BillHobbs.com is a frequently updated blog of original reporting and commentary by Bill Hobbs, a longtime Nashville journalist and media relations adviser. I am currently serving as communications director for the Tennessee Republican Party, a job I began on Oct. 29, 2007.
I've written a handful of blog posts recently about a new documentary, Mine Your Own Business, which explores the negative effects of environmentalists battling to prevent new mining projects in three small and impoverished villages in Romania, Madagascar and Chile. Today's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has a review of the film by Dimitri Vassilaros, an editorial page columnist for the paper, who says the documentary "exposes the elitist attitudes and stunning hypocrisy of environmentalists who treat the most wretched and pathetic souls in the Third World like dirt. Worse than dirt, actually. Much worse."
Images of the daily grind of a minimal existence in overwhelming poverty speak for themselves, as do the villagers who cannot comprehend why anyone would prevent them from working for a living wage and $638 million from being invested in their village. They seem especially baffled why anyone would oppose such a godsend.
The film allows the green obstructionists to speak for themselves. Their condescending attitudes about the poor not really wanting to improve their lot in life, better educate their kids and maybe not even welcome the construction of a hospital are beyond offensive. At least the villagers were not called simpletons, at least not directly.
The film also highlights a proposed mining project in Madagascar. The environmentalist speaking out against the mining industry investing untold millions of dollars in another dirt-poor area happens to live in a lovely villa (with a lovely dock for his lovely boat) along a lovely Madagascar coast with a lovely ocean view while locals fish daily just to eat.
In South America, a local peasant explains why the incredibly affluent landowners near the proposed mine along the border of Chile and Argentina support the enviro-obstructionists. Miners would make twice the $9 a day the landowners pay workers to carry stuff on their backs like mindless mules.
I asked Greenpeace, one of the harshest enviro-critics, to identify factual errors in the film. The statement from Kert Davies, Greenpeace USA research director, labeled the film propaganda and said activists are not against progress and poor people making a living. There was no mention of factual error.
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