Let’s hear it for Death, Poverty and Ignorance

Grist seems gleeful that New Scientist thinks “our economy is killing the Earth.” According to New Scientist:

Consumption of resources is rising rapidly, biodiversity is plummeting and just about every measure shows humans affecting Earth on a vast scale….A growing band of experts are looking at figures like these and arguing that personal carbon virtue and collective environmentalism are futile as long as our economic system is built on the assumption of growth. The science tells us that if we are serious about saving Earth, we must reshape our economy.

Is there any doubt over the prescription? “Expect tough decisions on wealth, tax, jobs and birth rates,” intones one of the entries. As CEI’s Fred Smith has noted, the greens think there are too many people, too much production and consumption, and too much technology. Thus the environmentalist prescription too easily boils down to “death, poverty and ignorance.” Sustain the “Earth” (requisite reverent tremble in the voice here), but people? Who needs ’em.