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EDITOR- I read Shearman's paper 1 on global warming several times
to check it was not a Christmas issue spoof, having been shocked to
incredulity by his last two paragraphs. The paper focusses on human
failures to think and plan for the long term future on environmental
problems and suggests that "Heroic measures are needed if we are to change
course". What follows is advocacy of brainwashing (" .... measures to
modify the human mind ... redeployment of the advertising industry's
annual budget ... medical research may have to encompass the
phsychological and immunochemical manipulation of the human brain ...").
As a statement of environmentalism's agenda this is the most lunatic
extreme I have encountered. Largescale brainwashing has been tried before
under the aegis of several 'isms. It lead then to the camps and the gulags
and worse. The incredulity persists - does Shearer and fellow members of
Doctors for the the Enviroment seriously believe humanity would not prefer
to struggle with the consequences of global warming than struggle with a
global and intense return to totalitarianism.
In contrast Lomborg's paper 2 is a summary of his book's detailed
and sanguine assessment of the health of the environment for human
welfare. His approach to global warming may be the weakest of his numerous
arguments. However, his proposition that the money which may be be spent
on implementing the Kyoto protocol may be better spent on direct
interventions to improve environmental conditions is something that human
vitality, imagination and ingenuity can constructively engage with. This
is in stark contast to the compounding of the fear of global warming by
fear of 1940's style totalitarianism masquerading as environmental concern
that Shearer and colleagues have to offer.
1 Shearer D. Time and tide wait for no man. BMJ 20002;325:1466-8 (21
December)
2 Lomborg B. How healthy is the world? BMJ 2002; 325: 1461-6
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests:
No competing interests
25 December 2002
Alan R. Walker
Senior Lecturer in Parasitology
Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, University of Edinburgh, EH25 9RG
BRAINWASHING AND GLOBAL WARMING
EDITOR- I read Shearman's paper 1 on global warming several times
to check it was not a Christmas issue spoof, having been shocked to
incredulity by his last two paragraphs. The paper focusses on human
failures to think and plan for the long term future on environmental
problems and suggests that "Heroic measures are needed if we are to change
course". What follows is advocacy of brainwashing (" .... measures to
modify the human mind ... redeployment of the advertising industry's
annual budget ... medical research may have to encompass the
phsychological and immunochemical manipulation of the human brain ...").
As a statement of environmentalism's agenda this is the most lunatic
extreme I have encountered. Largescale brainwashing has been tried before
under the aegis of several 'isms. It lead then to the camps and the gulags
and worse. The incredulity persists - does Shearer and fellow members of
Doctors for the the Enviroment seriously believe humanity would not prefer
to struggle with the consequences of global warming than struggle with a
global and intense return to totalitarianism.
In contrast Lomborg's paper 2 is a summary of his book's detailed
and sanguine assessment of the health of the environment for human
welfare. His approach to global warming may be the weakest of his numerous
arguments. However, his proposition that the money which may be be spent
on implementing the Kyoto protocol may be better spent on direct
interventions to improve environmental conditions is something that human
vitality, imagination and ingenuity can constructively engage with. This
is in stark contast to the compounding of the fear of global warming by
fear of 1940's style totalitarianism masquerading as environmental concern
that Shearer and colleagues have to offer.
1 Shearer D. Time and tide wait for no man. BMJ 20002;325:1466-8 (21
December)
2 Lomborg B. How healthy is the world? BMJ 2002; 325: 1461-6
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests