compelled to push back.

WordPress, the company that provides the software and servers on which this blog depends, tells me that yesterday’s blog post was my 500th.

Since April 2009, therefore, I’ve done a significant amount of writing. By way of perspective, here in Canada, those with a full-time, generously paid columnist gig at a daily newspaper, are expected to produce three pieces a week – 12 per month, or roughly 150 a year.

In January, I published 20 blog posts. Most of them were longer than the typical 800-word newspaper column.

In other words, by industry standards, I’ve been working hard recently. I’ve not ever produced content at this rate before. Amusingly, all of this writing is about a topic that, during my earlier stint as a journalist (prior to 2002), I don’t think I mentioned even once.

Global warming. Climate change. Those concerns had never attracted my attention. I had little knowledge and few preconceived ideas. Of course I cared about the environment. Who doesn’t?

I started this blog because the greens have done their job too well. They’ve saturated everyday life with their message to the point where it’s impossible to ignore.

Not a day goes by in which I’m not nagged about the bloody environment. Stores – from Ikea to my local grocery chain – harangue me about doing my part for Mother Earth. Corporations. Presuming to tell me how to live. Presuming to lecture me about morality.

A few months back, my attempt to purchase an artsy birthday card ended when I realized that the back cover was plastered with verbiage about saving the planet. Far more words on that card were devoted to a totally unrelated matter than were used in the card itself.

On another occasion recently, while visiting an ailing 86-year-old in a nursing home, I was confronted by a poster in the elevator advocating the use of public transit in the interest of saving the planet. Most of the people in that facility can’t make it to the washroom without assistance.

Yes, the environment is important. But there are lots of important issues in this world. Children being poorly served by the education system. People wrongfully convicted of crimes. Lack of proper sanitation in poor countries. Kids going blind because there’s too little Vitamin A in their diets. People imprisoned for criticizing their governments.

Lots of things need fixing. Many issues deserve my attention. I can’t tell you how resentful I’ve become that one cause in particular gets shoved down my throat every single day.

My first blog post was titled That’s It, I’ve Had It. It began this way:

Earth Hour 2009 finally pushed me over the edge. Anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave knows about global warming and how we should all do our part to avert impending disaster.

I’ve been skeptical of the hype for some time, but life is short and until now I’ve felt I had other battles to attend.

But matters have gotten out of hand…

The post ended with:

The headlines on these [Toronto Star] articles leave no room for doubt or debate. They refer to the “moral aspect of climate change,” the “apocalypse” of urban sprawl, and warn that we have mere hours to “prevent climate disaster.” One guest essay, titled “On a Leap of Faith,” bears this as its subtitle:

If we stop flying and shipping, take bicycles to work and slash electricity use, would we sidestep the predicted environmental catastrophe? We don’t know…But it would be immoral not to try.

I’m very sorry, but all of this amounts to hysteria. It really is time that sensible people started speaking up and pushing back.

Four years on, and 500 blog posts later, I’m still here :-)

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