It seems that Joshua Wolf and Robert Salo of Royal Children's Hospital, in Melbourne Australia have recently reported that:
"A 17-year-old man was referred to the inpatient psychiatric unit at Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne with an eight-month history of depressed mood . . . He also . . . had visions of apocalyptic events."
and that:
"The patient had also developed the belief that, due to climate change, his own water consumption could lead within days to the deaths of millions of people through exhaustion of water supplies."
Read more about it here, though some of the comments are a bit nasty, if you ask me.
April 16, 2007, Darragh Johnson of the Washington Post wrote about a 9 year old boy named Alex Hendel and the effects that discussions about global warming and/or climate change can have on children who have been led to believe, in many cases, that we're headed for epic destruction brought on by people who consume too much gas, drink too much water or own too many farting cows:
""In 20 years," he pronounces, "there's no oxygen." Then, to dramatize the point, he collapses, "dead," to the floor.
"For many children and young adults, global warming is the atomic bomb of today. Fears of an environmental crisis are defining their generation in ways that the Depression, World War II, Vietnam and the Cold War's lingering "War Games" etched souls in the 20th century.
"Parents say they're searching for "productive" outlets for their 8-year-olds' obsessions with dying polar bears. Teachers say enrollment in high school and college environmental studies classes is doubling year after year. And psychologists say they're seeing an increasing number of young patients preoccupied by a climactic Armageddon."
March 19, 2007:
A survey of 1,150 youngsters aged between seven and 11 found that one in four blamed politicians for the problems of climate change."
Hmmm. Maybe it IS politicians who are to blame for all that global warming, hot air. Those 1,150 "youngsters" may have been on to something.
The report above was used to try to shame people into realizing that global warming wasn't just effecting the children of the future but was also effecting the welfare of the children of today:
"The most feared consequences of global warming included poor health, the possible submergence of entire countries and the welfare of animals."
Haven't had enough yet? June 10, 2007, Green Living Tips Weblog posted this:
"A report released by the Australian Childhood Foundation today brings to light some very disturbing fears held by many of the 600 children aged between 10-14 years surveyed.
Other key findings:
• Over half are scared that there will be a lack of water in the future
• 44% of children are worried about climate change
• 43% of children are worried about air and water pollution
What is disturbing to me is that the Green Living Tips Web blog uses the fear indoctrinated into children as a reason for adults to react:
"25% of children recently surveyed believe the world will end before they reach adulthood. If that's not a wake up call for the wider community about our environment, I don't know what is."
Children did not get so obsessed and psychotic about climate change that they can't sleep at night and believe the world will end before they reach adulthood on their own. Someone taught them to live with this level of fear, someone with another motive. I think it's sick, myself.
I believe in good stewardship of the planet and in saving money by conserving energy.
It just makes good hillbilly common sense.
I just think it's unconscionable to use children as a tool by instilling such fear in them in an effort to cause parents and other adults to do what extremist environmentalists want them to do, "for the children."
6 comments:
Global warming, sky-high prices for gasoline, food, and housing and I hear today one of the presidential candidates expects me to learn Spanish and if my grandkids go to school they will be forced to complete "community service" or else not graduate. The world as I knew it is fast disappearing. Is this how Crazy Horse and others felt as they saw their world changing?
I'm not necessarily opposed to change. Some change is good, some bad.
Right now, it just seems to be more bad than good, in my opinion.
The guy is a self possessed lunatic that should off himself so he doesn't die of an anxiety attack of all the harm he is doing to mother earth. If he is that guilt ridden only his removal from earth will cure that problem
Oh, my. I don't like that comment, Tom. :0 (But then I don't think you were really serious?)
I think I like the idea of being more sensitive to how impressionable children are and to stop over-reacting to climate change. This "boy" was 17 years old, and a product of his education.
There are better ways to encourage people to live greener lives than by turning them into fearful, psychotic, self-loathers.
Isn't individual, responsible action the goal of environmentalists?
Healthy fear is good, that's why it's called "healthy." The cases written about and linked in this posting are not examples of "healthy" fear, rather, they are just the opposite.
The score is as follows;
Global warming hoax 1
global warming facts 0
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080709/ap_on_bi_ge/japan_overwork_death
The man who died was aged 45 and had been under severe pressure as the lead engineer in developing a hybrid version of Toyota's blockbuster Camry line, said Mikio Mizuno, the lawyer representing his wife. The man's identity is being withheld at the request of his family, who continue to live in Toyota City where the company is based.
I took an 8th grader shopping in yesterday, and found most of the t-shirts had a green message on it. "How Green are you" or "Green is Groovy" and that type of message is what the marketers have found kids will buy. I had not realized how interested kids are in this, but when they market to sell, they know that age will buy.
We do need to work on our CO2 emissions, but if China, etc do no control theirs, there is little point in our government requiring us to control ours. The playing field for manufactorers is so unlevel already that I fear all factories will close when electric power costs rise as high as they will have to meet the predicted legislation standards. What happens to a country when the playing field is so unlevel that the US can no longer produce a product?
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