Environmentalism Versus Individualism

This was originally published by The Savvy Street on September 14, 2025 and is reprinted with permission.

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A Rebel in Eden is an anthology of articles on environmentalism, masterfully written by Robert Bidinotto over the span of 30 years, that dissects environmentalism and explains its anti-human hold on human beings by exposing its fundamental premises and motivations, thereby revealing its true nature.

In the Introduction, Bidinotto begins with the question of why environmentalism has held on for so long and so thoroughly, and he concludes that human psychology and mythology, rooted in antiquity and almost as old as homo sapiens, both play a role. Philosophical ideas about man and his place in nature explain environmentalism’s enduring appeal and influence, and in order to defeat environmentalism’s anti-human effects, one must address and defeat those ideas:

“It is time to make that ideal known. Until we do—until we offer a compelling moral and philosophical case for human life and liberty as an alternative to the environmentalist philosophy of human abasement and self-abnegation—the movement will continue to win in the court of public opinion, and on the battlefields of public policy.”

In chapter after chapter, he supports his conclusion that environmentalism is anti-human with thoroughly documented facts about every aspect of environmentalism’s manifestations, and he makes his case brilliantly.

In chapters 1 through 3, Bidinotto recounts and evaluates the historical progression of environmentalism from its genesis in storytelling as old as cave drawings and dramatized in mythology spanning ages and cultures, revealing that it is so ingrained in the human psyche that it is automatically viewed as sacrosanct “Truth.” He summarizes the various myths of antiquity that reveal the same themes despite the different ages, religions, and cultures (Egyptian, Babylonian, Hindu, Greek, Roman, Judeo-Christian . . .) and demonstrates that those themes underlie and are the same as those underlying today’s ideological ideas about man and his place in nature:

“Classical and Judeo-Christian stories of a lost, primitive paradise are similar in one key respect: they are all tales of human decline. . . . Moreover, in both traditions, we can identify three important, interrelated themes concerning the causes of Man’s decline and loss of paradise. These are: the concept of hubris; the closely connected suspicion of intellectual self-assertion—of unconstrained curiosity and individual creativity; and, as the alleged consequence of these two factors, a humbling, punitive “fall” into chaos and misery.”

In the subsequent chapters, Bidinotto analyzes modern environmentalism’s current-day manifestations: Earth Day, Animal Rights, pesticide scaremongering, genetic-engineering fearmongering, fossil-fuel environmental “destruction,” federal land policy, California wildfires, the climate-change hoax, and the necessity for population control. In each case, he dismantles the environmentalists’ rhetoric with thoroughly documented facts that expose the misanthropic ideal beneath it.

Moreover, in each case, he identifies the culpable misanthropes:

“And let us be clear about our real adversaries. The environmental movement’s deadliest threats to human lives do not come from its violent fringe characters—that relative handful of ‘eco-terrorists’ who set fire to SUV dealerships and research labs. Rather, its worst assaults on human lives are plotted and implemented every day by genteel, well-dressed lawyers, activists, and bureaucrats, working inside the posh offices of mainstream environmental groups and government agencies. While the theatrics of tree-sitters and terrorists grab headlines and provoke public anger, the policies and programs of the mainstream greens command little public concern or opposition. Yet theirs are the activities that are destroying the lives of millions.”

And:

“In each of these cases, we see that the environmentalist target is some vital aspect of human production. In each case, the unconscionable tactic the greens employ is fearmongering: the claim that the hated human activity poses some deadly ‘threat to children.’ And in each case, their goal is to spread panic among mothers and fathers, thereby generating millions in contributions, while rallying even more support for their misanthropic, power-seeking agenda.”

Again and again, Bidinotto ties governmental, psychological, and philosophical failures to the devastating results for human beings—and for the very environment and nonhuman species that environmentalists claim to champion and protect:

“But whenever the naked consequences of their actions are made clear . . . and when even then, they fail to recoil in horror and repudiate their agenda—such people may be called many things. But ‘idealist’ is not one of them.”

The only bright lights Bidinotto offered in this thorough condemnation of environmentalism are the ideas of Julian Simon. “His boldly optimistic, pro-human, pro-progress, and pro-freedom perspective was relentlessly attacked by various environmentalists.” But Simon offered good news:

“The ultimate resource, he argued, is human creativity, which we use to increase—infinitely—the usefulness of all other resources. Creativity means that, economically speaking, there is no such thing as ‘finite resources.’”

In the final chapter, Robert Bidinotto’s conclusion is that man’s creativity counters environmentalism. Throughout the book he moves from myth and psychology as reasons why environmentalism is anti-human and false, to human creativity (reason) as the key to the future.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough, so purchase it on Amazon, read it, and recommend it. In my opinion, Robert Bidinotto is the bright light in the battle of environmentalism vs. individualism.

This was originally published by The Savvy Street on September 14, 2025 and is reprinted with permission.