Ted Babbitt

Am I correct in my perception that it is getting hotter every summer or is it simply aging-related heat intolerance?

The paper yesterday said that between June and the end of August Palm Beach county experienced some sixty days of temperatures 90° or higher.

When I visited one of the largest national parks in Alaska I viewed an exhibit of photographs of glaciers taken in the 1800s compared to present day photos. The comparison was startling.  Where did the tons of receded ice go?

For decades scientists the world over have known & have provided ample and convincing evidence that temperatures are rising, seas are rising, incidence of fires is increasing, as are extreme weather patterns, flooding, and other natural disasters. Nevertheless, a substantial portion of the population remains skeptical that climate change is occurring. Fox news has led the way in the climate change denial movement and it’s viewership are ostriches with their heads collectively stuck in the sand.

This may be partly attributable to political ideology but is also due in part to psychology – we simply deny or attribute nonscientific reasoning to phenomena that we don’t understand or don’t like.  Of course,  the idea that climate change is a myth has been propounded and fostered by the fossil fuel industry which has a lot to lose should the United States ever convert to modern energy technologies.  I love it when politicians of the Republican ilk respond, when confronted with  overwhelming scientific evidence of climate change, “I am not a scientist so I can’t confirm or deny climate change”. Well, I’m not a scientist either, but I understand that cigarettes cause cancer,  that gravity exists, and that the sun will come up tomorrow.  The amazing thing is that these idiots’  constituents keep voting for them! There is a staggering disconnect between reality and the Republican parallel universe. It is futile arguing with them because they just repeat the idiotic mantra trumpeted by Fox news. I am shocked and saddened that a large proportion of our population, something approaching 40%, get all of their news from Fox news or talk radio.   No wonder they’re uninformed.

Climate change is real, but it is not real enough. Unless we happen to find ourselves in the middle of a super storm, our lives are not affected by what we see on the news. It is inevitable that this threat to our environment will get worse. The consensus among the worldwide scientific community is that, while it is too late to completely reverse the effects of climate change, we CAN slow it and, with increased and improved technology, halt it.

Information and facts may need to be force-fed  to the electorate in order to build the political will to address this problem.  Our children and our children’s children will be the ones who will have no choice but to deal with this existential challenge as it escalates. At the present rate of sea level rise, Miami will be submerged in 100 years.  A large proportion of our population lives within 3 feet of sea level- a level which, before long, will be unsafe for habitation.

We should put videos of the climate deniers in a waterproof time capsule so that future generations can ponder the idiocy that led to the inevitable climate disasters that are sure to come if this nation does not wake up.