Some folks who don't listen to warnings about global warming probably don't remember when the warnings were about over population. They called it the "Population Explosion." Yes, there were skeptics back then, too.

In those days the population of the Earth was a quarter of what it is today. In the United states there were large cities, but most of them have doubled and tripled since then.

In small-town America, a typical county was a county seat with 5000 to 10,000 people. Just outside of town, you were in the country surrounded by forests and farms. There might be several small communities of less than a 1000 people, scattered around the rural areas. Towns were connected by two-lane highways.

Now the picture is a little different. The county seat is 40,000 to 60,000 people. The city limits have been moved out to include most of the county, swallowing up the smaller communities. Those two-lanes are now four with a turn lane in the middle and paved sholders. What used to be farms is now covered by subdivisions, supermarkets, shopping centers and all of the other clutter that comes with an exploding population.

One of my favorite towns had 12,000 people when I went there in 1953. Today the population is past 80,000, and the college I attended is no longer at the edge of town. Indeed, you have to battle traffic to get there from any direction.

Cities like Nashville have six times the population they had a generation or so ago. The city has grown to include practically all of Davidson County,and spilled over into neighboring counties. All over America, people are driving from town to town without ever getting out in the country.

I clearly remember a few years ago when I flew to California on a day that was crystal clear almost the entire route. I looked down at great expanses of largely unhabited land west of the Mississippi. The Rocky mountains were almost without roads and from 30,000 feet, few buildings were visible. I remember thinking maybe, just maybe, there is room for an exploding population. Then I landed in Los Angles.

So now they are warning about global warming. I think maybe we need to at least listen.
Howard