Stewart is an old friend of mine and one of only four friends capable of changing their opinion. Everyone of my many hundreds of friends still think the way they did when they were in their 20s. Only four don’t.
Stewart wrote an article about the changes that are needed in the environmental movement.
First he wants enviros to understand that the population explosion is over.
First he wants enviros to understand that the population explosion is over. Big deal. I had a party to celebrate this point in the early 1990s. I’m glad Stewart finally got the point but he learned late and doesn’t understand why we had the explosion in the first place and why it ended. He thinks urbanization was the reason it ended. Nonsense. That doesn’t explain why it started and why it ended. The reason it happened is the radical improvements in human survival from infant mortality, to childbirth to life span. Those rapidly expanded with improvements in medicine and public health. It stopped expanding when the benefits that reduced the death rate petered out. The best proof is Kerala in Southern India the area which has the lowest reproduction rate in India, the least urbanization and the best health facilities.
Second, Stewart wants enviros to stop hating genetically engineered food. His reason is that it has great benefits. Again, right position wrong reason. I was an organizer of this movement for one reason. Experimenting on humans without adequate controls is morally unacceptable. That problem was solved when “organic” was defined to exclude genetic engineering. Organic eaters could be distinguished from GMO eaters and hazards could be detected. Now we have fifteen years of experience and a wide range of engineered foods with no evident harmful consequences. Time to drop the anxiety.
Third, Stewart wants enviros to stop hating nuclear power. Again, right position wrong reason. Stewart wants us to use nukes to avoid global warming. Again nonsense. What possible global warming occurred in the 1930s and again in the 1980-90s. It was not human induced or it certainly wouldn’t have disappeared for thirty years between 1945 and 1975. The reasons to welcome nuclear power into our lives is that we have many decades of proven safety, many improvements in nuclear safety, drastically reduced chances of nuclear weapons proliferation and reduced dependence on Arab and Latin tyrants.
Stewart, its time to stop hanging out with enviros and start hanging out with other people who are capable of thinking, you will get the benefit of a broader picture.