Sunday, January 29, 2006

Another Environmental Crock

I heard the news today, oh Boy! Too much emission in the atmosphere! (with apologies to the Beatles). I really wonder if there is intelligent life on earth, besides me of course, when something like this can be printed as a serious news story. “Scientists say that emissions are pushing the Earth to its limits.” I have rarely heard any thing so ridiculous, especially given that no one knows if the Earth has limited recovery capacity or even what those limits are. OK, I understand that headline writers have the job of scaring the hell out of everyone, but why not scare people with something scary?

The only time anyone will know what the Earth’s limits are is when, or more likely if, they have been inexorably exceeded, which is not going to happen anytime soon. Remember Paul Ehrlich? We were supposed to extinct as a species by now according to his 1989 book. What about Silent Spring, it now turns out that the entire book was a hoax. How much of this environmental drivel are we supposed to swallow? Oh it makes great press, and the mass of humanity is hysterical enough to believe it, but what prediction other than the return of Christ has been so often wrong?

Guess what? This ecological nightmare is the fault of the United States of America, now there’s a surprise. The USA has assumed a mind-boggling bogey man power on every issue. I think this alone proves the premise that most human beings are pretty dopey. The news media are a modern day PT Barnum, anything to sell newspapers. Unfortunately for them the cable news networks are co-opting the public’s dirty little secret; everyone loves tabloid journalism. What’s worse is that once seen on TV it is assumed to be true.

My fellow earthlings, do not despair you may continue your lives without fear of spontaneous combustion, the rapture, or choking on greenhouse gases.

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