CBS used Earth Day 2019 to hype higher taxes as a way of fighting global warming. The entire second hour of This Morning was devoted to climate change and the environment. On the same show, current co-host Gayle King proudly played archival footage of Walter Cronkite in 1970 promoting Earth Day alarmism: “A day set aside for a nationwide outpouring of mankind seeking its own survival.”

Good to know that the hyperbolic language hasn’t changed. King played another clip of Cronkite from April 22, 1970: “The gravity of the message of Earth Day still came through. Act or die.”

Of course, there was no mention of how wrong many of the predictions were (and continue to be). The Daily Signal on Monday remembered:

“By the year 2000, if present trends continue, we will be using up crude oil at such a rate … that there won’t be any more crude oil,” ecologist Kenneth Watt warned around the time of the first Earth Day event. “You’ll drive up to the pump and say, ‘Fill ‘er up, buddy,’ and he’ll say, ‘I am very sorry, there isn’t any.'” Watt also warned of global cooling and nitrogen buildup rendering all of the planet’s land unusable.

AEI offered up this spectacularly wrong media prediction from 1970.

In January 1970, Life reported, “Scientists have solid experimental and theoretical evidence to support…the following predictions: In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution…by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half….”

On Monday, reporter Mark Phillips offered up an approving segment on London’s carbon tax:

Approach central London and you'll see these signs announcing a charge just for bringing your car into town. Ka-ching About 15 bucks. And if you've got an older car, especially if it's a diesel, the overhead cameras will spot you, and under the new, ultra low emissions zone, that will be another sixteen and a half bucks. That’s over $30 just to drive into town.

No mention at all of the negative economic impact this places on British citizens. The message? Just deal with it: “And if London was any example, the way we move around and the way we live our lives will change too.”

After the segment, King treated the tax as everyone doing “a little something.”

GAYLE KING: So if you have to pay more if your car is putting out pollution, do you think you’ll get another car? NORAH O’DONNELL: Yes, I would. KING: I think so too. I think so too. Just another example. Everyone can do a little something. DICKERSON: Or take the bus. KING: [Laughs] Or take the bus.

It’s hard to believe that King (net worth $20 million) and Dickerson (net worth $ 4 million) will be taking the bus anytime soon.

Partial transcripts are below: