Saturday, November 06, 2004

Luddites and Liars

The air is vastly cleaner today than it was in the 1970s, as this EPA summary (with data through year-end 2003) demonstrates. And, contrary to the liberal Luddites, air quality's improved under President Bush. (via The Corner)

Environmental chicken littles have ample incentives to contend the sky is falling--it's called "fundraising," including chasing tax-funded government grants. Thus, leftist groups are no less biased than energy company think tanks. Small wonder enviros hype doomsday scenarios such as global warming.

Compounding the problem, the leftist media habitually fails to fact-check grant-hungry scientists. Especially when Republicans control the White House. Reporters prefer specious but scary sound bites that, for example, tie hypothetical warming to more frequent or severe hurricanes and storms. In fact the opposite is true.

Years ago, air pollution and smog were fatal for thousands. Dramatic reductions in pollution have substantially lowered illness and mortality. Our environment is improving and health risks are declining. Even if professional environmentalists and scare-mongering journalists won't admit it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It is correct that we are a cleaner nation than we were a few years ago. However, I will argue that would not be the case if environmentalists had not created action. You can point to alarmists and grant hungry scientists but the fact is that changes would not have occurred if left to companies and conservatives.