Elderhostel is an educational program for seniors who want to learn while on vacation. I taught a number of Elderhostel classes in the San Francisco Bay Area; the “students” are often retired professionals, and the classes were always fun.
One of the subjects I taught was U.S. Environmental Policy. The first night I asked students to list the most important environmental problem facing the U.S.. The majority listed litter. I explained to them that while litter is an unsightly problem which does have serious ramifications, it doesn’t reach the level of climate change, desertification, overpopulation, or air and water pollution.
Which brings me to my favorite whipping boy, Jim Zbick, an “opinion” columnist for the Times News, who on almost any topic can be counted on to miss the main point.
Today he attacked the Economic Conference in Davos for wasting airplane fuel, and then went on to attack the climate march in New York last September for the amount of litter participants created. He also managed to slam Al Gore and, believe it or not, Earth Day.
It’s an old tactic in debates. Bring up something completely irrelevant to the issue at hand. Surely the Times News can do better than Zbick.
No comments:
Post a Comment