December 13, 2006 3:16PM 

# Cheer Up, Kirk Douglas 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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Kirk Douglas is [celebrating his 90th birthday](http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1969141,00.html) with a new book and a jeremiad on the state of the world.

“Let’s face it,” he writes to “America’s young people”:

“THE WORLD IS IN A MESS and you are inheriting it. Generation Y, you are on the cusp. You are the group facing many problems: abject poverty, global warming, genocide, Aids, and suicide bombers to name a few. These problems exist, and the world is silent. We have done very little to solve these problems. Now, we leave it to you. You have to fix it because the situation is intolerable.”

I ponder his analysis and recommend Indur Goklany’s book *The Improving State of the World: Why We’re Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Lives on a Cleaner Planet* to him at the Guardian’s [Comment is free](http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_boaz/2006/12/cheer_up_kirk_douglas.html).

##### Related Tags 

[Energy and Environment](https://www.cato.org/research/energy-environment), [General](https://www.cato.org/general) 

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