Marine biologist Sylvia Earle wrote “The World is Blue”, a beautiful book about the ocean and how it is being threatened by humanity. If you care about the ocean or just want to learn more about it, I’d recommend reading it.
But if you asked me which books you should read as an environmentalist, Earle’s book would not be at the top of the list, precisely because it is wonderful: it’s telling me what I already knew, written by someone who cares.
Instead of reading books written by people who care like Bill McKibben, Sylvia Earle, and Derrick Jensen, you should read books by people who don’t care. In other words, you should read books written by the enemy.
The enemy is the mass of the insane who are convinced in the hearts that the environment doesn’t matter. It is these devout human supremacists who are against the environment, or who might understand the economic value of the environment and only want to preserve it only enough so that it can continue to provide a short-term economic advantage.
Think about it. If you were a military general, the first thing you would do is study the tactics of the enemy, not the philosophy of those who share your cause. Famous chess players spend hours studying the playing style of their opponents instead of simply marvelling at the genius of their own past moves.
It’s the same with the fight for preserving nature. Don’t spend all your time immersed in the beauty of nature and resonating with those who share your sorrow at its destruction. Go out in the real world, learn the nature of the enemy, and fight for the destruction of the institutions that are killing our earth!
So instead of picking up a book written by a fellow environmentalist, read Ayn Rand. Take a look at Steven Pinker’s book “Enlightenment Now” or other books by David Deutsch and Ray Kurzweil. Visit the website The Roots of Progress. In other words, dive into the camp of the enemy and understand the inner workings of the insane so that you can aid in the fight to bring down our pathological and violent capitalistic culture of human supremacy that is working towards our destruction!
