Sprawl: The Next DDT?

The Business and Media Institute reports that the greens are trying again to use the nation’s national symbol—the Bald Eagle—to undermine free-markets. The Bald Eagle, which was recently removed from the Endangered Species list, faces another “dire” threat according to reports on “NBC Nightly News” and other news outlets. This time, the alleged culprit is sprawl.

“Urban sprawl has become the DDT of our generation,” biologist Bryan D. Watts noted in The Richmond Times Dispatch. According to Watts, the problem is free-market pressures and his “solution” involves regulating a lot more land. Ironically, it’s not even clear how much impact DDT has had on the birds (the indoor uses for malaria control do not even expose birds).

Some researchers are building a case the impact was insignificant for the species survival even when DDT was used in the environment. And there is plenty evidence that the eagles will do fine in “sprawling” neighborhoods. In fact, the Business and Media Institute points out that NBC fails to ever note that Bald Eagles are successfully cohabitating in large, sprawling suburbs like Philadelphia’s. Unfortunately, many of Carson’s followers don’t let the facts get in the way of their quest to deny the rest of us basic freedoms.