Stop global warming, gag an environmentalist

That's something I never thought I'd hear from a NYT op-ed piece. Well maybe not exactly that but close, and it apparently took Dennis by surprise too. I've never heard him so giddy on the radio. The fundamental problem, as I see it, is that environmental groups are too often alarmists. They have an awful track record, so they've lost credibility with the public.... Do tell... [...] This record should teach environmentalists some humility. The problems are real, but so is the uncertainty. Environmentalists were right about DDT's threat to bald eagles, for example, but blocking all spraying in the third world has led to hundreds of thousands of malaria deaths. Aaaah... this is where common sense really pays off (again not something you easily find in the NYT). Not a lot of bald eagles in Africa if I remember correctly, so what's the bigger problem dead eagles in Africa or thousands of dead kids? Let's look at some quality enviro-fascist literature, shall we? Likewise, environmentalists were right to warn about population pressures, but they overestimated wildly. Paul Ehrlich warned in "The Population Bomb" [go read the amazon reviews for a good laugh] that "the battle to feed humanity is over. ... Hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death." On my bookshelf is an even earlier book, "Too Many Asians," [gee, out of print, I wonder why] with a photo of a mass of Indians on the cover. The book warns that the threat from relentlessly multiplying Asians is "even more grave than that of nuclear warfare." Jared Diamond, author of the fascinating new book "Collapse," which shows how some civilizations in effect committed suicide by plundering their environments, says false alarms aren't a bad thing. Professor Diamond argues that if we accept false alarms for fires, then why not for the health of our planet? But environmental alarms have been screeching for so long that, like car alarms, they are now just an irritating background noise. Amen brother. I'm reminded of that a favorite movie of mine, a timeless classic really, Armageddon. The scene where Bruce Willis is hitting gold balls off his oil rig at the Greenpeace protestors in the boat... if only I had the oil rig, a good driver, unlimited golf balls, and the free time. Go read the whole article, you've got to be a member, but that's free so check it out. UPDATE: If you're looking for a good environmental book try Skeptical Environmentalist. Reads a bit like a textbook, but it's an honest approach to the problems facing our planet.