Fresh off its controversial Iwo Jima cover with Marines raising a tree, Time magazine's May 5 issue celebrates with an Earth Day roundup. The cause for celebration? That in 2008, "every day is Earth Day," exulted Nancy Gibbs.
Gibbs celebrated, among other things, the banning of DDT, which led to millions of preventable deaths from malaria. "Back in 1970, there was ... poison in our pesticides," she said, but after the Environmental Protection Agency was created, "DDT was banned."
Perhaps she missed the fact that DDT was reinstated for use in malaria-ridden countries by order of the World Health Organization in 2006.
Another part of this year's Earth Day roundup: "Bolivia's socialist President Evo Morales told the U.N. that 'if we want to save our planet Earth, we have a duty to put an end to the capitalist system.'" Meanwhile, Gibbs wrote, "capitalists polished their image to a green sheen."
Gibbs's pro/con list was an interesting combination of priorities. Her pros post-EPA: "the air and water got cleaner, DDT was banned, leaded gas phased out, recycling phased in." Cons: "the world's population has nearly doubled, glaciers are melting, gas is within a drip of $4 a gallon, and there are food riots in countries where prices have soared owing to the diversion of grain to biofuels."
So ... DDT ban good, more people bad?
How about a media apology for pushing biofuels?
But, Gibbs says we should rejoice because now at least greens have won and "there's no need to stop us in our tracks and force the issue onto the agenda."
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Comments Policy
so glad we conservatives
April 29, 2008 - 11:36 ET by TruthMongerso glad we conservatives will get no credit for the resurgence of CONSERVATION...
naah, that honor now forever goes to the guy who also invented the internet...
Well done people:)!
Greenpeace
April 29, 2008 - 11:45 ET by okiehawk44Attention: Nancy Gibbs!
The vaunted Greenpeace has recently enbraced nuclear power!
Honey, your job with print journalism is over -- print journalism is dead and you are "unemployed walking".
It goes without saying,
April 29, 2008 - 11:47 ET by WhoIsJohnGaltbut I'll say it anyway:
Had George Bush or some conservative been at the head of the issue, the focus of the roundup would be
"Cons: "the world's population has nearly doubled, glaciers are melting, gas is within a drip of $4 a gallon, and there are food riots in countries where prices have soared owing to the diversion of grain to biofuels."
JohnGalt
April 29, 2008 - 11:56 ET by candanceIf it had been Republicans who had insisted that we ban the best form of bug spray, the media would highlight the sharp rise in malaria and other bloodborn diseases all over third world countries because they have no poison to fend of mosquitos.
Instead they come up with these plans to pass out screens poor people can drape around their beds to stop the mosquitos at night. Cause, you know, bugs only bite you in your house in the middle of the night. The problem could be solved in an instant by giving them proper bug spray - but no way anyone admits to liberals being short sighted.
Nothing but nuts
April 29, 2008 - 13:49 ET by nkviking75Our local cable system is running a PSA for some organization called "Nothing but Nets", which promotes the kind of program you discuss. I've always wondered if they expect Africans to spend their entire lives under moquito netting or walk around with nets covering them from head to toe. I don't doubt the nets will do some good, but no one can live under them 24/7.
Of course, these are the morons who laugh at teaching sexual abstinence but preach that condoms will prevent AIDS. Only if you use them with absolute consistency and the condoms never, ever fail.
When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.
"Of course, these are the
April 29, 2008 - 13:58 ET by Cortillaen"Of course, these are the morons who laugh at teaching sexual abstinence
but preach that condoms will prevent AIDS. Only if you use them with
absolute consistency and the condoms never, ever fail." I suppose they also like to ignore the fact that some viruses pass right through the condom's membrane... Great to know if you're actually interested in avoiding STDs, but not so helpful to tell people when you're in the tank for the "free love sex" worldview. Do condoms reduce your chances of acquiring an STD or getting pregnant? Sure, but they aren't the perfect miracle these people delude themselves and others into thinking.
www.rhjunior.com Great comics with a hefty dose of Christian and anti-nutjob goodness.
"With your mind as high as Mt. Fuji you can see all things clearly. And you can see all the forces that shape events; not just the things near to you." -Miyamoto Musashi
There's a severe need to stop "Time" in its tracks.
April 29, 2008 - 11:48 ET by sarcasmoIn order to push the truth about DDT, a chemical that can either be used or misused, onto their agenda.
JMR
The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.
rammingspeed
April 29, 2008 - 11:56 ET by rammingspeedTime is stopping itself. Its readership is sinking, its credibility is comparable that of a preschool, and the only thing they do by endorsing the end of capitalism is put themselves on the same down bound train as the now defunct USSR.
Good riddance, Time Magazine.
