Embarrassed by the Attorney General of Virginia: My Letter to the Editor Re Climate Change
The following letter of mine was published this past Friday in one of my local area newspapers, THE NORTHERN VIRGINIA DAILY.
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“I am embarrassed that our state’s Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to reconsider their finding that carbon dioxide emissions are pollution and constitute a threat to human health. The best that can be said of Mr. Cuccinelli’s position is that it is irresponsible.
“Of course it’s true that carbon dioxide is not directly injurious to humans like some other forms of pollution, but it is clear that humankind’s almost doubling of the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere constitutes the most serious environmental threat to future generations.
“Not everything is known about how the earth’s climate system will process this rising level of carbon dioxide, but this much is known: carbon dioxide in the atmosphere traps heat, and the earth is definitely warming. The overwhelming majority of scientists in the field also believe that this warming threatens the stability of our climate and the reliability of our food-production, and that the dangers are great enough to warrant taking meaningful action to stabilize and then reduce the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
“It is irresponsible to ignore this problem. And it is foolish to demand certainty about all aspects of our climate system before we take action. Just as the prudent person spends good money every year for life insurance to protect his family, even though he doesn’t expect to die in the coming year, so also prudence requires that today’s industrial societies take reasonable precautions now against the very real possibility of a global disaster if we do nothing.
“Great corporate interests make a fortune off the status quo. That’s the only reason why the United States has been slow to act against this threat, while we’re willing to spend hundreds of billions every year for weapons to protect against external enemies. But the threat of global warming is now the greater threat to our children and grandchildren.
“If we allow irresponsible leaders like Attorney General Cuccinelli to stand in the way of prudent steps to reduce this danger, future generations may find it difficult to forgive us.”
March 7th, 2010 at 1:46 am
Andy,
Happy to see you stretching yourself and standing up for what is right – yet again.
March 7th, 2010 at 8:30 am
AT Cuccinelli can do whatever is irresponsibele, or not. The fact remains, that the climate is warming and has been warming, for centuries. The climate, will soon be on steroids with consequences, never before witnessed. The structures needed to protect the populace are large endeavours and, the need to begin these constructions, are imperative. The time for debate on the causes for climate change are long past the chatting stage.
March 7th, 2010 at 10:41 am
Yes, we don’t need to debate the cause, we need to find the cure.
March 7th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Duane Elgin, in his fine book, Promise Ahead, argues that by 2020 we will faced with multiple breakdowns in the ecological, economic, and political spheres (re – the latter – not the least of which is the growing disparity between the super-rich and terribly poor, and the North and the South hemispheres).
At that point our entire species will need either to take a quantum leap forward in how we see our lives and behave toward all of Life —– or possibly regress into a semi-feudal (or simply enfeebled, pathologically ailing) state.
I believe that what each of us does at this present time – matters…
more than we know.
March 7th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
I happened to hear Jim Garrison (co-founder of World Forum with Mikial Gorbachev) speak recently. He quoted from his recent work, saying that if we do not reduce world-wide carbon emissions by 80% in the next 10 years, then we will lose 80% of humanity [not to speak of other species!] with the following 30 years. I’ve not read his book, but his reputation is solid. He says that when he speaks abroad politicians and executives heed his words, and cites Brazil as an example: that they are planting 3 times as many trees as they harvest, etc. What is wrong with our US system that so many dunces (Inhofe, et al.) have so much power?
March 7th, 2010 at 5:12 pm
How about writing a letter to the editor pointing out that Virginia’s Elections Are UNCONSTITUTIONAL?!?! See the article at
http://dailycensored.com/2009/11/03/virginia%e2%80%99s-elections-are-unconstitutional/
March 7th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Yes, empowering global government to control pollution should be just wonderful even though it will be even less responsive to individuals than our National and State governments and the carbon, a.k.a. energy, taxes will further depress our economy.
March 7th, 2010 at 5:32 pm
Next friday, following Bill Moyers, NOW (at least in the west time zone) will provide unassailable proof that the polar ice caps are melting at an unprecedented rate – predicted in no previous study by anyone from any political point of view. Our big brains are good at denying what is really happening…. More and more try to rebuild the soil from 5000 years of bad farming ignorance. There is no excuse now. The US intelligence agencies did a study years ago noting “climate change is the most serious threat facing humanity. Future wars will be over water and food resources.” This may be why the rich are hoarding more and more money. They want to assure personal security in an empire that cannot survive. Greed and avarice has always been the reason such societies fail over history. Read Steve Taylor’s 2005 book, _The Fall_, John Hunt Publishing, (NBN in US), London, 2005, 308 pages. It more and more looks like all those dystopic tales from the 20th century ~ Blade Runner, Handmaids Tale, Soylent Green…. This also fits with the disenfranchisement of so many of those with limited income who are disposable as far as they are concerned – only good for mowing lawns, trimming bushes…. and locking the gates at night before sleeping with weapons nearby. Seeds of ignorance long ago planted by those who could not know better. Increasingly powerful weapons make it all the more troublesome for our children and their children.
