As regular readers of this blog know, my background is in climate change science. And recently, I have become very angry about continued global warming denial, because now it sounds so much like evolution denial. I think I may have a way to talk to conservatives about it.
I just heard Fred Thompson talking about Newt Gingrich and he said something like, “I’m a father and a grandfather and therefore…” I suspect that he would have gone on to talk about the economy. It doesn’t matter what Fred Thompson says—ever. But it got me thinking: most conservatives are old and therefore have children and grandchildren. And as ridiculous as their opinions are, they do care about these young people.
Given this, I have a question. Let’s suppose there is only a one percent chance that global warming is actually happening. If it does happen, it is going to have a profound effect[1] on future generations, and certainly for the next five generations, it is going to be worse for the next than it was for the last. If this has only a 1% chance of happening, isn’t it a good idea to be truly conservative and try to stop it from happening, rather than continuing on as we have for the sake of the fossil fuel industry?[2]
[1] People (myself included) have argued that there will be positive changes of global warming. In particular, it is likely that the biodiversity of the earth will increase. There are several reasons for this. First, more CO2 is good for plants. Second, within reason, higher temperatures are good for plants. And third, the temperatures at the equator will change little and the poles lots. But what this all means is that there will probably be more biodiversity in bacteria, plants, and insects. The situation for mammals, for example, looks very bad. And regardless, the rapidness of the heating could cause the whole life-cycle of the planet to go haywire, causing biodiversity to go way down for millions of years. The fact is that we just don’t know.
[2] The case is always made that fighting global warming would hurt the economy. In a booming economy, that is certainly true. But in a depressed economy like we now have and will continue to have? It is not true. Now is the perfect time to get all forms of pollution under control. All more oil drilling does is make more billions of dollars for oil companies. Have you ever wondered why the oil companies are so keen to drill up in Alaska, even though the total amount of oil they will get is a fraction of a percent of what America needs each year? It is because even though the oil means nothing to our country, it means billions of dollars for the oil companies. Don’t be fooled.
You can certainly talk to conservatives–it’s much the same as talking to a wall. The only benefit of involving "our children and grandchildren" in the conversation is that it will make it more interesting for you, since the wall really doesn’t care.
Giving people, especially those behind the oil industry’s corporations, credit for having empathy, compassion, and long-term responsibility is like saying that crocodiles are able to form emotional bonds and will never eat a person who truly understands and cares for them. The people who have the power to influence the future of our societies and our world seem to live by the truism of apathy: take care of today and tomorrow will take care of itself.
Children make messes without concern about who will have to clean them up. Selfish, power-hungry and greedy men will do the same. And conveniently, there’s always someone else to blame. Wealthy people aren’t wealthy because they’ve worked hard to ensure their children have bright futures. Those bright futures are merely a happy by-product of a life spent accumulating wealth and power.
We see it every day, in almost every decision made by corporations and the government they oversee: we’re making money now and that’s what matters. The people behind the corporations, even if they truly and deeply care for their children and grandchildren, don’t give a damn about the children of others.
Anyone can use "the futures of our children" as a rallying cry. Like the flag, our children are just another shield used to justify many untenable actions.
You are correct, madam!
But I’m not talking about the rich. I’m talking about all these poor people who watch Fox News. I generally think they are decent people who have misdirected their anger. However, as I say in the post right after this one, "I’ve come to the conclusion that Republicans are not hypocritical; they are good old-fashioned 1984 styled authoritarians who care about one thing and one thing only: power for its own sake."