# Straight Dope 1/20/2023: Have baby boomers wrecked the planet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 20, 2023, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-1-20-2023-have-baby-boomers-wrecked-the-planet/978508 "2023-01-20T14:10:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![sinjin1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@sinjin1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin1)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-1-20-2023-have-baby-boomers-wrecked-the-planet/978508/221 "2023-02-02T05:12:11Z")
The killer is the baby boomer era was way to long. At first baby boomers were after wwII kids. Then they included Korean war kids and finally they added early Viet Nam warkids. I was a late baby boomer and all the jobs were taken by the earlier kids. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2023, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-1-20-2023-have-baby-boomers-wrecked-the-planet/978508/222 "2023-02-03T14:27:40Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > This is really disappointing. My respect for Cecil dropped more than one notch today. +10. This is prett disappointing all around. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2023, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-1-20-2023-have-baby-boomers-wrecked-the-planet/978508/223 "2023-02-04T19:32:27Z")
> [@sinjin1](#): > > and finally they added early Viet Nam warkids. Kids born after Vietnam are not baby boomers. > [@sinjin1](#): > > I was a late baby boomer and all the jobs were taken by the earlier kids. That’s frightening. Those bastards, getting jobs and leaving none for you. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2023, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-1-20-2023-have-baby-boomers-wrecked-the-planet/978508/224 "2023-02-05T02:17:50Z")
I read the Straight Dope books before I found the Dope on Usenet many, many moons ago. I’m not sure why you’re all worked up, because Cecil sounds just like the Cecil I knew back then. On some subjects he was very liberal, and on others, not so much. Certainly for this libertarian back then, there was nothing in Ceccil’s writing that offended me or made me think that he was some doctrinaire progressive. He always struck me as someone who gave a fair hearing to any side that could present facts. I was and am a big fan. I don’t see any difference now. Steven Pinker and others like him seem right right up his alley. Maybe it’s the progressive tolerance for other viewpoints that has waned. The left in general seems far more intolerant of other opinions than they used to be. I didn’t see a thing about Cecil’s latest column that would have been out of place in one of the old Straight Dope books. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2023, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-1-20-2023-have-baby-boomers-wrecked-the-planet/978508/225 "2023-02-05T03:00:33Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > The left in general seems far more intolerant of other opinions than they used to be. I’m not sure why you bring this in as it is an absolute non-sequitur for the thread and arguments to date. I don’t think the OP is being judged explicitly on a political basis, although I do admit that there have been comments along the line. What has been objected to, in both the OP and the sources that inform it, is that the generalizations and over-generalizations render it meaningless. And while Cecil is happy to deflate the alarmists of the past, and how those specific trends and assumptions were incorrect, it dodges reporting on other trends that were known, and evolving, and ignored. Overall, it felt _smug_, which is how I characterized in my initial review. And it’s that same smug “I’ve got mine, what you going to do about it?” that feeds the rage in the response of “Okay boomer.” It isn’t a good look for either party in that example, but it’s understandable. The rather minimal notice given to issues such as “species loss, and other looming catastrophes” seemed abnormally flip especially with the closing statement. > [@Cecil\_Adams](#): > > Meanwhile, your boomer columnist is still flailing away at ignorance – so far, he concedes, without much to show for it. But one wants to leave coming generations something to do. Which says, IMHO, ‘I’ve got my own problems, the future folks will figure this out’. Which, again as I said the first time around, is NOT a good look. Again, we’re all part of the problem, and all need to be part of solution. Saying that it’ll all work out is willful blindness at best, and smug privilege at worst. Honestly though, the OP felt more about a boomer’s (since Cecil self identified that way) book review rather than an actual personal evaluation of the issues, but that would be an entirely different post and I need food and booze before I’d bother. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2023, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-1-20-2023-have-baby-boomers-wrecked-the-planet/978508/226 "2023-02-05T22:35:35Z")
Back to the point of whether the planet has been ‘wrecked’, this graphic should be illustrative: > Press the play button. ---
**Author:** ![Strassia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@Strassia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strassia)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2023, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-1-20-2023-have-baby-boomers-wrecked-the-planet/978508/227 "2023-02-09T17:45:48Z")
How does this address the state of the planet? This is like responding to complaints that your house is falling apart by pointing out how new your TV is and how many video games you have. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-dope-1-20-2023-have-baby-boomers-wrecked-the-planet/978508.md?page=11)