And where's the "humanity" in defending animal rights? Like me, devout animal lovers and environmentalists (often one and the same) betray an underlying misanthropy, a profound disgust and disillusion with humanity. We can love animals because they aren't our competitors; they're dumb and easily used to serve our ends.

Open partisan warfare between Democrats and Republicans, between the Obama administration and Congress, is underway and the latest clash is the Battle of Keystone, the fight over the Keystone XL pipeline.

Getting involved in opposition against the oil sands is simply a dirty trick against a competitor. But it's also more. The oil sands can supply the world with lots more oil, thus keeping prices lower than otherwise.

Reports about floods and droughts and sea ice and climate change get sandwiched between clips about scandals and celebrities, and so we view them as isolated events. An environmental perspective would consider the possibility that many of the events are connected to an underlying cause.