Things that make me wonder

                           Things that make me wonder

I have noted over the 35  or so years that increasing concerns have  been raised about global warming, that there seems to be a profile that fits most of the nay sayers who seem content to pooh pooh the general consensus of most responsible scientists worldwide.  I’m not sure why, but these groups seem to have certain characteristics as follows: politically conservative, self identified  (usually fundamentalist) Christians, and/or somehow involved in some way with industries which are in some respect causative factors in said warming.  

          This is compounded by the numerous public forums in which bad or non science is displayed without disclaimer of credential to the masses who are, for the most part, not equipped to distinguish opinion from data. As an example – there is a cartoon strip, “Mallard Fillmore,”  which runs in the local politically conservative  newspaper.  This strip is about 95% political in content. In the Orlando Sentinel, this strip runs beside Gary Trudeau’s “Doonesbury” on the op-ed page. In our local paper it runs in the comic section. The cartoonist uses this strip to make statements of political opinion and bad science, without disclaimer. Recently, the talking duck (yeah, talking duck) made a claim that the increase in Antarctic sea ice proves that global warming is bogus science, an opinion this man has staunchly endorsed over the years. Reality is that the statement comes from an “expert” whose bio tells us he “studied atmospheric science” while obtaining a Political Science degree from Dartmouth and his Juris Doctor from Syracuse. Plainly put, he is a lawyer. He consults to several “think tanks” among which is the Heritage foundation, whose website encourages the reader to “Join Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity” as members. See the pattern?  A cartoonist cites a lawyer, who works for an ultra conservative group funded heavily by the energy industry, but it’s ok, you can trust him to tell the truth.   

          Obviously, there are several reasons the energy industry hates the idea that humans are responsible for climate change. In the first place, if that is so, surely the hydrocarbon by-products of their sources of revenues are primary offenders.  It is amazingly and hauntingly similar to Ronald Reagan : “On the campaign trail, Reagan supported teaching creationism in public schools. As president, he failed to acknowledge the AIDS epidemic until near the close of his second term. And on environmental science, his administration was atrocious. On the environmental issue most prominent at the time—acid rain—Reagan dragged his feet until 1986 before copping to the scientific consensus that it was being caused by human activities. Then he ran out the clock without taking any action to rein it in—just like George W. Bush did on climate change.” (Chris Mooney, “The Republican War on Science.” Reagan opposed government regulation of essentially everything as did many if his fat cat supporters in industry.

 This thread of business opposing any facts which may affect their bottom line is central to their almost universal opposition to accepting that climate change is caused by the planet’s inhabitants and not the planet itself. Imagine if, in 1980, an American company had embraced the concept of wind turbines as a non-polluting power source. Would we now, 33 years later be buying Danish and German technology in that field? Many initiatives in the area of alternative/renewable and more environmentally friendly, energy funding have been sidetracked without even serious public discussion by back room deals brokered by Big Oil. All through the Bush years, Republicans, led by the likes of Palin, Perry, Bachmann et al, have shouted “drill baby drill.” Well, “fracking” is drilling, and some of its conservative Christian victims in Ohio (earthquakes) and Texas (polluted water supplies and actual natural gas coming from faucets) are having second thoughts.

A second possibility for the denial syndrome is that if, as a  fundamentalist Christian, you believe that A supernatural God created the earth 4800 years ago,  and all His creations are perfect, then obviously, nothing we humans  do can hurt it. This implies, I guess that believing in climate change is denying God’s role in the universe.  This also is a great comfort to polluters who know that no matter what science says, they can continue to count on the support of the Christian Right as they pollute our lakes, streams and air. Most of these persons tend, also, to be pro life, espousing the belief that God also creates babies, as shown by massive billboards along the Florida Turnpike between Wildwood and Orlando .  If true, what was He thinking when he made Ted Bundy?

The most troubling aspect of all this to me is that as in many areas, currently health care being a prime example, political opportunists  hurl shibboleths like “Socialism” etc. to convince supporters to agitate against their own best interests. This is definitely true in health care and the climate change arena. Many conservative Christians, as in other groups, are not persons of means, and many of them and their children will benefit from the Affordable Health Care Plan, yet looking at some of the Tea Party rallies, these are the same persons demonstrating against it. The propaganda machine of the right has sown so many lies, half truths and distortions in both areas that the average person has no idea what is reality, so they continue to embrace the partisan affiliations of their parents and grandparents, little realizing that neither Eisenhower or Nixon would recognize today’s Republican party or its policies.   

Dwight Eisenhower was a huge booster of science and research. He created the Atomic Energy Comission, the office of the president’s science adviser, encouraged the development of civilian nuclear power production,  and manned the U.S.’s response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik by creating NASA. Ike's answer to Sputnik was to ramp up the country's scientific capacity. The bipartisan tradition of supporting science that began with Eisenhower carried on through the Nixon era. Nixon, a Republican president,  signed into law the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of many landmark environmental laws.  Ronald Reagan is where it all changed. The Reagan years were characterized by a decisive turn toward a Republican electoral strategy that drew upon the religious right base (then called the "Moral Majority") and corporate interests. These constituents had beefs with science in multiple areas, and Reagan’s administration catered to them again and again.  The lies told by the Reagan administration regarding the evils of  government regulation were echoed to grass roots Christians by the Falwells, Robertsons, and Buchanans.   

So here we are. Antarctic ice is increasing – global warming is a sham! Not so. Data shows Antarctica is losing land ice as a whole, and these losses are accelerating quickly. Arctic ice is depleting even faster. The reasons are varied. In the case of the cartoonist’s duplicity, he fails to mention that the statement he makes refers to sea ice, which is partly frozen sea water and partly continental  pack ice which has ( wait for it)  sheared from the normal continental shelf ice and  become free floating. There are other reasons as well, but they are unglamorous, fact and data driven, and therefore not of interest to the far right’s unwashed faithful and the corporate polluters they support.