Nazis and the environment

Something came up in the "Worst Historical States ever" thread. Alright, it was brought up by me.

In the event of a Nazi victory in WWII-lets say that they manage to hold European Russia, force Stalin to a peace, subdue Britain through U Boating, and somehow keep the US out (very unlikely, I know)-how would the Nazis have handled the environment? Would it have been better, or worse than OTL? (Apart from the obvious: there are less people to pollute the environment, therefore CO2 emissions and other forms of pollution will be lower.) I gather that some were keen environmentalists, but I know little apart from that.
 
Nazi ideology was pro-environmental, but I think that would be trumped by the lack of democratic mechanisms, inefficiency, and such. In other words, I would predict environmental disasters on a Soviet scale and for the same reasons.
 
Nazi ideology was pro-environmental,

That's an interesting idea. I knew that Nazism had an element of pastoral/agrarian romanticism in it, but I never thought of Hitler as an environmentalist. Do you have any good sources for that?
 
Ultra-disruptive Mega Project

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantropa

This is just the kind of mega-project that would have given Hitler and Speer wet dreams and could have caused them to back this project. The implementation of 'Greater Germany' out of the defeated nations of Eastern Europe was planned in maniacal detail in Hitler's writings; imagine the temptation of creating NEW Lebensraum - and damned the environmental consequences.
 
They were big on environmentalism.

I think Nazi Germany was the first nation to ever to institute animal welfare laws.

Weren't they also one of the first people to take the whole smoking causes cancer thing seriously and try to limit the sale of cigars/cigarettes?

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Couldn't tell you if they'd be better or worse for the environment.

They could try one of those megaprojects to create more, good land and end up creating a catastrophy like the Soviets eventually did.
 
They were big on environmentalism.

I think Nazi Germany was the first nation to ever to institute animal welfare laws.

Weren't they also one of the first people to take the whole smoking causes cancer thing seriously and try to limit the sale of cigars/cigarettes?

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Couldn't tell you if they'd be better or worse for the environment.

They could try one of those megaprojects to create more, good land and end up creating a catastrophy like the Soviets eventually did.

Yes on Hitlers orders smoking was banned in every university, post office, military hospital and Nazi Party office. The idea that animals were deemed worthy of better treatment than certain people just sums up for me the sheer perversity of Nazi ideology.

The Atlanropa idea is a good one, although the Nazis frowned on the idea at the time, I can well see circumstances in which after a victorious Nazi state has successfully colonised Eastern Europe and then decides it needs another grand national goal donut decides to turn to the south.
 

mowque

Banned
A economy run on looting isn't going to adjust well. Probably going to get messy with extraction+ slave labor isn't light on the land.
 
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantropa

This is just the kind of mega-project that would have given Hitler and Speer wet dreams and could have caused them to back this project. The implementation of 'Greater Germany' out of the defeated nations of Eastern Europe was planned in maniacal detail in Hitler's writings; imagine the temptation of creating NEW Lebensraum - and damned the environmental consequences.

This project if implemented would create an ecologic disaster.
 
Ideology aside the world would definitely be greener with a Nazi victory if for no other reason that they would murder an enormous amount of people thereby reducing the amount of people using up the worlds natural resources.

Depending on how complete a Nazi victory and who takes over after Hitler one could imagine something similar to the Draka-series, with vast parts of Africa being turned into wildlife reserves where the Nazi elite can hunt both animals and primitive natives. This is all wild speculation of course. :)
 

loughery111

Banned
Ideology aside the world would definitely be greener with a Nazi victory if for no other reason that they would murder an enormous amount of people thereby reducing the amount of people using up the worlds natural resources.

Depending on how complete a Nazi victory and who takes over after Hitler one could imagine something similar to the Draka-series, with vast parts of Africa being turned into wildlife reserves where the Nazi elite can hunt both animals and primitive natives. This is all wild speculation of course. :)

The problem with that theory is that the fewer people they have left behind will likely have a higher impact due to the miserable economic inefficiencies Nazism will eventually fall prey to, and because of Hitler's obsession with mega-projects. It's like saying the USSR had a lower impact than the Russian Empire would have because they managed to kill or otherwise lose 50 million people. Maybe true, but more likely their inefficient, environment-destroying industrial base more than made up for it.
 
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