John Holdren in Retrospect (Part VIII on Obama’s New Science Advisor)

Two quotations circa 1971 are germane to a final stocktaking of failed alarmist John Holdren. Both come from the introduction to Holdren and Paul Ehrlich, eds., Global Ecology (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1971): 

Neither green revolutions, nor population control, nor all the technology man can muster will alone salvage the future. What is required is no less than a revolution in human behavior, one which embodies fundamental reforms in our economic and political institutions, coupled with the wisest technological enterprises, the necessary ingredient of population control, and a new perception of man’s place in nature (p. 1).

We have been warned by our more cautious colleagues that those who discuss threats of sociological and ecological disaster run the risk of being “discredited” if those threats fail to materialize on schedule (p. 6).

As this series has documented, John Holdren (like Paul Ehrlich) has done much to discredit himself by both his failed forecasts and his angry response to his critics. But the past is over–what about the future? Will Dr. Holdren embrace a challenge culture and make midcourse corrections? Will he temper his temper toward those of us who really care about better, longer living for a growing population, as well as political and economic freedom? One can only hope for the best–but plan for the worst.