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The Nation's Pulse
A Happy Earth Day
Cheer up. Things aren’t all bad.
Once again, your faithful TAS contributor will, this Earth Day, highlight items that are often overlooked in the general rush to pessimism on matters environmental.
We cannot let this day pass without commenting on the passing of a remarkable human being who directed his ingenuity, energy and commitment to the cause of feeding the world’s growing population and thereby avoiding the human catastrophe predicted by so many experts of less than hopeful bent.
Norman Borlaug, the famous plant scientist, died on September 12, 2009, at 95. The Economist called him the “feeder of the world.”
Having quit a fine job at DuPont, Borlaug began working in Mexico in 1944 to increase grain yields and bring food to the poor. By 1956 that country’s wheat production had doubled to the point of making it self-sufficient.
He won the Nobel peace prize in 1970 for basically precipitating the “Green Revolution,” which resulted in global grain production outpacing population growth, saving millions of lives. He was a researcher and a man of action. He was always in the fields checking on his experimental crops in places such as India and Africa.
“The famines and huge mortality that had been predicted for the second half of the 20th century never came to pass,” noted the Economist in its laudatory obituary on Borlaug.
Moreover, as Gregg Easterbrook has observed, his techniques of high-yield agriculture avoided deforestation on a planetary scale since fewer acres are needed to feed more people. And his modern agricultural techniques have lead to lower population growth since they allow for a higher premium on education rather than “muscle power” as the key to family success.
He was always looking over his shoulder at what he called the “Population Monster,” which some find puzzling, a sign of pessimism belied by his own experience. On the other hand, even though human populations are crashing in Europe, Russia and Japan, there will be strong growth in many other parts of the world for many years before peaking at 10 billion. These people must also be fed. The genetic research of the kind pursued by Norman Borlaug will be of the utmost importance for years to come.
Another bit of good news comes from Switzerland where voters defeated a proposal to appoint lawyers for animals with 80 percent voting “No” on the referendum. For this, and so much else, we give thanks this Earth Day.
Evidently, this idea was based on a system already in place in the canton of Zurich. In fact, one defendant-fisherman there was hauled into court there for landing a 22-pound pike that had put up a fight for 10 minutes, as reported last month by Deborah Ball of the Wall Street Journal. Her fishy story was headlined, “Scales of Justice.”
I can’t make this stuff up. Life is stranger than fiction,
The pike was represented in the case by Antonine Goetschel, the official animal lawyer for the canton. He got into the case after animal welfare (rights?) groups filed a complaint for animal cruelty against an amateur angler.
“It is this Hemingway thinking,” said lawyer Goetschel. “Why should this be legal when other animals have to be slaughtered in a humane way?” “If you treat fish like objects in a computer game, their dignity is hurt.” Fortunately, he lost the case.
Back on earth there have been a number of pleasant developments which, in fairness, have drawn some decent coverage in the media which normally gravitate toward mostly depressing story lines on environmental matters.
A front-page story in the Washington Post last week proclaimed that “Chesapeake blue crabs are back in the black.” The crabs, in decline for a decade, “are in the middle of an extraordinary comeback,” wrote David A. Fahrenfold. “The estuary’s crab population has more than doubled in two years.” Maryland and Virginia officials had set strict limits on the crab harvest in 2008, targeting females for particular protection
About the Author
G. Tracy Mehan, III served at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the administrations of both Presidents Bush. He is a consultant in Arlington, Virginia, and an adjunct professor at George Mason University School of Law.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (33) | Leave a comment
More Articles by G. Tracy Mehan, III
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Russell Seitz| 4.22.10 @ 12:20AM
Tracy should drop in on the far side of the Rhine north of canton Zurich, where alternative anglers are getting ready to celebrate seven centuries of fishing with hand grenades spiked with corrosive sublimate of mercury, a Deep Green innovation set forth by the sporting Abbot of Buren in 1485.
Brian Mc| 4.22.10 @ 7:35AM
I read this with mixed emotions considering the fundamental genesis of the "Earth Day" phenomenon.
I will represent my employer at a 'celebration' where I've signed on to teach young skulls full of mush the art of angling. I will walk very softly and pray I see very little reference to our 'Mother'.
ring| 4.22.10 @ 8:58AM
States requires you to have LIABILITY insurance so that if you injury someone or their property they have a means of recovery. chi free shipping No state requires you to insure your own car...
owyheewine| 4.22.10 @ 10:09AM
In honor of earth day, AI've spent the week spraying 2,4D, dicamba, several grass killers and roundup to control this spring's weed crop. It was the least I could do.
DatsunMark| 4.22.10 @ 11:11AM
Great, now we can open a season on my favorite delicacy *Brown Pelican*!
Kenneth Covington| 4.22.10 @ 11:57AM
Have lead?
Petronius| 4.22.10 @ 12:17PM
Here at the Save the Skeet Foundation we a great selection. Pull!
Nick| 4.22.10 @ 6:00PM
What is this "earth day" to which you people keep referring?
No one that I know "celebrates" this made-up day.
Sounds like a neo-pagan, Druid-like mental disorder.
doug walk| 4.22.10 @ 6:35PM
I know a lot of people don't realize it, but "earth day" was set up (on purpose) to coincide with the marxist vladimir lenins birthday!
look it up, I'm not kidding!
Marc Jeric| 4.22.10 @ 7:09PM
Environmentalism is a cult of death, led by eco-nazis. They want to reduce the world population from the existing 6.5 billion to the "sustainable" one billion people. And they want to be among that sustainable number. Viva Lenin!
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 4.22.10 @ 7:34PM
I still drive my V-8 with relish every Earth Day.
A Grin without a Cat| 4.22.10 @ 9:35PM
I've decided to honor Earth Day in the most appropriate fashion: by being as earthy as possible. People with delicate sensibilities,or with sensitive noses, may want to keep their distance.
H| 4.23.10 @ 1:15AM
Since 1970....650,000 saved pelicans....and 5o million dead babies...yeah, that makes sense.
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Ted| 4.23.10 @ 12:15PM
It's incredible this article points out successes of the very policies this same magazine unconditionally opposes.
Are the readers / subscribers too stupid to figure this out?
BA Cyclone| 4.23.10 @ 2:39PM
Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. --- Frederic Bastiat
Chet| 4.23.10 @ 11:35PM
Successes ? WHERE... WHICH ?
1) "doubling" wheat production in MEXICO prior to 1956 ? FIFTY-FOUR years ago... They've apparently RUN OUT of wheat, because they're coming OVER OUR BORDERS to buy bread ( with Obama-cash, taken from US )
2) Winning the NOBEL prize ? F-ING HILARIOUS, DUDE !!!! An inexperienced Chicago PUNK in the Whitehouse won a NOBEL prize for his 14 DAYS of CHANGE ( time between when the CUTOFF for nomination was necessary, versus when the Hack-off ( rhymes with) was elected...
3) "experimental crops" in India & Africa - OH yeah... THAT'S workin'... NO Africans starving on MY television ...
NO... We're NOT too stupid to figure it out -- We're TOO smart to buy the BULLS**T....
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Cooler Heads Digest 23 April 2010 | GlobalWarming.org links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
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