… because it didn't pay!
As part of the legends around the Trojan War… Cassandra the daughter of King Priam, had been given the gift of prophecy by the god Apollo. The gift came with the curse that no one would ever believe her. She nevertheless predicted the fall of Troy and… the city fell in the hands of the Greeks!
This to say that, harbingers of doom, usually don't do too well among their own people. We are only ready to listen to "nice" predictions!
So now, the predictions of natural resources getting all used up, overpopulation, global warming, etc, are “tough sales!”
On the population and environment subject, there is a detailed paper placed on the "Die Off" website: “How and Why Journalists Avoid the Population-Environment Connection” Link to article [All such Link will open in a new window]
Another way of denial—a very subtle and clever way—can be found in the works of the CATO Institute (Individual Liberties, Free Market and Peace.) Type “overpopulation,” “oil peak” or “environment degradation” in the search field of their website and you will be able to dig out from the various papers very reassuring statements such as:
I am under the impression that “economic liberty” is synonymous to “our way of life.” Are we, "we the Western developed world," are we ready to make sacrifices? Not really, let’s ask first the Chinese, Brazilians and Indians to slow down their growth!
During the 2009 election for the European Parliament there was a list presented in a few regions of France named “Europe Décroissance,” which could translate as “Europe De-growth.” The general idea of this new political group is that instead of enduring an inevitable recession we have to organize the slow down of consumption and a better usage of available resources. It would no longer be fashionable for a few to “live in style” but life would still continue for the many.
Their "statement of intent" has only been translated into Italian and German on their site, so I translated it the best I could here with some comments of mine.
By the way…the average score of the lists in the regions where they were presented was 0.04 % of the votes. It is a start! As their logo said, “today’s utopia is tomorrow’s reality!”
So in our present times, we do have several Cassandra available, mostly in the rank of the ecologists and scientists, (Jacques Cousteau, Al Gore… the list is long...)
When Wolfgang Petersen brought the Iliad epic to the screen as "Troy," Agamemnon was part of it, Paris, Hector, Hellen, Priam and the flamboyant Achilles of course, they all made it to Hollywood.
Poor over-pessimistic Cassandra didn't make it to Hollywood… she was right about the fall of Troy though!
This to say that, harbingers of doom, usually don't do too well among their own people. We are only ready to listen to "nice" predictions!
So now, the predictions of natural resources getting all used up, overpopulation, global warming, etc, are “tough sales!”
On the population and environment subject, there is a detailed paper placed on the "Die Off" website: “How and Why Journalists Avoid the Population-Environment Connection” Link to article [All such Link will open in a new window]
Another way of denial—a very subtle and clever way—can be found in the works of the CATO Institute (Individual Liberties, Free Market and Peace.) Type “overpopulation,” “oil peak” or “environment degradation” in the search field of their website and you will be able to dig out from the various papers very reassuring statements such as:
- There is no population problem… The growth in human population has been more than met by increases in the production of food and other resources, including energy. Famine in the 20th century is a political rather than an ecological phenomenon. We are not running out of resources…
- Energy Alarmism: The Myths That Make Americans Worry about Oil… “Peak oil” predictions about the impending decline in global rates of oil production are based on scant evidence and dubious models of how the oil market responds to scarcity.
- The Institute strives to promote policies that would help protect the environment without sacrificing economic liberty, goals that Jerry Taylor, director of natural resource studies, believes are mutually supporting, not mutually exclusive…
I am under the impression that “economic liberty” is synonymous to “our way of life.” Are we, "we the Western developed world," are we ready to make sacrifices? Not really, let’s ask first the Chinese, Brazilians and Indians to slow down their growth!
During the 2009 election for the European Parliament there was a list presented in a few regions of France named “Europe Décroissance,” which could translate as “Europe De-growth.” The general idea of this new political group is that instead of enduring an inevitable recession we have to organize the slow down of consumption and a better usage of available resources. It would no longer be fashionable for a few to “live in style” but life would still continue for the many.
Their "statement of intent" has only been translated into Italian and German on their site, so I translated it the best I could here with some comments of mine.
By the way…the average score of the lists in the regions where they were presented was 0.04 % of the votes. It is a start! As their logo said, “today’s utopia is tomorrow’s reality!”
So in our present times, we do have several Cassandra available, mostly in the rank of the ecologists and scientists, (Jacques Cousteau, Al Gore… the list is long...)
When Wolfgang Petersen brought the Iliad epic to the screen as "Troy," Agamemnon was part of it, Paris, Hector, Hellen, Priam and the flamboyant Achilles of course, they all made it to Hollywood.
Poor over-pessimistic Cassandra didn't make it to Hollywood… she was right about the fall of Troy though!
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