"Better Living Through Chemistry" - There was a feeling in the first half of the 20th century that man could do no wrong. Yes some chemicals may be destructive, but there's no way we could do permanent damage to something as big as the earth; yes some people may be hurt here or there, but it will be a temporary effect on the way to a bright and shining future. We may deplete some animal populations, but they'll bounce back. Things are getting better in so many ways, the ends justify the means!
That bright shining feeling has been tarnished by cancer hot-spots, mutated frogs, depletion of the ozone layer, nervous system damage from ethyl lead.
I grew up on science fiction and I still love it, but the easy science fiction of the 1950's looks pretty simpleminded sometimes.
Note: I am not anti-chemistry or anti-science, but we do need to be careful and safe.
That bright shining feeling has been tarnished by cancer hot-spots, mutated frogs, depletion of the ozone layer, nervous system damage from ethyl lead.
They were right, though: none of those are permanent. The Earth will survive us without difficulty.
The earth doesn't care one bit, it's just a bunch of rocks, mainly. It will absolutely go on without us. We can make it really suck for ourselves to live on though.
That bright shining feeling has been tarnished by cancer hot-spots, mutated frogs, depletion of the ozone layer, nervous system damage from ethyl lead.
I grew up on science fiction and I still love it, but the easy science fiction of the 1950's looks pretty simpleminded sometimes.
Note: I am not anti-chemistry or anti-science, but we do need to be careful and safe.
0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Living_Through_Chemistr...