Today, after a substandard showing in Super Tuesday, Mitt Romney dropped out of the race. Why should fly-fishermen care? Romney, like many others on the right, has made a business in climate change denial.
First, the oil and coal industry with some Republicans told people that science was inclusive about how the earth was changing. All assertions otherwise were wrongheaded attempts by "liberals" to issue regulations and control people's freedom. Second, they told people that the earth was not warming, it was cooling. Right now, the current line is that the earth is warming, but humans are blameless. The presence of scientific disagreement is taken as "proof" that climate change is only a "theory." This tactic is absurd. Any high school science student knows that a "theory" is an explanation of an event confirmed by repeatable experiments. Hence, the "theory" of gravity.
Nevertheless, former House Majority Whip Tom DeLay claimed on T.V. this evening that there is "absolutely no scientific evidence to show that humans are causing global warming." Where has Tom Delay been? In February 2007, a report by 600 scientists from governments, academia, environmental groups and business claimed that the evidence of human-based climate change was "unequivocal." Trout Unlimited, hardly the bastion of radical environmentalism, released a study explaining the effects of global warming on cold water trout populations. The news was sobering.
Bull Trout populations will decline by 90% in the West. Salmon and Steelhead species may decline by 40%. Out here in the East, native brook trout populations in the Appalachians could also decline by 90%. Worse yet, the Brookies would be replaced by warm water species such as Bluegill.
It is high time for politicians, Republican and Democrat, to take notice of this issue and stop sticking their heads in the sand. I hope that with the success of John McCain, global warming will cease to be a political football and our elected "leaders" will come up with solutions to it.
1 comment:
Enjoyed reading your blog. Please get going with it again, but leave out the politics. Hope to see you fishing.
"Any high school science student knows that a "theory" is an explanation of an event confirmed by repeatable experiments. Hence, the "theory" of gravity."
Exactly true. So where are the confirmed repeatable experiments? (the computer models have been exposed as altered to achieve the desired result - see climate scientist email scandal)
Voting is not a form of scientific validation, so if 600 scientists agree with an opinion that has no bearing on the truth. Especially when the majority have no expertise in the field. With a history PhD, you are a social scientist and can add your vote to tally of scientist believers. But before you succumb to the latest religious fad please consider: The earth is warmed by the sun (duh). So how much energy does the sun hit the earth with daily? Does it fluctuate? Why? (hint:not seasonal) Since there is natural fluctuation, is it greater than the sum total of energy produced by man? (hint: yes) With the natural cycle of solar energy not understood and of a magnitude overshadowing human production, how can we assign warming or cooling to man's efforts? Before you sign up to believe in this latest religion please take the time to consider mother nature is way more powerful than mere humans. There's a reason people say they believe in global warming: because it's belief not science. Enjoy your religious freedom.
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