If ever there was a time for Americans to repudiate the endless claims of environmentalists, it is now.

Hurricane Katrina is an object lesson in the power of Nature to lay waste to everything in its path. Just as surely as the rising of the sun, it will be mere hours before some environmental group announces that this hurricane resulted from "global warming." Let me assure you that this hurricane and all others are part of a natural climatic cycle that begins off the west coast of Africa and makes its way across the Atlantic. Always has and always will.

We can, however, be assured that, with the coming of winter, after the first big blizzard to hit the U.S., we will be told that it is the result of "global warming." Only there is no "global warming" unless you are talking about the fact that the Earth is currently in an interglacial period between the last Ice Age and the next.

As Hurricane Katrina was wreaking havoc, I received a news release from "EarthSave International", describing itself as a non-profit organization dedicated to "improving the environment and all life on Earth." Turns out, a study by this group proved that cars and power plants are not "a major cause of global warming." Instead, the real problem is "animal agriculture."

"The number one human-related source of methane worldwide is livestock." Cows, sheep, and other ruminants convert grass into meat and, in the process, are flatulent, emitting methane into the atmosphere. According to EarthSave, "Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tons of methane a year, about 85% from livestock digestion and 15% from manure ?lagoons' used to store untreated feces."

These morons have managed to ignore the entire Jurassic period in which dinosaurs, most of which were ruminants, also apparently ruined the Earth's environment. Good thing they're not around, huh?

While Hurricane Katrina knocked down trees and tore up every kind of structure humans managed to build, these "environmentalists" choose the same day to inform us that we could all save the Earth by not eating meat!

Environmentalism, which began as a sensible conservation movement, is one of the worst hoaxes and calamities to have been perpetrated since Marx and Engels dreamed up communism. It has drained away billions from perfectly sensible programs to protect human health, provide sources of energy for both developed and under-developed nations, and has fought efforts to end famine, to name just a few good things to help humanity.

Meanwhile, the real lesson of Hurricane Katrina is that America had better stop dawdling around and start drilling for oil in Alaska, offshore, and anywhere else it can be found, including unbelievably vast quantities that exist in shale in some of our Western States. And, while we are extracting it, we should begin?tomorrow?to start building some new oil refineries to meet the energy needs of our ever-expanding population. While we're at it, we should also be building the most environmentally friendly energy source, nuclear plants.

None of us can imagine living in a nation that does not provide a reliable source of electricity. None of us can imagine not being able to purchase affordable gas for our cars and trucks. None of us can imagine not having clean water at the turn of the tap.

Mother Nature is sending you a message. The message is not about "global warming" or flatulent cows. It is about a sensible energy policy that has been ignored for too long at our peril. It's about providing housing for a growing population. It's about showing some respect for the farmers and ranchers who provide the food on our table. It's about common sense.

Alan Caruba writes a weekly column, "Warning Signs", posted on the Internet website of The National Anxiety Center, www.anxietycenter.com.

© Alan Caruba, 2005