DALLAS – The National Center for Policy Analysis and the Hatton W. Sumners Foundation present a special Firing Line debate that goes to the heart of the current controversy over environmental policy versus personal and property rights. The program, taped at Rice University in Houston, is entitled "Resolved: Environmentalists Are Going Too Far, Too Fast."
Arguing for the affirmative are Firing Line host William F. Buckley, Jr., Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho), National Association of Manufacturers President Jerry J. Jasinowski and M.I.T. professor Richard Schmalensee.
Taking the negative are former California Gov. Jerry Brown, Time Magazine writer Eugene Linden, Sierra Club director Carl Pope and president and director of the Woods Hole Research Center George Masters Woodwell.
The issue as summed up by moderator Michael Kinsley, is this: Have our environmental efforts made the world a better place, or have our efforts been counter-productive?
Speaking for the negative, team leader Eugene Linden said environmental efforts were more often too modest rather than too excessive. "The U.S. is one of 76 countries that have less than one percent of their original forests remaining. Wetlands continue to decrease. Around the world, the situation is bleak. The notion that we've gone too far, too fast in global terms is laughable. Deforestation continues apace. Water will be a major issue in the next century," Linden said.
Arguing for moderation, affirmative team leader William Buckley noted, "Our contention is that some fanatics, and some apprentice fanatics, in their search for long lives for the spotted owl, and solicitude for clement global temperature, are here and there losing perspective. In our struggle against poverty, it is not recommended to do away with wealth. And in the struggle for clean air, we should not encourage the repeal of the Industrial Revolution."
The Firing Line debate on the environment airs on many PBS stations April 4. Check local listings for date and time.
WHO: WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY, JR.
GOV. JERRY BROWN
AND OTHER GUESTSWHAT: A SPECIAL FIRING LINE DEBATE
"RESOLVED: ENVIRONMENTALISTS ARE GOING TOO FAR, TOO FAST"WHEN: APRIL 4
WHERE: PBS STATIONS NATIONWIDE