S2e12- The Drop-In (Was that sass?)

My, how the times have changed.

First, I'd like to note that this episode aired on January 24, 2001, and Sam says this:
"Is global warming a real environmental condition, or merely a temporary anomaly? Is it a global threat, or the exaggerated claim of alarmists? The time for such debate is over.  As of today, it shall be the unequivocal position of the United States government that global warming constitutes a clear and present danger to the health and future well-being of this planet and all its inhabitants."

Keep dreaming, Sorkin.  15 years have passed, and whether or not Climate Change is real is still a subject of controversy.  The most recent salvo in the struggle to accept that science isn't opinion, Sarah Palin has suggested that Bill Nye isn't a scientist.  I'm not sure on what basis the former Governor of Seeing-Russia-Out-My-Kitchen-Window-Is-Foreign-Affairs-Training is basing her criticism, but the fact that we have to rely on The Science Guy for a voice of reason and Sarah Palin is welcomed into the conversation at all tells you the current state of things.

Next, I'd like to point out that the President is delivering this speech to the GDC (Global Defense Council) is the same fictional organization that Annette Bening worked for in "The American President"- also written by Aaron Sorkin.  You can see their logo etched on the glass:

Lastly, one quick note on the drop-in that the episode title refers to.  This destruction of a ski resort that would have threatened the habitat of the lynx was a real thing, carried out by the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) in 1998 in Vail, Colorado.  Members affiliated with the ELF then set a gasoline-fueled fire in Agriculture Hall on the campus of Michigan State University on New Years Eve, 1999.  No one was hurt in either act, but these two incidents were in the midst of a surge in "eco-terrorism" throughout the late 1990's and early 2000's, when environmental activists moved beyond graffiti and into destruction of property.  At the time, the FBI considered "eco-terrorism" the top domestic terrorism threat.  In contrast to the current rhetoric on domestic terrorism, that seems like a simpler time indeed- and how those times have changed.

What's Next?  S2e13- Bartlet's Third State of the Union

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