When Republican Sen. Inhofe of Oklahoma threw a snowball as proof against climate change, the only thing proved was that IQ tests should be mandatory for Congressional office. Is he stupid or does he think the rest of us are stupid?
When the Pope recently advised swift action against climate change, the Republican radical cabal told him to mind his own business apparently unaware that human misery is very much the Pope’s business not to mention the responsibility of public servants. Republican Congressmen are blocking solutions rather than searching for them—shame on them.
Our Congress wasn’t always filled with cretins from the far right. During the 1960s Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring” inspired legislation to regulate toxins, during the 1970s we did something about the depletion of the ozone layer, during the 1980s we took action regarding acid rain, during the 1990s we adopted laws to increase wetlands for cleaner water. But today’s GOP conveniently denies science whenever it suits them!
Since 1880, weather data has been recorded on the land, in the sea, on the ice, under the ice, on the mountains, in the valleys and when the computer age arrived all these billions of data could be crunched out, analyzed and the results are in: 2014 was the hottest year on record with 10 of the hottest years occurring since 1997. The latest statistic is that June of 2015 is another record-breaking month for the planet.
Climate change involves not only drought and heat, but extreme weather of all stripes, whether that means flooding, hurricanes or rising ocean levels. Water wars are waging in California, the West is running dry while the East is unusually wet, islands off Chesapeake Bay are literally drowning and Miami fears advancing seas in its future. Great Britain and Northern Europe are breaking precipitation records.
The consequences are grave throughout the world, overlapping into deadly politics. ISIS muscled into Syria due to Syria’s civil war and Syria’s civil war was caused in large part by their unprecedented 21st century drought. National security is an obsession of the GOP and yet they have their heads in the sand, refusing to recognize the connection between climate change and radical terrorism. The Archie Bunker dumb-down mentality is outrageously dangerous, must be exposed and must change.
—Gloria Weidner, Wilmington
