Group warns on resource consumption

Humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels, the spread of cities, the destruction of natural habitats for farmland and over-exploitation of the oceans are destroying Earth’s ability to sustain life, the environmental group WWF warned in a new report Thursday.

But Fred Smith, president of the Washington-based Competitive Enterprise Institute and a former official of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during the Nixon and Ford administrations, said he was skeptical. In a telephone interview, Smith said the WWF view is “static” and fails to take into account the benefits many people get from resource use.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has been a frequent critic of what it calls “environmental alarmism” from organizations like WWF. Smith said the footprint idea is wrongheaded.

“It’s sort of like saying, ‘General Motors must be much more wasteful than the local laundromat because General Motors spends more resources.’ Yes, but they are producing more product, too,” he told the AP.

CNN.com