I’m All for Saving The Planet

This is a picture of the Delta Smelt, a small fish which is indigenous to one place in the world; the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.  The delta is an important spot in southern California;  it serves as a transition area for water which makes its way down from northern California and is distributed into the southern portion of the state for agricultural purposes.

On December 14, 2007, Judge Oliver Wanger of the United States District Court for the Eastern district of California issued an order to all but shut down the pumping stations in the area, as they were sucking up and killing the small fish.

A few things to realize about the delta smelt before we continue;  it is, essentially, a useless animal.  It is not edible, it eliminates no harmful wildlife, and has zero commercial value.  It takes up space.  Rather than recognize Darwinism, our government has decided to shut down the area at great human cost t   o preserve a fish that no one has ever heard of, and has no realistic reason to care about.

When I say great human cost, it isn’t for the sake of poetic justice.  Billions upon billions of gallons of water necessary not only for agricultural purposes but for human use and consumption have been cut off.  Thousands of acres of farmland have dried up and become worthless.  Unemployment has climbed to a catastrophic 14% as the workers are laid off.  Utility costs have nearly doubled due to the new shortage of water, which is compounded by drought conditions in the state.

Now, i do understand the perceived need and sense of responsibility to look after the other species on the planet.  But why do we insist on doing so at direct cost to ourselves?  There are no environmental ramifications to  this fish dying out.  What this is is a classic case of whiny people who have nothing better to do with their lives other than to launch these faux altruistic campaigns to save the world.  I’m willing to bet that none of the people fighting this ridiculous battle have to live in the affected area. You have to wonder- would they be so self righteous if they did?   Come on, people.  As you read this article, 3 children in this world died of starvation.  Rather than wasting who knows how many thousands of dollars worrying about a worthless fish, why not focus your attention on something that really matters.

There has been a lawsuit filed by the State Water Contractors to fight this, but as is usually the case in instances such as this, they will probably lose.  But that’s our society, in a nutshell.  No wonder the rest of the world sees us as buffoons.  That is exactly what we are becoming.