POLITICS - Global Warming: What, Me Worry?

From the article "Global Warming: What, Me Worry?" by Molly Ivins, on Truth Dig:

Naturally, having seen the media set off endless alarms, the public is inclined to discount them, not to mention that global climate catastrophe is not an inviting topic. We’re somewhere between “Don’t panic yet” and “Panic now!” — edging toward “Now!”

What is happening is not just what climatologists told us would happen. Global warming turns out to reinforce itself by a number of feedback mechanisms. For example, when the polar icecaps start melting, there’s less blinding bright ice to reflect heat back into the atmosphere—over 90% of sunlight simply bounces off ice and back into space. Whereas the dark water left behind by melted ice does the opposite, pulling in more warmth and accelerating the process.

The political fight over global warming is over, except in the Bush administration, which has some weird problem with science in general. I’m still not sure what’s behind that: I recall Rush Limbaugh and the radio right taking great glee in pooh-poohing the Kyoto treaty and the whole idea of global warming. Maybe they associated global warming with Canadians or something equally awful.

I can tell Molly, and my readers, what Bush and other super-conservatives problem with science is: Scientists are "Satan worshiping atheists," and not to be trusted. After all the majority support Evolution over Creation and other ungodly ideas, and a majority gasp! are actually atheists.

This is the unconscious backdrop to their pooh-poohing of global warming and other scientific ideas. Add their worship of business and you get the political fight on global warming.

These people will not believe in warnings about global warming until water is 2ft deep in their beach-front homes for months, or entire crops have been decimated by weather several years in a row. Even then, don't be surprised they will try to rationalize it away. God's will, right? (pun intended)