13 Worst Predictions Made on Earth Day, 1970

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

The 1970s were a lousy decade.

,

and downright terrifying clothes reflected the national mood following an unpopular war, endless political scandals and a faltering economy.

Popular culture was consumed with decline, especially Hollywood. The Omega Man, Soylent Green, Damnation Alley and countless other dystopian films showed a planet wrecked by war, pollution and neglect. In large part, the entertainment industry was reflecting the culture at large.

In 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated — okay, “celebrated” doesn’t capture the funereal tone of the event. The events (organized in part by then hippie and now convicted murderer Ira Einhorn) predicted death, destruction and disease unless we did exactly as progressives commanded.

Behold the coming apocalypse as predicted on and around Earth Day, 1970:

1. "Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind." — Harvard biologist George Wald
2. "We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation." — Washington University biologist Barry Commoner
3. "Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction." — New York Times editorial
4. "Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years." — Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich
5. "Most of the people who are going to die in the greatest cataclysm in the history of man have already been born… [by 1975] some experts feel that food shortages will have escalated the present level of world hunger and starvation into famines of unbelievable proportions. Other experts, more optimistic, think the ultimate food-population collision will not occur until the decade of the 1980s." — Paul Ehrlich
6. "It is already too late to avoid mass starvation," — Denis Hayes, Chief organizer for Earth Day
7. "Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa. By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions…. By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine." — North Texas State University professor Peter Gunter
8. "In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution… by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half." — Life magazine
9. "At the present rate of nitrogen buildup, it's only a matter of time before light will be filtered out of the atmosphere and none of our land will be usable." — Ecologist Kenneth Watt
10. "Air pollution...is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone." — Paul Ehrlich
11. "By the year 2000, if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate… that there won't be any more crude oil. You'll drive up to the pump and say, ‘Fill 'er up, buddy,' and he'll say, ‘I am very sorry, there isn't any.'" — Ecologist Kenneth Watt
12. "[One] theory assumes that the earth's cloud cover will continue to thicken as more dust, fumes, and water vapor are belched into the atmosphere by industrial smokestacks and jet planes. Screened from the sun's heat, the planet will cool, the water vapor will fall and freeze, and a new Ice Age will be born." — Newsweek magazine
13. "The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years. If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age." — Kenneth Watt

http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/joncgabriel/the-13-worst-predictions-made-on-earth-day-1970

[TBoneTX 45,267]

14. "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" -- Chicken Little

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

All those were inconvenient truths

[decocker 7,198]

i am offended by the seventies bashing. i'll have you know some of the awesomest inhabitants of this planet were born in the seventies.

and we do have some serious environmental problems. there is mass starvation, albeit far enough away to ignore. air pollution is definitely affecting inner city children's health. what are those asthma numbers again?

maybe they got most of it wrong, what about right now - how much of it are we getting right?

[GandD 5,966]

i am offended by the seventies bashing. i'll have you know some of the awesomest inhabitants of this planet were born in the seventies.

and we do have some serious environmental problems. there is mass starvation, albeit far enough away to ignore. air pollution is definitely affecting inner city children's health. what are those asthma numbers again?

maybe they got most of it wrong, what about right now - how much of it are we getting right?

If scholars got some things wrong in the past, then ignore scholars forever.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

So, which ones of those didn't happen as predicted? Jimmy Carter saved us all, at the cost of his reelection. We all owe President Carter a huge debt of gratitude.

[chaine1 116]

• "Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make. The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years." — Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich
• "Most of the people who are going to die in the greatest cataclysm in the history of man have already been born… [by 1975] some experts feel that food shortages will have escalated the present level of world hunger and starvation into famines of unbelievable proportions. Other experts, more optimistic, think the ultimate food-population collision will not occur until the decade of the 1980s." — Paul Ehrlich
• "It is already too late to avoid mass starvation," — Denis Hayes, Chief organizer for Earth Day
• "Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa. By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions…. By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine." — North Texas State University professor Peter Gunter

It was these concerns that led to the Green Revolution. From Wikipedia.

Green Revolution refers to a series of research, development, and technology transfer initiatives, occurring between the 1940s and the late 1970s, that increased agriculture production around the world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s. It forms a part of the 'neo-colonial' system of agriculture wherein agriculture was viewed as more of a commercial sector than a subsistence one.^[1]

The initiatives, led by Norman Borlaug, the "Father of the Green Revolution" credited with saving over a billion people from starvation, involved the development of high-yielding varieties of cereal grains, expansion of irrigation infrastructure, modernization of management techniques, distribution of hybridized seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides to farmers.

Edited April 23, 2013 by chaine1

[chaine1 116]

• "In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution… by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half." — Life magazine
• "At the present rate of nitrogen buildup, it's only a matter of time before light will be filtered out of the atmosphere and none of our land will be usable." — Ecologist Kenneth Watt
• "Air pollution...is certainly going to take hundreds of thousands of lives in the next few years alone." — Paul Ehrlich

Also, these concerns led to the Clean Air Act.

It's easy to look back and think what fools we were when the research at the time led to policies and practices that made these concerns obsolete. Kind of like - Which came first: the chicken or the egg?

[duraaraa 203]

there is mass starvation, albeit far enough away to ignore.

I really, really wish this wasn't true, but it is. In the US, we have places that serve portions nobody could ever finish for very reasonable prices. Great for us, I suppose. But, we just throw out the extra. In fact, when the worker at a fast food restaurant isn't able to complete a customized order correctly, I think their policy is that it goes in the trash. I sometimes wonder how many people could be saved from starvation with just the food we end up throwing out in this country.

[decocker 7,198]

I sometimes wonder how many people could be saved from starvation with just the food we end up throwing out in this country.

what we throw away is ridiculous, especially when we have as many hungry children in this country as we do.

[duraaraa 203]

what we throw away is ridiculous, especially when we have as many hungry children in this country as we do.

I know, that in my mother's household at least, we could easily support another person just with the leftovers or food that we never get around to eating in the fridge.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

i am offended by the seventies bashing. i'll have you know some of the awesomest inhabitants of this planet were born in the seventies.

and we do have some serious environmental problems. there is mass starvation, albeit far enough away to ignore. air pollution is definitely affecting inner city children's health. what are those asthma numbers again?

maybe they got most of it wrong, what about right now - how much of it are we getting right?

and just when I thought we had found something that did not offend you.

[decocker 7,198]

and just when I thought we had found something that did not offend you.

you don't keep track of much, not accurately.

[spookyturtle 9,465]

The 70's had great music.