#169 How Green Policies Impoverish the Poor

Christians are called to care for the poor, but there are 5 “Green Policies” that are making them poorer. “I don’t think we can count on people living an impoverished lifestyle as a solution to climate change,” Bill Gates said recently.  Oh, so climate change policies DO call on people to have impoverished lives.  Thanks to Mr. Gates for being honest about it. I guess that’s consistent with the following statement from the World Economic Forum, “You will own nothing, and you will be happy.” Today’s podcast explains five ways in which the poor will become impoverished by green policies.    GMO Bans The poor spend a higher percentage of their income on food than the rich do.  Thus, increases in food prices are especially painful for the poor.  Genetically Modified Organisms increase the production of food, thereby lowering the cost.  Just about everything you’ve put in your mouth, your entire life, has been modified in some way.  You’ve probably sat through multiple sermons about Adam and Eve eating the apple when the pastor told you how beautiful and tempting it was.  Well, God may have MADE it seem more palatable to those first two, but have you ever seen an apple that was not hybridized in some way?  It’s not pretty.  I’m more familiar with tomatoes because I spend a lot of resources growing them in my garden.  But I mow over wild tomatoes in the pasture.  Compared to hybrid tomatoes, the wild ones are stunted little runts that look bad and taste worse.  “Natural apples” - if you want to use that phrase - are not desirable. We took the grandkids to a stock show last weekend.  The purpose of the contest is to produce the best animal in the show: Cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, and even rabbits were on display.  Shows like this have gone on since the beginning of time.  They’re trying to determine the best breed of animal.  And some of them were impressive, by the way.  I talked to the owners of a couple of different steers.  Those animals are essentially a square of beef.  Really impressive.  One of the owners – a 12-year-old girl, earned second place and was hoping her steer would bring $3,000 in the auction.  Why does society reward the best cow, sheep, and goat?  Because God made the world perfect, but then human desires changed as a result of the fall.  Since then, we have sought to improve the food source.  While GMO is a leap to another TYPE of improvement, it represents risks and returns, as is true of all endeavors.  I’ve often stood in front of my class and re-enacted the scene from Fiddler on the Roof, where Tevya says, “On one hand…..BUT, on the other hand.”   GMOs are in that category, like just about every other endeavor in our lives: There is risk and return.  The return is lower food costs for the poor.  The risk is that a plague of some kind will wipe out the entire crop, killing every last corn stalk.  Of course, it COULD happen. Yes, there’s a risk, but ON THE OTHER HAND, the return is lower food costs.  Ginger and I stumbled into a protest against GMOs in Vancouver a few years ago.  I always notice the demographics of a group I’m in, especially when they’re vocal and are surrounding me.  They all seemed to be middle-aged, wealthy women.  THEY could afford higher food costs.  I think it’s worth noticing, they didn’t convince any poor people to join them.  I was reminded of Psalm 41:1 which reads, “Blessed is he who considers the poor.”    Gas Stoves Those bureaucratic fools in California and New York just ...