Enviro Rant

Okay, I've been fed up with the politicization of the environment for a long time, but now they're just going too far. Throwing environmental preaching into football, interviewing 5 year olds about what they're doing for the environment - it's just too much!

Unfortunately, so many sheeple (sheep + people for those who think it's a typo) have bought into the global warming mindset it's mind boggling. I can understand how so many under the age of 35 have bought into it, but those of us old enough to remember the 1970s should be laughing in hysterics at Al Gore, Paul Erlich, and their ilk. We should also be teaching those younger than us who have no historic perspective, and who have been indoctrinated by an increasingly failing public school system.

I was just a kid back in the 70s, but I can remember all the hysteria over the coming Ice Age. Yes, that's right, just 30 short years ago scientists and the news media were predicting another Ice Age, and I'm not talking about the movie. Newsweek Magazine featured articles about it and even had it on the cover of an issue. NOVA, the PBS science show, covered it. I can even remember an episode of Barney Miller, where it was brought up during the show. (I don't watch Barney Miller re-runs, but I'm sure they probably never play that one.)

Here's the dirty little secret: the air quality during the 1970s was horrible. We only had the big 3 networks back then, and California air quality was always featured on them during the evening news, because the smog was so bad, much worse than it is today. Pittsburgh during the 70s was practically enveloped in a black, sooty cloud. During the summertime in Washington, DC the area was constantly hazy. We drove cars with fully leaded gasoline. Unleaded gas could still be found right up until the very end of the 1980s. The former U.S.S.R., China, and India were huge polluters. China and India still are. I suspect that Russia still is, but I can't state that one unequivocally. Believe me when I say the carbon footprint 30 years ago, when it was much colder, was much larger than it is today. If history guides us, then logically we should want more pollution to cool us down. For those who don't get that last statement, I'm being facetious. I don't want dirty air or water any more than the next person.

The simple fact of the matter is that earth's temperatures are cyclical in nature. The earth has had warming and cooling periods over the millennia. Historically, all of mankind's great advancement has come during warming periods, and it's declines have been during the cooling periods. For example, the Dark Ages were during a cooling period.

I would really appreciate it if you would just leave us in peace to watch our football games and not preach to us about the environment. Leave our 5 year olds alone. We don't need to scare 5 year olds about the environment. Let them have their innocence and just enjoy being 5. They'll have enough to worry about once they're grown, and they'll grow up soon enough!