Gad Zooks!

Douglas Zook’s letter on Plum Island displays everything that is wrong with global warming alarmism, in sharp contrast to the letter on the same subject by John A. Bewick. Mr. Bewick makes the sensible conclusion that “Anyone who lives on [a barrier beach] should do so at his or her own risk, not that of the taxpayers.”

Professor Zook, however, brings global warming into the argument, starting with the completely unfounded claim that global warming “will promote more damaging coastal storms.” He then incites class warfare, saying that the Plum Island’s “grotesque beachfront mansions” are bringing on their own destruction by being excessively luxurious. Finally he uses the moral authority of his totalitarian crusade to bring in the power of the state, demanding that “the land should be taken by eminent domain and made an extension of the Parker River Wildlife Sanctuary.” It’s frightening—he sees Al Gore’s movie and thinks he has the right to have someone's house demolished. It confirms Czech President Klaus’s fear that “the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity now [is] ambitious environmentalism.”

The most frightening words in this letter are Professor Zook’s title, “Professor of science education and global ecology, Boston University.” Some education.