Rubio

Yesterday, Florida Senator, and 2016 Republican Presidential hopeful Marco Rubio publicly denounced climate change. “Our climate is always changing,” he said on ABC News’s “This Week.” “I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it,” he went on to say, “and I do not believe that the laws that they propose we pass will do anything about it, except it will destroy our economy.”

Money. It’s always the money.

Meanwhile, two groups of scientists reported yesterday that a large section of the mighty West Antarctica ice sheet has begun falling apart and its continued melting now appears to be unstoppable. “Global warming caused by the human-driven release of greenhouse gases has helped to destabilize the ice sheet, though other factors may also be involved,” the scientists said.

So there it is. A talking head politician who covets power vs. science.

It’s always the money.

Why the fuck do we keep electing idiots to represent us? Destroy our economy? Dude, when the water rises (and it will rise) don’t you think we’ll figure out a way to make money from that? What about ways to capitalize from slowing the water rise? No? We’ll just give up and live in anarchy? And you’re going to protect us by standing in the way of science? This is America – we figure out ways to capitalize from people dying of cancer. You know what I don’t agree with? The notion that we’re smart enough to pull out of this tailspin caused by political dogma.

Yes, Senator Rubio, everything changes. Including me and you every day. Including the fact that humans will probably evolve out of our pinky toes one day. And yes, including our planet’s climate. But it’s a fact that there are more people on the surface of the planet than at any point in history. A LOT more. More people = more friction. More friction = more heat. More heat = ice melt. Throw factories and transport belching filth into the mix, and there you go. Since we can’t commit genocide, our only option in slowing the fresh water ice melt (which probably influences things like super hurricanes, somehow) is to pass legislation based on scientific fact. 

Except, this isn’t about saving our planet. Or polar bears. The Earth could shake us off like a bad case of fleas. And some species just go extinct. Doing the right thing by helping slow climate change is about saving our own species from extinction. Science says that if you quit smoking, you can live longer. Armed with this factual information, a lot more people are living longer than back in the 70s when everyone smoked. Sure, big tobacco took a hit, but it was worth it. And I’m sure big tobacco fought their asses off to keep this information out of the hands of the public. Now it’s big oil, gas, and coal saying, ‘Hold on a second – what kind of factual information is this, anyway? The earth has always had climate change. Remember the movie Ice Age?’ And since these companies fund politicians, they pretty much get what they want. Because American voters are idiots, and the American political system is broken.

And that’s just the way the guys with the money want it.

Antarctica

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Jim Mitchem

 

The Streak
The Waiting Room

Jim Mitchem

Writer. Father to daughters. Husband. Ad man. Raised by wolves. @jmitchem on twitter. First novel, Minor King, out now.

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