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DarthFerret
Guest
I actually had the pleasere of attending one of her US lectures in college in 92. She was a very inspiring person.
Oversoul
The Tentacled One
A while back I read (on the subject of discussing how poorly politicians often understand science, possibly it was Richard Dawkins or Carl Sagan writing about this, but I can't remember), that out of all the heads of state in both the US and the UK, Margaret Thatcher was the one with the strongest background in the sciences. I was a bit surprised to learn that, but I guess it would still be true today. From then on, whenever her name came up, that was what I always thought of. I mean, it really has little to do with the more famous things about her (her economic policies and Cold War stuff), but still rather interesting to think about (that her policies were those of possibly the most science-literate PM in British history, and why, other than ideological differences and circumstances of the times, those have varied from others to hold that office).
I was in primary school in 1992. What was the lecture about?
I was in primary school in 1992. What was the lecture about?
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CanadianBrad
Guest
Thatcher. I'll always remember her as the mother of "global warming", and that'll always piss me off. But definitely an important person on the world stage.
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CanadianBrad
Guest
Both, but at different times.
Mostly, it's her "scientifically-based" declaration of how terrible a thing global warming is/was, all so she could end some labour strikes. And now, so many years later, we have a carbon-counting tree-hugging movement that plays just on the right side of a cult.
But when my Mommy burns my toast, that pisses me off too.
Oversoul
The Tentacled One
You're giving her a lot of credit there. Carbon dioxide's link to global warming was documented long before Margaret Thatcher was born. And while environmentalism has changed over time, it's quite a leap from "Thatcher's tenure as PM predates current incarnations of environmentalism" to "Thatcher caused current incarnations of environmentalism."
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DarthFerret
Guest
I know next to nothing about all that. Her lecture at the campus revolved around communism and the steps that were taken to assist in ending the cold war.
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CanadianBrad
Guest
Yes, perhaps I should clarify. She was the first politician to utilize the "global warming" issue as a political weapon, and therefore give the idea that man-made global warming was an immediate threat, and needed to be counteracted immediately. Her argument declared that the UK should be switching to nuclear power, but only because it was "green", and not because they were having problems with their coal industry at all. She didn't invent the issue, but rather made it largely public and gave it weight. While the issue did exist beforehand, it became a far more significant public issue following some of Thatcher's statements.
That's from G.I. Jose, right?
Oversoul
The Tentacled One
Ah, that'd be interesting to see. Actually, I'd think that would've been of interest even for political opponents and people that generally didn't like her. Occupying the position that she did at the time that she did, she had a unique vantage on the Cold War.
I see. I do wonder whether it just following an emergent trend that wasn't yet in the zeitgeist or perhaps the beginning of a trend that was bound to happen anyway, but it does seem that her invocation of global warming as an impetus for specific political action was, at least on that scale, something novel at the time. Somewhat funny because usually whenever I see people blaming politicians for anything related to global warming, it's Al Gore.