By the way, what has happened to that ozone hole over Antarctica?

Since it hasn't been in the news for nearly a decade, I'd guess it's shrinking.

But, jeez, remember when it was in the news every spring?

And how it was going to destroy life as we knew it?

Michael Crichton lectures on "Fear, Complexity and the Environment. His discussion of the debacle at Yellowstone, which was caused by human efforts to save Yellowstone is priceless, as is his reminder of the many, many instances of environmental fear-mongering that were way off base.

But, as with the case of liberals who paved the way for murderous regimes - *cough* Vietnam, Cambodia *cough* - being environmentally concerned means never having to say you're sorry, or "never mind" for that matter - *cough* Paul Ehrlich *cough*.

By the way, the ozone hole was smaller this year than in previous years and would have been smaller if stratospheric temperatures had been so unusually cold.

This isn't to say we shouldn't be concerned about environmental issues, but, as Crichton points out, these issues are complex:

And for that matter, who believes that the complex system of our atmosphere behaves in such a simple and predictable way that if we reduce one component, carbon dioxide, we will therefore reliably reduce temperature? CO2 is not like an accelerator on a car. It’s not linear (and by the way, neither is a car accelerator.) And furthermore, who believes that the climate can be stabilized when it has never been stable throughout the earth’s history? We can only entertain such an idea if we don’t really understand what a complex system is. We’re like the blonde who returned the scarf because it was too tight. We don’t get it.