Me and my planet

Dallas Blog | Caroline Walker:

“It isn’'t that I disbelieve in global warming. It’s just that the list of approved remedies that’s supposed to save us from The Deep Fryer remind me of the 'Duck and Cover' public service announcements from the fifties, when we thought that diving under our desks at school would shield us from Commie nuke fallout.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Ms Walker goes on like this, dismissing issues facing us in the past, everything from nuclear fallout to overpopulation to AIDS to global warming.

Do worst-case scenarios always come true? No. But cemeteries are full of people who dismissed even the possibility.

Contrary to Ms Walker's memory, ducking under desks was not supposed to protect you from fallout. That's what fallout shelters were for. Ducking under desks was just to keep you alive until you could reach the shelter.

Overpopulation was indeed a threat fifty years ago. It was addressed wisely by means of the birth control pill and not so wisely by draconian measures like the one-child laws in China.

AIDS does infect tens of millions of people, many in poor, over-populated sub-Saharan Africa.

Ms Walker says she was taught to value economy and simplicity in all things. Good. Teaching our children to value economy and simplicity in all things is how the next generation will be prepared to combat global warming. They won't have the luxury of denying it.