growing substantially since 1920. Wenare not running out of wood at all.nThat’s the essence of Greenism: absurdn”solutions” for nonexistent problems.nGlobal warming, greenhouse effect,nozone layer depletion — they’renall frauds.nGreenism is, in fact, the latest manifestationnof a Utopian, Manichaeannworld view fueled by hatred of modernnbourgeois Western civilization. Unablento muster the maturity to recognize thenimpersonal forces of change, these fanaticsnsee plots everywhere: the forcesnof light are locked in desperate strugglenwith the forces of darkness, crises impend,napocalyptic thunderheads towernon lurid horizons, and simplemindednbut immensely appealing melodramasnare enacted again and again on thenwide screen of the cooperative media.nA persistent theme in Green literature—n”where every prospect pleasesnand only man is vile” — is misanthropy,nanother aspect of utopianism, alwaysncontemptuous of human beingsnas they are. Unwilling to believe in thenintelligence, ingenuity, and imaginationnof other people, their favoritencause is population control. Like allnzealots, they are strongly urged tonpower, and they contemplate coercionnand repression, pushing recalcitrant citizensnaround, with obvious satisfaction.nSo any sensible solutions to real environmentalnproblems are vehementlynrejected; their ideas must triumph andnthey must be in power to enforce them.nThere can be no compromise with thenforces of darkness.nMeanwhile, the “wounded” planet,nunscathed, rolls on its diurnal course.n42/CHRONICLESnLIBERAL ARTSnoblivious to the hysterical delusionsnfrenziedly trumpeted on its surface.nJigs Gardner writes from Orangedale,nNova Scotia.nLetter From thenLower Rightnby John Shelton ReednSpace Invaders:nPart IInLast spring, my friend Dick, a historynprofessor here, was riding in a LongnIsland airport limousine when it stoppednto pick up another passenger, an elderlynlady burdened with luggage and confrontednby a garden gate that wouldn’tnopen. After watching her struggle for anwhile, Dick’ got out and gave her anhand. When they were settled in the carnthe lady thanked him. The driver (whonhad watched everything from behindnthe wheel) said, “He’s from the South.”nI find that a delicious story, not leastnbecause Dick is a Midwesterner whoncame to North Carolina via Harvardnand Oxford, and he’s about as Southernnas — oh, say as T.S. Eliot. That storynsuggests how careful we should benabout generalizing, but it also tells usnthat, despite all the incursions of northernnfolks and northern ways, people stillnthink Southern manners are different.nAnd of course they are different. Justnthe other day, a student was telling menabout her new neighbors, a JewishnCRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT?nDavid M. Steading, who is serving a 30-month sentence innan Illinois prison for drug possession, claims that secondhandnsmoke violates his constitutional rights. In 1989, Steadingnfiled a class-action lawsuit seeking millions of dollars inndamages and requiring the establishment of smoking andnnon-smoking areas in prisons. As the Chicago Tribunenreported last summer, a U.S. District Court judge dismissednthe lawsuit and a federal appeals court agreed, for thenIllinois prison system is exempt from the law that requiresnbusinesses to designate smoking areas.nnncouple from Los Angeles, who werenmightily offended when a new acquaintancenasked them casually wherenthey go to church. In the South, this isnstill a standard gambit, no offense intended,njust a way of figuring out whonyou’re dealing with. “We’re Jewish” is anperfectly satisfactory response. But apparentlynAngelenos feel it’s none of ournbusiness.nBut, you know, Californians haventheir own intrusive ways. Last year, forninstance, when we were living out yonder,npeople often asked what I do fornexercise. Now I find that questionnoffensive. For starters, it’s embarrassing:ncoughing a lot is about the extentnof my exercise program these days.nBesides, I tend to agree with RobertnFrost:nAfter babyhood selfimprovementnbecomes anprivate matter. Physical mentalnor moral, please attend to itnwhere I cant see you if you carento avoid my disgust.n(That’s the old New Englander’s ownnpunctuation, or lack of it.)nAnyway, Southern manners reallynare still different, and Southerners usuallynthink they’re better, too. Not everyonendisagrees. But, as I wrote lastnmonth, some northerners dislike aboutnSoutherners the very same things othersnadmire, and that even goes fornSouthern courtesy and friendliness.nSometimes the problem is just thatnYankees aren’t used to it. A studentnfrom Philadelphia told our campusnpaper that when he first came to NorthnCarolina, “everybody was almost toonfriendly to me. I didn’t know how tonreact to it.” Another northern studentnagreed: “It ain’t easy for a boy from thenBronx to be yessired by cops andncashiers and smiled at by total strangers.”nThis lad was especially nonplussednby a convenience store clerknwho “thanked me with an earnestnessnthat would have been excessive if I hadnoffered to donate a kidney to her sicklyngrandmother.”nMost immigrants come to like thisnsort of thing, in time. But a fewnnewcomers observe that manners disguisenSoutherners’ real feelings. (Thatnwould sound familiar to the Japanese,nof course. They’re polite, too, and theynget called “inscrutable.”) “Southernersnare more apt to say cordial greetings ton