Photo Courtesy of Richie Diesterheft's Flickr Page - Bison Ranging Yellowstone Lake - https://www.flickr.com/photos/puroticorico/3633663195
Creative Commons License - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Photo Courtesy of Thomas's Flickr Page - morning glory pool - https://www.flickr.com/photos/photommo/2146230453
Now, this is depressing!
Wyoming legislatures recently passed a law that made it a crime to gather information about the environment in the state, and then to share that.
That's right! From the same state that brought us your friend and mine, Dick Cheney, we have a policy where if you see something really, really wrong that could hurt a whole lot of people, then you had best not share it, unless you want to be dragged into prison!
It is a move that should probably remind people of Florida Governor Walker's ban of terms such as "climate change" and "global warming," or Senator John Boehner declaring "Jelly Bean Day" in a stupid video he released on Earth Day (he singled out the green jelly beans as his personal favorite), Wyoming is basically not just curbing, but outright suppressing freedom of speech, as well as freedom of information (as well as possibly doing what is against the best interests of the health of residents of the state).
Simply ridiculous!
It almost seems like those who go to such lengths to deny climate change almost take a perverse, gleeful joy in actively doing things to harm our planet, which seems too unbelievable to be true.
But this is not fiction. This is really happening, and it is increasingly widespread across this country! It is extremely dangerous!
In this day and age, it is often difficult to really be able to tell right from wrong. It reminds me of the song lyrics by the Counting Crows in 'Round Here, when lead singer Adam Duritz sings about "the crumbling difference between wrong and right."
Back in my childhood and through the high school years, there were seemingly clearer parallels that existed. Apartheid existed in South Africa, and it was wrong. Most agreed that the Soviet Union was a nation that acted in a hostile manner towards neighbors, dominating eastern Europe with satellite states, and invading nations like Afghanistan. Later, in the early nineties in the former Yugoslavia, most people understood that the ethnic cleansing there was pretty clearly wrong, and needed to be stopped.
Nowadays, those formerly clear lines between right and wrong are more blurred than ever. But that said, I think that any law, such as this one being debated in Wyoming, that is intended to limit the flow of information and stifle debates, tends to be bad. This is particularly true when the topic being discussed are environmental standards, and the state passing the law is a red state with a history of minimizing environmental issues, such as Florida, and such as Wyoming.
Indeed, this law appears to be all about controlling the flow of information. Typically, Wyoming is putting profits ahead of people, and way ahead of environmental concerns, which almost never seem to be taken seriously in red states in particular. Environmental concerns have a hard enough time being taken seriously in blue states, although in red states, they often Hell, environmental concerns not only are not taken seriously, but are still often outright mocked. This is absolutely unacceptable following Katrina, following Fukushima, following Sandy, and following all of those other tragic environmental episodes in history, including but not limited to Bhopal, Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island.
Frankly, it was unacceptable even before these monumental environmental catastrophes. But to know that there are still some people - especially powerful people - who appear to take active pleasure in belittling environmental concerns that affect all of us is truly staggering and disheartening.
So, what to do?
Well, personally, I think the best thing to do is to continue to try and be the media, and spread information out as much as possible, to make it accessible. That includes stories like these, which reveal the lengths that climate change deniers will go to avoid having to talk about facts when it comes to climate change.
Also, we should try and keep our wits about us. It helps to have a sense of humor, to be able to laugh at the absurdity of it all.
So, I went looking for such an article, and found it in a piece by Andy Borowitz, writing about an outbreak of fact-resistant humans. Here was what I found to be one of the funniest quotes from that piece:
"Scientists have discovered a powerful new strain of fact-resistant humans who are threatening the ability of Earth to sustain life, a sobering new study reports."
That article is definitely good for comedy relief, which is definitely worth something!
Below is the link for that article, as well as other articles relating to the depressing news from Wyoming:
Wyoming law bans 'data trespassing' Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY, May 14, 2015:
Forbidden Data: Wyoming just criminalized citizen science. By Justin Pidot, May 11, 2015:
YOU CAN GO TO JAIL FOR DOING CITIZEN SCIENCE IN WYOMING TAKE NO PICTURES, LEAVE NO FOOTPRINTS By Mary Beth Griggs Posted May 13, 2015:
Environmentalists Are Angry About Wyoming’s New Trespassing Law. Here’s Why By Zain Haidar Published May 15 2015:
Borowitz Report: Scientists: Earth Endangered by New Strain of Fact-Resistant Humans BY ANDY BOROWITZ, May 12, 2015:
No comments:
Post a Comment