In Betrayal of Science and Reason,1 the latest overpopulation polemic from Paul and Anne Ehrlich one finds the following regarding future prospects for agricultural production:
More ominous, perhaps, is the possible impact of global climate change on agricultural ecosystems. Rapid climate change could deliver the coup de grace to humanity’s chances of even restricting hunger to the present levels. Frightening indeed is the possibility that longstanding climatic patterns could be disrupted by more frequent or severe floods or droughts, farming areas could experience too much or too little rainfall or temperatures higher or lower than those at which crops currently planted thrive, and so on. Such changes could be exceedingly disruptive to farming. They would necessitate adjusting to a new regime, during which time food production would likely drop. And since the climate is unlikely simply to shift to a new stable regime overnight, farmers may suffer a protracted period of grappling with the vicissitudes of an unpredictable climate.2
On the basis of such pseudo-scientific and fuzzily reasoned nonsense as this, the Ehrlichs demand immediate and drastic action to control world population growth.
Global warming cat-astrophe
Over the last few years there have appeared a number of weird reports linking problems in animal populations to the allegedly deleterious effects of ozone depletion and global warming. The ultimate cause of these problems has been identified by America’s greatest living astrophysicist, Vice President Al Gore, as mankind’s rapidly growing population and insatiable appetite for the world’s resources.
First, we heard of the poor blind Chilean sheep careening about in their barns breaking bones or plunging to their deaths off cliffs. Their sightlessness was said to be the result of the disappearance of the ozone layer and the resulting excess exposure to UV light. (It was later shown that the problems were due to a naturally occurring eye infection, which in humans is called “pink eye”.)
Next, thanks to The New York Times, the world was treated to the plight of the blind rabbits of Chile. Once again, the culprit was the depletion of atmospheric ozone. These poor rabbits were, according to The Times story, so vulnerable and defenseless in their unsighted state, that folks could sneak up on them and capture them simply by grabbing them by the ears.
“Global warming” is already replete with a its own Jungle Book of tales of poisonous snakes, mad-cow disease, killer bees, non-killer butterflies, killer mosquitoes, and other such animal monstrosities.
Now comes reports of two more animal problems to beset mankind. Two Australian researchers have concluded that global warming will lead to greater cockroach fecundity and a greater spread of disease and germs.
Also, according to the Macquarie University researchers, global warming will promote increased salivation and moulting in cats! Obviously, the world cannot afford to pussyfoot around this issue any longer.3
Endnotes
1 Paul R. and Anne H. Ehrlich, Betrayal of Science and Reason: How Anti-Environmental Rhetoric Threatens Our Future (Washington, D.C.: Island Press/Shearwater Books, 1996).
2 Betrayal, 82, emphasis added.
3 With thanks to the World Climate Report, which first suggested this topic. The Climate Report (703-907-6160) is a thoroughly researched review of global climate change.
