The Greatest Threat of the 21st Century: Not AGW but Eco-Fascism
by James
Delingpole
Recently
by James Delingpole: Build-A-Bear:
The Sinister Green Plot to Turn Our Kids Into Eco-Fascist Manchurian Candidates
As you freeze
your butt off in a winter whose severity the politicised weather
forecasters of the Met Office utterly failed to predict, and as
you wonder how you can afford gas and electricity bills which have
been grotesquely inflated by taxes and legislation designed to “combat
global warming”, spare a thought for a fellow victim of eco-fascism
who’s even worse off than you. In a week or so this poor man
could be dead.
His name is
Peter Spencer, he’s a farmer in New South Wales, and his livelihood
has been stolen by the Australian government in the name of –
you guessed it – “combatting climate change.” That’s
why he is now sitting atop that windblown tower you see in the photograph,
on sheep farmland rendered useless by eco-legislation, starving
himself to death in protest at his government’s callous disregard
for his property rights. This is his 46th day on hunger strike.
Jo
Nova has been following the story closely. Here’s the eco-political
background:
As a part
of Australia’s commitment to protect native vegetation and
to reduce carbon emissions under the Kyoto protocol, Peter Spencer
and thousands of farmers like him, have been subjected to a government
imposed ban on land clearing.
The saved
trees are natural carbon sinks worth an estimated $10.8 billion
to the government in reduced carbon emissions, should Kevin Rudd’s
emissions trading scheme go ahead. But the farmers, who can no
longer develop this land have received no compensation.
Peter Spencer
is among the victims of this legalised theft. He first told
his story here in 2006.
In recent
decades, thousands of farms have become economically marginal
and have gone out of business. What is not widely known is that
this “marginality” has often been the result not of
market forces but of government regulation. In particular, governments
in pursuit of urban green votes have imposed a vast range of devastating
new costs on farmers.
My farm
is probably one of the worst affected in Australia, so I can speak
about this with some knowledge. “Saarahnlee” is at Shannons
Flat in NSW. Our northern boundary fence is the southern boundary
of the ACT and its Namadgi National Park.
The farm
consists of about 14,000 acres, about 60 per cent of which was
cleared before World War II. When I bought it in the 1980s, I
had been working overseas to earn the money to buy the place.
Unfortunately, I was unable to farm it for some time so extensive
regrowth occurred. When I returned to Australia to begin to farm,
I found that various laws to preserve native vegetation had been
enacted in the meantime, and I was unable to “reclear”
the land.
I could have
applied for permission to clear, but not only was it unlikely
this would have been granted, at that time it would have cost
us over $300,000 merely to prepare the necessary farm plan. This
was because of the number of different ecosystems present due
to the 900 metre altitude variation on the property. There would
have been no refund if the plan was rejected. It should be pointed
out that under the just-released regulations (December 1, 2005)
this cost would now be paid by the relevant department.
The result
was that I was left with only 800 acres to farm: not nearly enough
to live off and a financial catastrophe. The bank foreclosed on
our mortgage and at the moment we are barely hanging on, thanks
to the help of our extended families.
I protested
to the state government and was told nothing could be done. Our
plight has received extensive publicity and it’s worth putting
on the record that I haven’t received one message of sympathy
from any environmentalist. It appears the Green movement is prepared
to destroy the property rights of despised groups such as farmers
and devastate their lives in order to achieve its ends.
The rest of
the article shows that Peter Spencer was no whingeing slouch. As
Jo Nova reports, he really did try everything before resorting
to his final, desperate pass.
Read
the rest of the article
January
21, 2010
Copyright
© 2010 The Telegraph
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