Climate Denialists In Congress Acting As NASA's Kryptonite

Photo courtesy of DonkeyHotey Flickr Page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey/6143809369

Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The old button from the Environmental Club days which I just happened to find on Earth Day! It is a little beat up (particularly the ends of the ribbon), but no worse for the wear, I think. And it is one of the few items that I have left from those days, so it carries a lot of great memories for me! Nothing Changes Until You Do!

Here is a picture of a very similar logo, with the same message, that was on the t-shirt that I purchased from the BCC Environmental Club and, if memory serves me correctly, may even have helped to make. There were a few projects like that which club members, myself included, were regularly involved with. It has been so long, however, that I no longer recall specifically if I actually helped to make these or not, although I do believe so, since I remember seeing the process of the t-shirts being dyed. In any case, I loved this t-shirt, and have kept it ever since, even if I do not regularly wear it. Since it was part of my experience with the BCC Environmental Club days, as well as more generally having an environmental theme, it seemed appropriate to share it here. 

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's gred."

~Mahatma Gandhi

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."

  

~John F. Kennedy  

While I am back on the topic of environmentalism, and the tedious and completely fabricated (and self-serving) political debate as to whether global warming/climate change exists or is caused by human activity, it seems to me strange that prominent politicians who, by their own admission, are not scientists, should hold such sway in the debate on climate change. Really, it's to the point that they have somehow cast their shadow over serious scientists who urge action in order to curb the excesses of climate change/global warming.

Here's the thing: these guys are politicians, and are clearly getting paid big bucks in order to promote the interests of big polluting corporations, who are interested in weakening environmental legislation and enforcement of existing environmental legislation, so that they can continue their harmful activities and not be burdened by the costs of conducting business more cleanly.

That these people have an agenda is a given. That so many American people could apparently be so easily swayed by these shady arguments from dubious sources with transparent self-interest involved is yet one more mystery to me about my fellow Americans. We as a nation are rightly regarded as bizarre, in terms of our political thinking, standing out in ways that no one should want to stand out. We are the nation that, traditionally, dragged it's feet when it came to environmental issues - and that was true with both Democrats and Republicans in the White House. We are also the only industrialized nation that fails to provide it's citizens with affordable, universal health coverage, and one of only two nations that do not provide new mothers with paid maternity leave. Our crime rates soar well past other industrialized nations, a do our murder rates (particularly by guns). We have more mass shootings than any other nation (by far), yet when these occur, the gun debate is usually stifled, and any intentions of trying to pass more sensible gun legislation is quickly killed off. We are easily the nation most burdened by debts, and one of the greatest sources of this is with the costs of higher education, where the costs are soaring, while other industrialized nations are trying to keep these in check. Some, like Germany, offer free college education for their people, while our young people get huge debts with ridiculous interest rates, to the point that their payments are mostly to pay for the interest, and hardly make a dent in the actual debt load.

Yes, we stand apart, but for all of the wrong reasons.

I do not know why or how this stubbornness has lasted for as long as it has, or how (or if) it will end.

What I do know is that the fight needs to continue, and the best way to address these absurdities is by trying to educate people more on these issues, to make more people truly understand.

Here is an article that got me on this topic, about how a small number of politicians in Washington have managed, despite their admitted scientific ignorance, to serve effectively as kryptonite to the scientific community.



Climate Denialists In Congress Acting As NASA's Kryptonite  by Adam Frank, May 12, 2015:

http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2015/05/12/406106296/climate-denialists-in-congress-acting-as-nasas-kryptonite?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150512