'All Important Animal Life in the Sea Will Be Extinct'
Earth Day 1970: 'In Ten Years All Important Animal Life in the Sea Will Be Extinct'
Paul Ehrlich's Earth Day forecast included evacuated coastlines, thanks to 'the stench of dead fish'. The fish were still swimming in 1980.
What was said
“In ten years all important animal life in the sea will be extinct. Large areas of coastline will have to be evacuated because of the stench of dead fish.”
— Paul R. Ehrlich, Stanford biologist (Earth Day 1970) · said 1970 · due 1980 (ten years on)
1980 arrived with the oceans still full of important animal life, and no coastlines evacuated for the smell.
The fine print
Both sources attribute the quote to Ehrlich around the first Earth Day in 1970; the exact venue isn't named in the sources opened, so date_made is given as the year only.
Later spin
In 2010 Ehrlich told FoxNews.com: 'Certainly the first part of that was very largely true -- only off in time' ... 'I never claimed to predict the future with full accuracy.'
Sources
- Cracked Crystal Ball: Environmentalist Failed Predictions - Reason (December 30, 2010)accessed 2026-09-29
- Eight Botched Environmental Forecasts - Fox Newsaccessed 2026-09-29
As of Oct 9, 2026
since it didn't happen
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