Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Climate Change: Plug Your Ears, Sing La-La-La
I found a typical thread on another blog yesterday. Lots of chiming in against global warming. As if it were a political opinion of which one could be in favor or not. Conservatives (betraying their name, in this instance) seem unimpressed with watching record temperature
blurbs on the Weather Channel. So what, they say, if ski resorts have shorter seasons. Or if it was only a drizzle in South Florida. They'll go hunting instead.
This site has some interesting information. The hear-no-evil's were unimpressed with my warnings about a shift in Atlantic Ocean currents and the collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Those changes might happen much faster than gradually higher high tides. You might have time to swallow that last piece of cheesecake, but maybe not.
Today I suggested that climate change might not be as mellow as watching the evolution of the world record for the 100-yard dash. Remember all the mammoths found frozen in ice with food in their mouths? Climate disaster can hit hard and fast as we found out a year ago. Like the kind of event that a fiftieth millennium archaeologist might understand when she uncovers a flash frozen SUV filled with Republicans.
The concern with global warming is not as exact a science as mixing two chemicals and waiting for the boom. It will more likely be an unexpected last straw. You punch somebody in the stomach and there's a higher likelihood a fist, not a belly, will hit back.
You'd think it would make sense to wean the public off hydrocarbons and get into American-made energy sources. You'd think that conservatives would prefer to tell fossil fueled Muslims to take their oil and make cosmetics. You'd think that W has learned Reagan's lesson about getting into bed with oil-rich dictators who boil, burn, gas, or otherwise maim their constituents. But I think the Republicans are singing a tune with their fingers in their ears, too.
