1968 film quote on… global warming!
I watched the film Quatemass & The Pit (aka 5 Million Years To Earth) the other night. It was released in 1968, but contains this extraordinary bit of dialogue:
Quatermass: Look Roney, suppose we found that our earth was doomed, say by climatic changes… What would we do about it?
Professor Roney: Nothing. Just go on squabbling as usual.
While one or two brave scientists were already raising the specter of global warming at the time (in particular, oceanographer Roger Revelle, who testified before Congress regarding the threat way back in 1957), almost no-one in the general public had ever heard of such a thing.
In addition to the prescient climate change reference, there’s the added wisdom of Professor Roney’s response. Despite nearly unanimous agreement on global warming in the scientific community (a rare thing), governments, particulary ours, do pretty much nothing (or worse), wasting precious time squabbling.
I was reminded of this today, when I called Texas Senator John Cornyn’s office to ask him to reconsider his stance on opening up environmentally sensitive areas to drilling under the mistaken notion that this will lower prices at the pump. First, no-one answered the phone after repeated calls. Finally, an aide picked up. It was immediately clear to me why calls weren’t being anwered.
Usually, when you call a Senator or Representative’s office, the aide takes down the reason why you’re calling and some proof that you’re a constituent, like your zip code. And that’s it. But this aide wanted to debate me.
I went along for a little while, but finally asked that he please just pass my comments on to the Senator. I’m doubtful that he will, but at least he can’t claim (as has happened in the past) that Texans don’t care about the issue, because no-one’s calling.
Sigh. Wouldn’t it be nice if our governments would come together, stop squabbling, and do something about what is very likely the most serious threat that humankind has ever faced?