Anything special going on today?

It might be noted by some that today is EARTH DAY.

Yawn...

Now, don't get me wrong. I like clean air and water as much as the next person. I prefer a clean environment and wish to pass such down to my progeny.
A quick Google reveals much ado from various groups who, dare I mention it, turn a pretty non-profit on environmental issues:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=earth+day&btnG=Search

It just seems so anti-climactic.

Or should I say anti-climatic?

At it's inception, low these 34 years ago, the big fear was a new ice-age.
That's right folks. Ice-age.
The late '60s there was evidence we had already started slipping into it.

Jerry Pournelle mentioned it years ago. He and Larry Niven wrote an excellent book, Fallen Angels with a new ice-age as a major factor.

And we aren't out of the woods yet:
http://www.whoi.edu/institutes/occi/currenttopics/abruptclimate_joyce_keigwin.html

In between, we had Nuclear Winter. You remember that, don't you?

And now global warming.

And it isn't just evil chemicals from aerosol cans that eat the ozone. It's methane and carbon-dioxide. (Dare I translate, cow-farts and other 'output' and BREATHING.)

That's right, you are, right this second, destroying the planet by your very existence.

I don't see much science, unless it's of the Political kind and that label is the only correctness that seems involved in the hyperbole thrown around. Why, it makes one think of the cause of the methane problem...

And the funny thing is, they've won. They just can't admit it.

I'm not saying everything is perfect, but so many huge strides have been made.
And what I really mean is, they've captured the really important item.
The minds of the children. They've had a whole generation and a good deal of another to change the attitude of the general population.

It's just they can't admit it.

Make no mistake, the environment means BIG MONEY.
BIG MONEY in fund raising.
BIG MONEY in BIG GOVERNMENT programs.

And that, more than anything else, is what the environmental movement has morphed into.

And as this issue and that issue gets addressed, many times by technological innovation of private enterprise, their true colors become clear.

They are green on the outside, but red on the inside.

And it seems worth noting, the ex-communist countries have HORRENDOUS records regarding environmental issues.

No friends, if you want a clean world, you want a capitalist world.

And it ain't just Right-Wing Radical me saying this.

Patrick Moore, Greenpeace founder no less has turned from the darkness into the light:
http://ngin.tripod.com/131202d.htm
http://www.cnr.uidaho.edu/cnr/PatrickMoore.htm
http://fcpp.org/publication_detail.php?PubID=239

So, as another Earth Day passes into history, perhaps reason can prevail over hyperbole.
Perhaps all the faculties of mankind can be brought to bear in pure Science, not political posturing.
Perhaps those who profess to value the natural world will let the study of that natural world reveal the technologies and methodologies that will improve the lives of all mankind.

But I doubt it... :-<