As usual, I've put my best thinking elsewhere

as a comment on a completely different matter. But don't worry, here it is:

I just read my daughter a bedtime story about the slash and burn farming and ranching techniques used in the Amazon rain forest. I told her that the economics were wrong. It's true that if people keep doing what they're doing, the rainforest will be gone in 50 years, but it will become uneconomical before that.

And I told her that there are many economist who would advise governments to subsidize such activities beyond what economics would warrant. [Too bad I can't remember my actual words as I explained all that to a seven-year-old, however precocious.] The biggest problem that I see is that environmentalists are sure of two things: one is that humanity is ruining the world (and will continue to do so) and the second is that lying and cheating are efficacious ways to persuade humanity to join their cause.

I told my daughter that it's true that slash-and-burn farming damages the environment, and it's important to do what we can to stop it, but we have to deal in The Truth. We have to take more factors into account. If people think we're liars and cheaters, they won't help us.