Won't someone think of the children?
This Washington Post Op-Ed decrying the scare tactics of environmentalists trying to raise awareness about global warming was written by Emily Yoffe. As near as I can tell, her environmental research qualifications are limited to having written the Dear Prudence advice column for Slate.com. I had a hard time pinning down the actual opinion she is supporting, but she made the following points in her Op-Ed:
- Al Gore believes that the threat we face from global warming is very serious.
- So many people agree with Gore that according to Yoffe, "An Inconvenient Truth is going to be shown in schools...a children's television show is planned...[and] Live Earth concerts on July 7th are expected to raise millions.
- Yoffe agrees that it may be getting warmer and that changes to our environmental habits are 'commendable'.
- We shouldn't scare children by discussing these issues in the public arena or, presumably, in schools.
Alright, so the last point is technically an opinion, but she does a poor job of supporting it. Also, it's an idiotic opinion. Yoffe seems to believe that the best way to avoid terrifying kids is to pretend that whatever they are afraid of doesn't exist, or to sugarcoat the root cause of their fear to the point where they aren't afraid of it anymore. While this may be a bang-up strategy when dealing with the boogey-man, I don't think that making sure your feet are not hanging off the edge of the bed is going to keep the ice caps from melting.
Here's a novel idea, why don't we tell our kids that global warming is real and can have real consequences. That way when you spend the money for that trip to Disney World on a big screen TV you can tell the kids that you're only trying to reduce green house emissions by not flying. It's win/win. You get a TV and the kids get to believe they won't burst into flames at the park.
Since I don't own any children myself, I was wondering what all of you breeders out there thought about this. Am I wrong? Should we, in the words of W, be concerned about what are children is learning about global warming?
- Al Gore believes that the threat we face from global warming is very serious.
- So many people agree with Gore that according to Yoffe, "An Inconvenient Truth is going to be shown in schools...a children's television show is planned...[and] Live Earth concerts on July 7th are expected to raise millions.
- Yoffe agrees that it may be getting warmer and that changes to our environmental habits are 'commendable'.
- We shouldn't scare children by discussing these issues in the public arena or, presumably, in schools.
Alright, so the last point is technically an opinion, but she does a poor job of supporting it. Also, it's an idiotic opinion. Yoffe seems to believe that the best way to avoid terrifying kids is to pretend that whatever they are afraid of doesn't exist, or to sugarcoat the root cause of their fear to the point where they aren't afraid of it anymore. While this may be a bang-up strategy when dealing with the boogey-man, I don't think that making sure your feet are not hanging off the edge of the bed is going to keep the ice caps from melting.
Here's a novel idea, why don't we tell our kids that global warming is real and can have real consequences. That way when you spend the money for that trip to Disney World on a big screen TV you can tell the kids that you're only trying to reduce green house emissions by not flying. It's win/win. You get a TV and the kids get to believe they won't burst into flames at the park.
Since I don't own any children myself, I was wondering what all of you breeders out there thought about this. Am I wrong? Should we, in the words of W, be concerned about what are children is learning about global warming?
Labels: politics
posted by DC Viking at 3:26 PM
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