Earth Day, 1970: Twenty years to live!
Ask a believer: What's the difference between climate alarmism and child abuse? If he pauses to think for more than one second, then that's too long.
Conservatives are American thinkers. Liberals are American feelers.
On the eve of Earth Day 1970, gloomy scientists and environmentalists questioned whether humanity would be around for this year's 20th anniversary celebration.Some worried mankind could not long survive without fatally fouling the planet and predicted mass deaths from pollution in 15 to 30 years.Even if man managed to avoid poisoning himself, the world would look radically different by 1990, visionaries predicted. Sen. Gaylord Nelson, the Wisconsin Democrat who inspired Earth Day, warned in speeches in 1970 that Americans in a few years might have to filter their water several times daily and don gas masks.
At the first Earth Day, some elementary students wore gas masks to show their concern for clean air.
Some said it was too late, even in 1970, to solve problems of air and water pollution. Others, railing against widespread use of cars, air conditioning and power mowers, predicted American lifestyles would have to become much simpler.Much has changed since those days, but most of those doomsday environmental calamities failed to materialize. Some other radical changes - the demise of the automobile, for example - also failed to occur.