Political Pollution

Political Pollution

By Rachel Birdsell

“They think that somehow they know more about climate change than the very community that does nothing but study the climate.”

Is anyone besides me thinking about how much of a sexy beast Bill Nye has been lately? Okay, maybe he’s only a sexy beast if you’re into skinny, geeky scientists who wear bowties and know how to kick ass in debates about climate change, because Bill has definitely been kicking some hindquarters. First there was the debate with Ken Hamm, which Hamm should have been completely embarrassed about, should Hamm actually have enough sense to realize he should be embarrassed. More recently Bill laid the smack down on Tennessee Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn on NBC’s Meet the Press.

Blackburn kicked off the faceoff by having the audaciously saying that Bill didn’t know enough about climate change to claim authority. Marsha, Marsha, Marsha, he’s Bill Nye the Science Guy. That alone should tell you that he can claim more authority on anything related to science than you can. You’re not Marsha Blackburn the Science Chick, which doesn’t even rhyme, by the way. No, Marsha, the fact is that Bill knows more about science than you ever will. He knows more about climate change than you ever will. You proved that you’re a climate science idiot when you said that there isn’t any type of agreement between climate scientists as to whether or not humans are the cause of climate change. The vast majority of scientists agree that humans are the leading factor in why we’re seeing temperatures in the 50s and 60s in Alaska in the middle of January. We’re polluting and poisoning our Earth and it’s causing huge, detrimental changes to occur.

Sadly, Marsha has plenty of Republicans colleagues who also refuse to face facts. They think that somehow they know more about climate change than the very community that does nothing but study the climate. These politicians are the people who could introduce new legislation that could help, but they’d have to recognize the problem first, and if they aren’t willing to do that, the only alternative is to vote them out. We have too much to lose by keeping people in office that can’t embrace science.

Even if we can’t agree that pollution is causing climate change, we can all agree that it’s not healthy for the Earth and even worse for its people, right? So shouldn’t we be funding scientific studies into alternative energy sources? Shouldn’t we be doing all we can to make solar and wind energy our two primary sources of energy? Shouldn’t we take the steps necessary to make gas-powered cars, coal mines and oil rigs obsolete?

It’s going to have to start with us. We’re going to have to get off our asses, educate the uneducated, vote the idiots out of office and vote in politicians who are willing to make the changes necessary. Yes, it’s going to take time and cost money to get new systems in place, but those costs will be miniscule compared to the price we’ll pay for not doing it.

Rachel Birdsell is a freelance writer and artist. You can reach her at rabirdsell@gmail.com.

 

Categories: Commentary