"liberals"
April 29, 2008 - 12:14 ET by iveseenitallNo DDT, no drilling in America, no more refineries, no fighting those "sweetipie" terrorists,er, "insurgents", no GITMO, no listening to the conversations of the "insurgents,no discipline in schools or at home, no banning soft porn on t.v., no id's for voters, no border fences, no airport security, no testing of students, no guns, no term limits, abortions for everyone, drivers licences for illegals, frivolous lawsuits for all... the beat goes on. Ah, modern "liberalism"! Nothing left to do but RAISE YOUR TAXES!
NEVER, NEVER trust a "liberal"
TIME is
April 29, 2008 - 12:05 ET by Delsaan IDIOT !
Rejoicing ?
April 29, 2008 - 12:10 ET by 10ksnookerOver killing 50 million black African children for a hoax? That really is the bottom.
In my view, self-described
April 29, 2008 - 13:34 ET by fitzfongIn my view, self-described "environmentalists" are at the root of all of this country's problems. Like a tape worm, their extreme socialist agenda has invaded the host almost unnoticed...and like every other parasite, the "environmentalist" agenda has started to eat at its host from the inside. They were able to fool unsuspecting people by pretending to have sensible good intentions for "the planet"...in other words they sweet-talked the bouncer so they could get into the club through the back door without paying. This riff-raff doesn't care about "the planet" and they certainly don't care about the United States of America...they simply wanted to find the easiest way to ram communism down the country's throat. In my opinion, that makes them terrorists.
Name me one so-called
April 29, 2008 - 16:05 ET by Tim the EnchanterName me one so-called "environmentalist" that has the courage of his/her convictions. I can only think of one- Ed Begley, Jr. All this AGW and related nonsense is a subterfuge for the totalitarian lust of these people. Remember in Orwell's 1984 when Winston Smith stated to O'Brien that he (Winston) thought the Inner Party's main concern was the welfare of the people? He was rudely "corrected" by the zapping machine, then O'Brien made it clear to him that what was done by the Inner Party was for the sake of possessing and keeping Power- raw, naked political Power. Wish more people would read (and understand) this book and its message.
'if we want to save our
April 29, 2008 - 13:41 ET by Chris Norman'if we want to save our planet Earth, we have a duty to put an end to the capitalist system.'"
Yeah, that socialist paradise, the USSR, was also an environmental paradise, huh? It'll only take several hundred years to clean it up...
Really?
April 29, 2008 - 14:05 ET by unitaryexecutiveDid Nancy Gibbs really just say that there was "poison in our pesticides?" Isn't there still poison in our pesticides? Isn't that why they kill pests?
We have so many people who can't see a fat man standing beside a thin one without coming to the conclusion that the fat man got that way by taking advantage of the thin one.
-Ronald Reagan
"...recycling phased in..."
April 29, 2008 - 14:23 ET by Cortillaen"...recycling phased in..." Never mind the fact that recycling most waste consumes more energy than gathering and processing the raw materials (metals tend to be the exception), causing recycling programs across the nation to cost more money than they save.
www.rhjunior.com Great comics with a hefty dose of Christian and anti-nutjob goodness.
"With your mind as high as Mt. Fuji you can see all things clearly. And you can see all the forces that shape events; not just the things near to you." -Miyamoto Musashi
The party of death
April 29, 2008 - 15:15 ET by pocomocoDDT was originally banned because of the book Silent Spring authored by Rachel Carson who was primarily concerned that it was killing wildlife, especially the Bald Eagle.
I can remember seeing a video that environmentalists made showing how their eggs were so thin that they were cracking causing the eagle chicks to die before they hatched. They blamed it on DDT.
Since the environmentalists were, and still are, major contributors to members of Congress, they duly decided to ban it.
I have often said that ‘the Democrat Party is the party of death’; Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos - 2 million, abortion – 40 million, malaria – untold millions, and possibly Iraq if we leave early.
Because liberals have no common sense and can’t think beyond their next election, millions died as a result of their actions over the past 40 years.
Are they concerned? Not in the least. It’s just the Democrats way of doing everyday business. To hell with humanity, just pass my earmarks.
Did Democrats get DDT
April 29, 2008 - 15:19 ET by balboaDid Democrats get DDT banned in other countries?
Yes, through the UN.
April 29, 2008 - 16:27 ET by pocomocoYes, through the UN.
DDT
April 29, 2008 - 16:20 ET by crosspatch"Perhaps she missed the fact that DDT was reinstated for use in
malaria-ridden countries by order of the World Health Organization in
2006."
The thought crossed my mind as to who might be making it. I would seriously doubt that any manufacturer in the US would make any. It sure would get rid of the recent bedbug infestations here in the US, though. They should allow it for bedbugs too.
DDT
January 18, 2009 - 00:40 ET by eveableDDT is made in China and India. The African countries are using it again though their sponsors will not pay for it. DDT is the safest and most efffective insecticide around. It would work well for bedbugs. But not in the USA.