There is a reason, of course. The reason? Only in America.
Yes, only in America would the expertise of learned and esteemed scientists with no agenda then to relay the truth be thwarted and discredited relentlessly in a modern political witch hunt by the very people who stand to benefit the most by denying the reality of climate change being caused by human activity! Is it not odd that the American public listens more to the denial arguments of Congressman who's main line of defense is "I'm not a scientist?", even while they are challenging the work actual scientists? Of course, we know that they are denying it so that the big, polluting businesses that fund them can save a pretty penny by not conforming to much needed environmental regulations. To put it another way, big corporations essentially can pay the equivalent of pennies (for them) to buy themselves elected officials to protect them from being forced to do the right thing, which costs a bit more money.
In this day and age, in this country (and more generally, the West), corporations rule the day. They increasingly hold more wealth, more power over the people (both their employers and consumers), and more ability to get away with outright crimes. Unfortunately, that certainly includes crimes against the environment, with massive pollution and illegal dumping and irresponsible, highly risky practices.
The American people seem to trust corporations and the ultra rich to an extreme level. I suspect this is because they have been force fed the notion of "The American Dream" of making it big someday, so that a hell of a lot of people expect to be rich someday. When you expect to be rich, it might seem to behoove you to vote like you already are rich. That is one way of voting against your interests.
Here's the thing, though: why such skepticism towards scientists in general, and particularly on something as huge as climate change? When these scientists, who are not looking to rake in massive profits, but are more often scrounging for pennies for funding, are warning us that our activities have a very detrimental impact on the Earth's environment, we should probably listen, and take what they have to say seriously.
Instead, as with most subjects, we turn the whole thing into a clown act, so that nothing can be taken seriously. Indeed, this is yet further illustration that we live in ridiculously cynical times. We make a big deal about a president getting a blowjob in the Oval Office (some even suggested that he should have been impeached and gone to jail for lying about this affair), but we let another president get away with murder in orchestrating a war for fabricated, truly trumped up charged. We make a big deal when a government official has a sexual affair, and the juicier, the better. But when it comes to corruption and corporate scandals, we do not want to hear about it, collectively. These never seem to make it to the "big time" news headlines, like slanderous stories seem always to manage to do. We make a big deal of a president allegedly not showing sufficient proof that he was born in the country, and suggest that the documents are fabricated when he produces them. But we hardly raise an eyebrow when politicians in the pay of big polluting corporations go to extraordinary lengths to try and discredit scientists on the subject of climate change, and make a mockery of a debate that we need to have in this country, probably more than any other country in the world.
Remember, even though China technically is a bigger polluter now than the United States, the United States held that title for many decades prior. Also, China has something close to five times the population of the United States, which means that on average, Chinese people produce less pollution than average Americans do.
So, yes, we need to have this debate. But there is no debate, really. First of all, the evidence is overwhelming that human activity is indeed responsible for climate change. Secondly, what debate there should be about appropriate measures gets stifled, time and time again, by the drive for excess greed in this country, which tends to outweigh everything else. This is what passes for the American Dream in this day and age, and it trumps almost every other consideration.
Again, however, we need to remember that the climate change deniers have already been proven wrong. They rejected any and all insinuations that climate change is real for many years, even decades. But as the data indeed showed temperatures steadily rising, and as storms and weather around the world increasingly grew in their levels of severity, some deniers had to concede that climate change was, indeed, real. That included the second Bush White House, following Hurricane Katrina.
They were already proven wrong.
Yet, these deniers have all sorts of audacity, and being wrong on something so huge did not humble them in the least. Why would it, when there are profits to be made?
So, they simply changed their arguments and tactics, and are now pursuing prominent individuals arguing that human activity created climate change. The mudslinging is no longer relegated to he election season. Now, it stretches to any and all walks of life when short-term profits are threatened.
What we need are stronger voices. Ones that can appeal to the wide public, and simply will not back down. We need someone like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, who has considerable charisma, but also tells it like it is. Whoever does not like it has to deal with it anyway. The first link is about Tyson's Cosmos show finally taking on the topic of climate change.
The second link is about a scientist who has been attacked personally for arguing that, indeed, tremendous amounts of evidence exists to suggest that human activity is producing climate change. It is a depressing and sobering read, but we need to stay informed, now more than ever, on these all-important topics. We cannot combat ignorance, even as extreme as it has become, by simply refusing to educate ourselves, because it might be depressing. This is too important, and we cannot just walk away from this fight. It concerns all of us.
Even more important, it involves our children, and our children's children, and all future generations on this planet. Some things are bigger than us, and of there is any message that we need to collectively understand, that is the message that should resonate. This is too important to let go.
Here are the links:
Finally, 'Cosmos' Takes On Climate Change Climate Desk By Chris Mooney, 05/05/2014
The Relentless Attack on Climate Scientist Ben Santer The following is an excerpt from Merchants of Doubt by Erik M. Conway and Naomi Oreskes., May 16, 2014
http://billmoyers.com/2014/05/16/the-relentless-attack-of-climate-scientist-ben-santer/
Attacking 'Attacks' In The Climate Change Community Elizabeth Jensen, MARCH 17, 2015
Florida Suspends Employee For Saying ‘Climate Change,’ Orders Psych Evaluation Before He Can Return AUTHOR: JAMESON PARKER MARCH 18, 2015
Geoengineering: A Techno-Fix Solution for the Climate? by Guy McPherson:
Attacking 'Attacks' In The Climate Change Community Elizabeth Jensen, MARCH 17, 2015
Florida Suspends Employee For Saying ‘Climate Change,’ Orders Psych Evaluation Before He Can Return AUTHOR: JAMESON PARKER MARCH 18, 2015
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