Have I got a show for you!  

Friday at 9 p.m. Eastern Time (8 p.m. Central -- right before "20/20") I
update my "Tampering With Nature" hour.  This is the show that so angered
some "activists" that they persuaded parents to withdraw permission for us
to use interviews we did with their children.  We re-shot the interviews
with other kids, but the activists still managed to get newspapers to
write about "Parents vs. John Stossel."

In the show, we point out that while "being at one with nature" is the
popular view today, what it really means is running around naked, hungry,
maybe killing a rabbit with a rock, then dying young.  That was "natural
life" for most of human history.

Tampering has been GOOD for humans. 

But if you have children in school, they may have been taught that
tampering is EVIL -- that humanity is destroying the Earth.  This is PART
OF THE CURRICULUM in some schools. We taped as Los Angeles kids were bused
in to hear speeches from activists during the school day, and encouraged
to "sign our petition protesting the Bush White House." One child said,
"President Bush is polluting the country so he can make millions for his
friends."

The organizers call this "nonpartisan."  

The kids are thoroughly scared.  They fear massive floods ("Alaska's
melting!"), increased cancer, and "drowning in our own garbage!"
    
Former Greenpeace Director Patrick Moore says, "The environmental movement
to a large extent has been hijacked by political activists who are using
environmental rhetoric to cloak agendas like class warfare and
anti-corporatism that in fact have almost nothing to do with ecology."
 
Friday I look at that, and at the great Global Warming Scare.  The media
suggest almost all scientists agree with the dire predictions, but is that
true?

You may have heard that 1,600 scientists signed a letter warning of
"devastating consequences." But I bet you hadn't heard that 17,000
scientists signed a petition saying there's "no convincing evidence" that
greenhouse gases will disrupt the Earth's climate.

Pat Michaels of the University of Virginia says scientists have an
incentive to scare people.
  
"Let's imagine there's a Senate hearing.  The senator who disburses the
funds goes to the administrator of NASA and says, 'I've heard global
warming is the most serious problem confronting mankind.  Can your agency
use another $2 billion a year to study this thing?' What's he going to
say?  'No?'"
 
"So you exaggerate to get funds?" I ask.

"Yes," he replies.

And I bet you haven't heard this:  Some scientists say global warming
would be a good thing.  Most of the one-degree warming that's occurred has
been in the coldest parts of the globe.  The United States has warmed only
half a degree in a hundred years.  No real change here, but in Siberia,
says Michaels: "It's warmed up from minus 40 to minus 38 in the last 50
years. How much money do you want to pay to stop that?  I don't think that
would be a real popular proposal in the dead of winter."

We also visit paradise in Hawaii.  Is it really paradise?  No.

I confront Indians who say life was better before Columbus.

And do you want to DESIGN your kids? Maybe make them smart, good-looking
or athletic?  Virginia Postrel defends that form of "tampering with
nature."

Hope you watch!  This is one of my favorite shows.  Friday right before
"20/20."

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