THE ENVIRONMENTALIST

CHAPTER 1

The early years

Judy Brown watched the program on television with a keen interest. It was about conditions on land, in waters, and in the air during the early years of the twentieth century. Much good earth was washed away by erosion, leaving the ground filled with gullies and bare soil unfit for growing future crops. Wind erosion in Oklahoma and other areas left the farms useless. Water in rivers and lakes was contaminated and void of fish. The tree trunks were dark with soot that had accumulated on them from the smog in the air. Environmentalists worked hard and eventually they made the people aware of such bad conditions. Laws were enacted and significant improvements made everywhere. Environmentalism was a good word.

Judy was so overwhelmed by the good work done that she decided that she wanted to be an environmentalist. After completing high school, she enrolled at the nearest college that offered her the opportunity to begin her career.



CHAPTER 2
The endangered species and wet lands

Professor Timothy Williams welcomed the students to his class and began his discussions by listing the improvements made during the twentieth century to improve conditions everywhere. He then remarked that even though we had made significant progress a lot more needed to be done and that they would be the ones making those improvements.

He then listed a number of animal species that had gone extinct, or were going extinct, and implied that it was all due to human activities. One student said that he read that over 99% of all species that ever existed were now extinct and occurred prior to the existence of humans. Professor never bothered to answer the remark but instead continued with his lesson.

Professor Williams said that it is necessary to establish a lot more wetlands to protect animal and bird life. Judy spoke up and said that some land belonging to her grandfather had a little water on it when it rained hard but that it soon dried up when the rains stopped. She added that the government had seized most of his property, without any compensation, ruling that it was a wetland. The act removed much of his best farmland and caused her grandparents a considerable hardship.

Professor Williams’ only comment was that it was the price we have to pay to protect our environment. Judy was miffed but held in her anger.

The professor in a later class took up the subject of overpopulation, saying that it would soon be necessary for the government to make rules requiring abortions as a means of controlling the size of the population. His comment drew a number of gasps from the students which he chose to ignore.
Judy raised her hand to be recognized. When Professor Williams acknowledged her, she commented that people long ago said that the world would soon be so overpopulated that everyone would starve but that it never happened. She then said that she had noticed that there was a lot of land lying useless that could be turned into farm land if necessary. She then added that for the government to force people to have abortions was an evil act.

The professor glared at her to put her in her place and to discourage any other students from speaking their minds.


CHAPTER 3
The cause of global warming

Judy was a little cautious about the course since she had heard comments about the subject both pro and con. Her worst fears were confirmed when her instructor entered the classroom.

Professor Mark Rabinsky entered the classroom and walked over to the blackboard. Picking up a piece of chalk he wrote in large letters on the chalkboard “Don’t kill. Stop global warming.”
Facing the students, he remarked that it would be up to everyone, including them, to enforce these words. Using an easel with a large pad of paper, he unfolded each page showing everything he said was proven facts.

The first page showed Mann’s “hockey stick” chart which described rapidly increasing global temperatures, especially during the latter fifty years. The second chart showed rising temperatures in many major cities during the last century. Other pages had attached pictorials, showing ocean waters inundating all coastal cities rendering them useless for habitation. Other pictorials showed floods swamping large areas, parched fields with dying crops, and starving people walking along roads.
Judy thought to herself that this was a lot of bull.

Professor Rabinski went on to tell the class what was causing all this misery. He said that the burning of fossil fuels released carbon dioxide into the air which trapped heat near the earth, causing temperatures to rise.

One of the students remarked that Mann’s chart did not show high temperatures a thousand years ago while Lamb’s chart did. He added that records kept in churches and other locations described ideal conditions at that time with abundant crops growing in northern Europe over longer periods and populations of poor people increased during this time. He then asked why warm weather was considered bad when apparently it wasn’t and how could it have been warm back then when fossils fuels were not being used.

Professor Rabinski’s face reddened and he screamed at the poor lad, saying that Lamb was a liar and Mann’s data was real. He said that he didn’t want to hear any more uncalled-for comments from anyone else during the rest of the course or they would fail.

Judy got up from her seat, walked over to the professor’s desk, slammed her book down on the desk, told the professor to stick it you-know-where, and walked out of the classroom. She drove over to the school of nursing and enrolled to become a registered nurse.