I was terrified by the space race and, after Sputnik, all the doom talk about the Russians taking over the world. I still can hardly stand to watch movies about space. (Mars is an exception. Loved that movie.)

Anonymous wrote:Do you remember reading in your textbooks that since there was a limited amount of fossil fuel available, the Earth would run out of its' stores in 30 years?

I remember being terrified when I read that! I remember talking to my mom about it, and she reassured me we were not going to run out of fossil fuels.

I don't know what made me think of that!

Also, do you remember watching "Hemo the Magnificent", and "Our Friend, the Sun"?

There was also a tape about pollution with Tom Lehrer singing "Pollution".

I guess I'm feeling nostalgic today!

Love Tom Lehrer. I have him favorited on Youtube. "Pollution" is one of my favorites.

Anonymous wrote:The crying Indian?

Wasn't that for littering?

Anonymous wrote:gas crisis. Kudzu. KILLER BEES that finally got across the Panama Canal, coming our way...

The thing I'm still waiting for is the Jet Pack...

I remember Popular Science had a cover story on the impending flying car every couple of years. Still waiting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I remember the Pollution song but not the other stuff.

That was Tom Lehrer. Most of his songs were recorded in the early '60s. Most songs were also inappropriate (or too political) for elementary school kids.

In 5th/6th grade language arts we studied satire and protest songs. I remember listening to Tom Lehrer, some songs from Hair, and Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. We watched sketches from Laugh-In and the Smothers Brothers. Then we wrote our own lyrics and satirical sketches on themes including the environment, the consumer culture, and the Vietnam War. It was fun, creative, eye-opening and absolutely fabulous. Our teacher Alice Braun was amazing and I remember her as one of the most inspiring teachers ever had, including college and law school professors. (BTW, this was in a public school system in NJ.)

The crying Indian?

I still remember the chorus of the Pollution song.

Pollution Pollution
They got smog and sewage and dust
Turn on your tap
And get hot and cold running rust

There was a film that showed a man rowing through Niagara only to be surrounded by disgusting foamy water.

I remember writing a story about the hole in the ozone layer and how the family in my story got a horrible sunburn.

I remember the air raid drills and going into the school basement. Like that was going to help in a nuclear attack.

Anonymous wrote:I remember the Pollution song but not the other stuff.

That was Tom Lehrer. Most of his songs were recorded in the early '60s. Most songs were also inappropriate (or too political) for elementary school kids.

I definitely remember those science movies made by Bell Labs (Hemo, Sun, photosynthesis, etc.) They were great but they were already dated in the 1970's when we watched them.

I also remember the gas lines in the late '70s and the eventual switch to more fuel efficient cars. Apparently, we weathered several gas shortages in the '80s and even in the '90s but it went unnoticed because cars used so much less gas and the government used its stockpiles to ease the problem.

Anonymous wrote:I just remember the huge threat of global cooling in the 70's. Guess that didn't work out.

Right. I remember reading a short story about a second ice age and what people were trying to do to survive. There seemed to be more concern about that possibility then than about warming.

I just remember the huge threat of global cooling in the 70's. Guess that didn't work out.

The fear of running out of oil is real. But, two things changed: 1) we reduced our oil consumption. For example, a mid-sized sedan gets 25-35 MPG. in 1975, is was 12 mph.

2) houses are more efficient -- everything is more efficient. Even the light bulbs.

3) We underestimated the "undiscovered" oil.

I remember the gas shortage and cars lining up and you could get gas on an Sven or an odd day?!