Saturday, March 19, 2005

Get It While It's Hot

Another couple of studies support those issued in the past month or so, concluding that global heating is underway, it will be consequential, and it cannot be stopped, possibly for a century.

At the risk of remaining too far ahead on this subject, I see a new political danger. Until now, the GOPers have refused the validity of the evidence, deny the climate crisis will happen, and refuse to take steps to control greenhouse gases, let alone convert to sustainable non-harmful energy.

But now scientists are beating the drum of an oncoming crisis that can't be stopped, but must be dealt with. The emphasis is on preparing, mitigating, preventing the most harmful consequences. This is a huge change of emphasis and a huge danger.

Of course this needs to be done, as I've written earlier. But the danger is that the efforts to control emissions and switch to sustainable energy will be abandoned, because they will only make things better beyond the end of this century.

As it stands now, things will be bad. If nothing is done to stop the source of harm, in the future things are likely to be much worse. A sane policy would be to do both, and I've outlined how to approach it. For example, here. But progressives better wake up to this rapidly changing situations before GOPers realize what an opportunity they've got.

Because right now, there is an enormous opportunity for Republicans to suddenly adopt a global heating crisis is here mentality, in order to fund dikes, pipelines, chemicals and other emergency and mitigation projects, which will require even more fossil fuel energy. They will give the job to their energy corporation buddies, along with Halliburton. In a war on climate change. And we can forget about the future, and the health benefits as well as many other benefits of clean sustainable energy.

At the moment, progressives and environmentalists are stuck wholly in the mode of Kyoto greenhouse gases treaties and warning of the crisis that is already here. It's much too tempting a situation for GOPers, especially if Democrats, still in denial, are caught flatfooted.

Global warming inevitable, stopping gas emission won?t help

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