Ian Mcharg, perhaps the first (deep ecologist_) in the US once said “The early earth was anerobic, meaning oxygen was a poison. Now, the brain is the biggest consumer of O2 – so it follows that our BIG BRAINS must be the product of an early waste disposal system….” So, none of this is a surprise….
March 7th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
I agree 100%, and it is appalling that people still want to argue about what is man-made and what is natural cycles instead of just concentrating on solutions. My daughter has been New Mexico’s representative to the Western Climate Initiative project meetings. Fortunately there are people out there trying to make effective policy that seeks to blend realistic with idealistic goals in this critical arena.
March 7th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
It may seem off base but I am reminded of the much maligned Jim Morrison’s “The End” in re: climate change….
THIS IS THE END, MY ONLY FRIEND, THE END….
OF OUR ELABORATE PLANS, THE END….
OF EVERYTHING THAT STANDS, THE END….
NO SAFETY OR SURPRISE, THE END….
I’LL NEVER LOOK INTO YOUR EYES AGAIN.
CAN YOU PICTURE WHAT WILL BE, SO LIMITLESS
AND FREE,
DESPERATELY IN NEED OF A STRANGER’S HAND,
IN A DESPERATE LAND….
March 7th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Duane Elgin’s book, Promise Ahead asks the following question:
What will be conditions under which we – humanity – might grow up?
Elgin writes that just as many adolescents go through a rite of passage or time of initiation before achieving adulthood, so too is the human family beginning to move through a collective rite of passage.
Two powerful sets of trends are converging in the next several decades-adversity trends (such as overpopulation, resource depletion, and climate change), and opportunity trends (such as the communications revolution, a shift toward more sustainable lifestyles, and growing efforts at reconciliation in the world).
The outcome from the intersection of adversity and opportunity trends is uncertain. The future could hold either:
1) an evolutionary crash where we pull apart and compete for resources, veering off into a new dark age; or
2) an evolutionary bounce where we pull together and cooperate for the well-being of all, keeping our journey on track toward a higher level of maturity and opportunity.
March 7th, 2010 at 11:52 pm
Elgin suggests that, although our future is uncertain, we already have all the resources and capacities we need for a successful journey.
The biologist Lewis Thomas describes the promise of our species beautifully:
“We may all be going through a kind of childhood in the evolution of our kind of animal. . . . We have not yet begun to grow up. What we call contemporary culture may turn out, years hence, to have been a very early stage of primitive thought on the way to human maturity.
“What seems to us to be the accident-proneness of state craft, the lethal folly of nation-states, and the dismaying emptiness of the time ahead may be merely the equivalent of early juvenile delinquency. . . .
“If we can stay alive, my guess is that we will someday amaze ourselves by what we can become as a species. Looked at as larvae, even as juveniles, for all our folly, we are a splendid, promising form of life and I am on our side.”
March 8th, 2010 at 10:28 pm
Hanu Man Ji — What is it that will make us make the second choice, the evolutionary bounce, rather than descending into another Dark Ages?
Todd said, “What is wrong with our US system that so many dunces (Inhofe, et al.) have so much power?”
It isn’t so many “dunces” — it’s so many sociopaths. Why have the crazy ones without consciences been allowed to take power? We used to stop them somewhere along the way of their rise to power, but we no longer do. Why not? Why do Americans follow anyone who appears strong, no matter the direction they go? Is it the American character to be blindly following members of gangs, tribes, parties? We pride ourselves on our “independence”, but we are only independent in our dreams. We aren’t independent, we are oppositional. And like an adolescent, we mistake the one for the other.
March 9th, 2010 at 1:00 am
And, as wealth continues to dramatically increase in the top one percent of America and the middle class shrinks, the working poor become even poorer.
Between the election of George W. Bush and 2007, the four hundred richest inividuals in America (virtually all associated with transnational corporations) saw their wealth increase from $1.0 trillion to $1.6 trillion- an increase of $600 BILLION.
During that same time the real income of the average wage earner fell by between 2,000 and $4,000.
—– Threshold, Thom Hartmann
I wonder if this is a good thing.
Adding climate problems to economic indicators might give one pause.