Monday, December 28, 2015

Climate Change is Real,And Other Things That We Should Worry About

So a few nights ago I sat up listening a thunderstorm that blew through Indiana a few days before the new year.  It has ignited more conversation about climate change as the weather around the country has been remarkably unusual.  But these flashes of weather are not enough to be considered conclusive evidence, no more than when a dimwitted Senator brought a snowball to floor in the Capital was a sign climate change isn't occurring because it was cold last winter.  But here is the thing, 2015 will likely be a new record for global temperature.  We see massive changing patterns in glaciers, ice fields and over all weather.  At the Paris Climate Conference heads of over 150 countries agreed the climate in changing and that human action is involved.  And yet there is a small group of individuals, mostly in the the United States, who are actively calling this a global decades long hoax.  Some of them are running for President of the United States.

How is this possible?  Seriously, there is a certain level of arrogance to be an elected official to suggest that the massive majority of scientists working in the area of climate studies are just making this up.  People should value skepticism but in this case there is a growing class of people who seem to be angered by information, reality and facts.  We can see it reflected in the way followers of a candidate for President, Donald Trump, justify his factually inaccurate statements as just another strategy.  They seem to feel that being wrong about important issues is unimportant because he makes them feel good.  And that is part of what I think is cultivated by the anti-climate change crowd.  Working to combat climate change will not be easy or cheap.  It is easier to pretend that it is not real and not worry about.

While a majority of the world and virtually all the scientists doing work in the area agree that human activity is causing real problems in world's climate the loud voice of a tiny minority has whipped up a group that is ignorant of reality. Truth becomes fluid in this world.  The leading Republican candidate for President has had his campaign considered the lie of the year, his entire campaign.  He spoke of thousands of Muslims cheering in New Jersey that he personally saw, when in fact the rumor that this was happening was debunked in real time.  Others have said they have seen videos of live births during abortion procedures only to have the baby's organs harvested.  That didn't occur.  More and more people fall prey to ridiculous ideas because at the highest levels of discourse truth is considered a liability.  So we believe that Mark Zuckerberg is giving money away to people who share post on Facebook, or commenting on a picture will motivate some corporation to donate to the health care of a child or veteran. We have become an uncritical people and there are those who will take advantage of it.  Now forwarding a post on social media is not a big deal, but when people who want to lead our country and by extension the free world just make things up, we should be ready to hold them accountable.

The climate is changing, we have evidence that human action is contributing, the results could be very devastating and we should be concerned.  Facts are important in the world, especially want you want to lead it.  
  

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