Save the Earth, Kill People

That’s the idea coming from a professor at the University of Texas. And we’re not talking about off’ing just a few people – nope. He suggest 90 percent of the population would be a good start.

“Every one of you who gets to survive has to bury nine,” Eric Pianka cautioned students and guests at St. Edward’s University on Friday. Pianka’s words are part of what he calls his “doomsday talk” — a 45-minute presentation outlining humanity’s ecological misdeeds and Pianka’s predictions about how nature, or perhaps humans themselves, will exterminate all but a fraction of civilization.

Though his statements are admittedly bold, he’s not without abundant advocates. But what may set this revered biologist apart from other doomsday soothsayers is this: Humanity’s collapse is a notion he embraces.

Indeed, his words deal, very literally, on a life-and-death scale, yet he smiles and jokes candidly throughout the lecture. Disseminating a message many would call morbid, Pianka’s warnings are centered upon awareness rather than fear.

“This is really an exciting time,” he said Friday amid warnings of apocalypse, destruction and disease. Only minutes earlier he declared, “Death. This is what awaits us all. Death.” Reflecting on the so-called Ancient Chinese Curse, “May you live in interesting times,” he wore, surprisingly, a smile.

According to Pianka, 5.8 billion people should be systematically killed. That’s right, good ‘ol fashioned Genocide. Incredible? Yes. Thankfully, there are still a few right minded people in this world.

But don’t tell local “citizen scientist” Forrest Mims to quietly swallow Pianka’s call to awareness. Mims says it’s an “abhorrent death wish” and contends he has “no choice but to take a stand.”

Mims attended the educator’s doomsday presentation at the Texas Academy of Science’s annual meeting March 2-4. There, the organization honored Pianka as its 2006 Distinguished Texas Scientist — another issue Mims vocally opposes.

“This guy is a loose cannon to believe that worldwide genocide is the only answer,” said Mims, who filed two formal petitions with the academy following the meeting.

Joining the crusade, James Pitts, who received a Ph.D. in physics from UT-Austin, became the second to publicly chastise Pianka when he filed a complaint Saturday with the UT board of regents. He insists a state university is no place to disseminate such views.

He writes:

“Pianka’s message does not fall within the realm of his professional competence as a biologist, because it is a normative claim, not a descriptive one. Pianka is encouraged to use his ecological expertise to predict the likely consequences of certain technological and reproductive strategies, but to evaluate some as good, bad, or worthy of prevention by genocide is the realm of philosophy or political science, not science. His message falls no more within his professional competence than it would for a physicist to teach religion in class or a musician to encourage racism.”

The most dangerous thing about Pianka is that he’s currently employed and paid to instruct young minds. What’s to stop these younglings from becoming supporters of their professor and his wacko “Final Solution”? Apparently, his former students have already weighed in. They think he’s the bees knees.

Most of Pianka’s former students are bursting with praise. Their in-class evaluations celebrate his ideas with words like “the most incredible class I ever had” and “Pianka is a GOD!”

Mims counters their ovation with the story of a Texas Lutheran University student who attended the Academy of Science lecture. Brenna McConnell, a biology senior, said she and others in the audience “had not thought seriously about overpopulation issues and a feasible solution prior to the meeting.” But though McConnell arrived at the event with little to say on the issue, she returned to Seguin with a whole new outlook.

An entry to her online blog captures her initial response to what’s become a new conviction:

“[Pianka is] a radical thinker, that one!” she wrote. “I mean, he’s basically advocating for the death for all but 10 percent of the current population. And at the risk of sounding just as radical, I think he’s right.”

Today, she maintains the Earth is in dire straits. And though she’s decided Ebola isn’t the answer, she’s still considering other deadly viruses that might take its place in the equation.

“Maybe I just see the virus as inevitable because it’s the easiest answer to this problem of overpopulation,” she said.

Congratulations Mom and Dad! Aren’t you glad you forked over tens of thousands of dollars to pay for an education like the one being provided by Professor Pianka and his accomplices at the University of Texas? Oh, and let’s not forget about tax payer money that funds the grants and the student loans which enable these individuals to hear, digest, and conclude that this crap might actually be legitimate.

Pianka is quite a character. On his website, he’s known as “The Lizard Man”. His biography is written in the form of an obituary. He lived in the desert for 10 years, alone. He likes to think of himself as a hermit. He has posted pictures of himself standing next to a bull he calls “Lucifer”. He publishes his university owned email address as being hosted by heaven/hell.com. When clicked upon, the address actually resolves to pianka@mail.utexas.edu. Obviously, a strange attempt at humor. I wonder what the University thinks about that?

Wanna know what worries me most? There are thousands of Pianka’s in the U.S. teaching our kids to hate America, devalue God given life, reject Judeo-Christian values, and adopt a world-view based in moral relativism. Why do we willingly relinquish and hand over control of future generations to these radicals? Nevermind mass human extermination, I propose we save the earth from people like Pianka.

UPDATE: Pianka receives threats after being outed by Drudge.