EDITORIAL - No first class on Planet Earth

In a world where the global environment is getting all screwed up, expect all sorts of conflicts to arise. And where the conflicts are, there will the lawyers thrive. So expect many lawyers to start making a beeline for this emerging honeypit, if they haven't done so already.

The beauty of this pristine legal milieu is that its pioneering nature allows its new legal advocates to make hay while at the same time enjoy great leverage to beat their breasts with the self-righteousness of any leading light.

With the world inexorably moving toward the tipping point of environmental disaster, who can dare question the self-righteousness of the environmentalists. You cannot win an argument with the cook if your problem is the broth.

And so these new liberators of the human consciousness strut the world stage with the deliberate authority of a turkey, cackling as if they know everything, ironically because the rest of us happen to sadly know almost nothing.

Do this, do that, they order straight from their spanking new tomes, and never mind the unpreparedness of the hapless, or the consequences of being all business and no compromise. As in politics, absoluteness is dangerous.

This is not intended to question the correctness or the propriety with which the environmentalists and their legal partners conduct their business. We agree wholeheartedly with their advocacies.

But you do not burn the house down to get rid of a mouse. The environment is important, but so is society. Environmental laws may be crying to be implemented, but you do not sweep entire communities down the stairs for the sake of prompt compliance.

More importantly, you do not come barging in and start pointing fingers and issuing threats as if you have appointments from God to protect His earth. We are still all fellow passengers on this planet. We may have bad habits, but you do not just throw us out the window.