13 Most Ridiculous Predictions Made on Earth Day, 1970

Ricochet ^ | 4/21/2017 | Jon Gabriel

[freedumb2003]

Saturday is Earth Day — an annual event first launched on April 22, 1970. The inaugural festivities (organized in part by then hippie and now convicted murderer Ira Einhorn) predicted death, destruction and disease unless we did exactly as progressives commanded.

Sound familiar? 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

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A version of this article was posted in 2014.

[FrdmLvr]

LOL! Especially #11. “...you’ll drive up to the pump and say ‘Fill ‘er up!”

[SaveFerris]

They meant 38 years from 1970, when complete morons would elect Barach Hussein Manchurian Candidate Obame.

[rlmorel]

Two people I detest are Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson, and both of them were pathetically wrong about something as fundamental as the Ideal Gas Law when discussing the "Deflategate" fiasco. One can dislike the Patriots team and/or the NFL and realize both of these gasbags who tout themselves as scientists crapped all over themselves by speaking out on it and publicly demonstrating they are agenda driven liberals instead of real scientists:

(From the American Physical Society): "...Other high-profile science communicators echoed Orzel’s sentiments as well. Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium, tweeted that “For the Patriots to blame a change in temperature for 15% lower-pressures, requires balls to be inflated with 125-degree air.” Bill Nye “the Science Guy” took to the television program Good Morning America and called out Belichick, saying “to really change the pressure you need one of these,” while holding an air pump, adding that atmospheric pressure changes wouldn’t be enough to change the ball’s pressure by up to two psi..."

These are two major "man caused" global warming advocates, and the rest of the AGW people are just like them.

[SaveFerris]

[1968 Corvette 427 no emissions equipment]

Chevy 427 tri-power by any chance? Either way, cool. My cousin had a Mako Shark painted 68. Can’t remember if it was just a paint job or a Mako.

[SaveFerris]

I had an 82 CJ-7. With 304. Leaked something terrible (someone put an awful sunroof in the hardtop) and the body was rusting bad. But it was awesome in ice and snow. Wish I had another one.

[rlmorel]

I was reading up on this, and all the envirowhackos are claiming Ira Einhorn had nothing to do with founding of "Earth Day"

That said, given how pathologically they lie about everything, I see this as basic backpedaling to try to disassociate themselves with someone who was exactly like each and every one of those radical lunatics.

[Beagle8U]

ARMY 4 - Kent State 0

[JBW1949]

LOL....

[wally_bert]

I’m pushed tight on space and there are the other killers - budget and time. The K5 and CJ7 live offsite a few minutes away. I hope to bring K5 home after some long overdue rehab. Maybe this summer.

I’d like another Willys but 6’3 me is kind of cramped in that 65.

I’m almost to the point where I’ve gone as far with the 65 as I can go for a carport in the burbs. If the pennies hold out going into June, I hope to send it off for the stuff I can’t do here.

The 81 CB 750K has it’s own problems. When it ran, it ran great after I had the carbs rebuilt. It’s developed some electrical problems and a chronic oil leak inside.

I don’t know much about those machines but it appears a seal has gone bad inside around the area for the electronic ignition that fills with oil. Maybe one day I can find someone to split the case.

It looks good sitting in the carport with the powdercoated tank.

The coil packs ohm out weird but they’re a budget item and the 750 is low priority.

[GOPsterinMA]

Yep.

[Dutch Boy]

More heads filled with knowledge but no wisdom.

[Nifster]

Actually the sunspot lack of activity suggests we are in fact headed to a mini ice age....not unlike that of the late1700s. Think Washington crossing the Delaware

[ssapro]

Nope, it’s the L36 390HP with a single quadrajet. Sure is fun to drive hooked up to the Muncie 4 speed with 3.36 gears. Yeah, the Makos were pretty cool cars at that.

[ssapro]

Yep, having enough space is a must if you have project vehicles. Having a little extra cash and the time to actually work on them is nice too. The problem with your Honda sure sounds like a weird one. Good luck sorting it out.

[wally_bert]

The CJ7 has a blown 6-258 (known) and got it cheap. I looked at is a chance to have a later CJ the way I wanted it.

The body is half stripped. A full tub is out of the question. I can’t justify it. The rust isn’t that bad.

I’ve replaced the fenders. A tailgate is next on the list. After that a hood, windshield and dash panel. Beyond that, the fuel tank, seats, console, wiring harness, exhaust, and some misc stuff before a reman engine. I will probably go back to a 6-258. AMC V8s are pricey and getting harder to find.

I pick up small pieces and parts and install when applicable.

The idea is to build it and it will come.

Some photos of the menagerie.

http://s1381.photobucket.com/user/Todd4077/library/?sort=3&page=1

I might even get a smugmug protected gallery again soon. It’s something that was a budget cut.

[SaveFerris]

Sweet. I was looking at a 72(?) with removable rear window, 350 4-speed but wound up buying a new Trans Am in the 70’s.

Later, I had one of the C4 models. it definitely grew on me. But I got the wrong transmission - had the 4 speed with the overdrive unit (7 forward speeds).

[SaveFerris]

Sounds like fun. I had tires and wheels from Hypermart (forgot which tires they were). Climbed right up icy hills when you couldn’t even stand on the ice without going down. It was very impressive.

One guy gave me $50 to drive him home (about 2 miles) one night when cars were sliding into ditches all over. It was a piece of cake.

[truth_seeker]

“ARMY 4 - Kent State 0”

Since I was serving overseas in uniform at that time, I saw it as USA=0-0

They were National Guard troops. I seriously doubt that any of the liked the situation they were put in.

I had empathy for BOTH sides.

[Beagle8U]

Yeah, I knew they were NG, but football scores work better with ARMY.

[Trillian]