Environmental Hysteria

I've found an interesting article at FrontPage Magazine called "Hysteria's History: Environmental Alarmism in Context" by Amy Kaleita, Ph.D., with Gregory R. Forbes. It's a 30-page pdf file, but well worth your time to read. In it, Dr. Kaleita reviews the various alarmist predictions about the environment and how they have proven to be inaccurate. She also writes about some of the bad policies that have been enacted due to alarmism and the damage those policies have done.

Here is a sample quote from page 11:

Alarmists consistently ignore or deny the ability of humans to learn, grow, and advance socially and technologically. Swiss biochemist Ehrenfried Pfeiffer clearly states this alarmist view: “Production, rationalization and technicalization have reached a ‘saturation.’ They can not be increased.”21

Yet time and time again we see agricultural production records being broken. Human ingenuity and scientific advances help us better manage our acres and plant higher-yielding varieties that are drought, pest, and disease resistant. Every continent has seen an increase in yield in the last 40 years—with, of course, localized differences. Crop yield worldwide has increased for every commodity type, including fruit by 31 percent, rice by 63 percent, vegetables by 37 percent, and wheat by 148 percent.22

This is an interesting article with some good information. We definitely need to consider more than just the writings of the mainstream media when figuring out what policies to enact and what to avoid.

Oil is also a topic covered in this article. Here is a sample quote from page 12:

In 1971, proven oil reserves were at 521 billion gallons; in 2006, they were at 1,290 billion gallons.37 The Cambridge Energy Research Association (CERA) has predicted that petroleum supplies will actually grow faster than demand until 2010.38 Oil production and reserve levels have not yet dropped and are not likely to drop; supply constraints, where they exist, are issues of investment, geopolitics, and infrastructure.

Concern about energy supplies is widespread and certainly needs to be considered. It just needs to be considered with facts and not with alarmist predictions.

All in all, this is a good article for those concerned about the various aspects of the environment.