Krugman nails it

by Photographer Jerry Lee

Paul Krugman’s column today exposes the denialism prevalent in many Representatives in Congress.

And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a form of treason — treason against the planet.

To fully appreciate the irresponsibility and immorality of climate-change denial, you need to know about the grim turn taken by the latest climate research.

Greenhouse gas emissions are rising faster than predicted. So is sea level rise. Ice cap extent, age and thickness is declining faster. Some models predicting a 4 °C rise by century’s end now predict 9 °C. The deniers have absolutely no credible evidence for why this is happening. They do not attempt to really rebut any of this, something they tried to do 15 years ago when the science was not as strong.

Now they just put their heads in the sand and claim that it is all a conspiracy.

So, in the presence of so much data and so much science pointing to tremendous changes, about 200 Representatives deny it is happening, mostly for political reasons.

As Krugman states:

But if you watched the debate on Friday, you didn’t see people who’ve thought hard about a crucial issue, and are trying to do the right thing. What you saw, instead, were people who show no sign of being interested in the truth. They don’t like the political and policy implications of climate change, so they’ve decided not to believe in it — and they’ll grab any argument, no matter how disreputable, that feeds their denial.

And their criticism does not take the view of presenting hard data and science underpinning their view. It is mainly conspiracy theory talk that this is all a fraud perpetrated by scientists to help the liberals.

It reminds me of the people who ran tobacco companies and put out all that crap about how smoking was not that bad for you. They cynically put people’s lives in danger to make a buck.

I know. Cynicism and politics. Who would have predicted? I’m not surprised that so many politicians are doing something political. Like the story of the scorpion and the frog, it is their nature.

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