[Dialogue] Global Warming: What, Me Worry?

Wed Apr 5 15:24:04 EDT 2006

AlterNet

Global Warming: What, Me Worry?

By Molly Ivins, AlterNet
Posted on April 4, 2006, Printed on April 5, 2006
http://www.alternet.org/story/34474/

On the premise that spring is too beautiful for a depressing topic like
Iraq, I thought I'd take up a fun subject -- global warming.

Time magazine warns
<http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1176980,00.html>  us to
"Be Worried. Be Very Worried." On the other hand, my sister is on the Global
Warming Committee of the Unitarian Church in Albuquerque, N.M. They go
around replacing old light bulbs with more energy-efficient models. My
money's on my sis.

It's a good thing the phrase "tipping point" became a cliche just in time to
help us describe global warming. Just a few years ago, we were more or less
cruising along on global warming, with maybe 50 years or so to Do Something
about it. Suddenly, the only question is how soon to push the panic button,
and 10 minutes ago appears to be the right answer.

People in journalism are the worst criers of "Wolf!" imaginable. We are
always setting off alarms about ebola, or avian flu, or the impending water
shortage, or the Social Security crisis, or killer bees, or the pine bark
beetle, or anorexia among teenagers (surpassed only by obesity among
teenagers). Boy, if we can't sell you a scare with a few headlines and some
mashed facts, no one can.

Naturally, having listened to the media set off endless alarms, the public
is inclined to discount them, not to mention that global climate catastrophe
is not an inviting topic. We're somewhere between "Don't panic yet" and
"Panic now!" -- edging toward "Now!"

What is happening is not just what climatologists told us would happen, but
global warming turns out to reinforce itself by a number of feedback
mechanisms. For example, when the polar icecaps start melting, there's less
blinding bright ice to reflect heat back into the atmosphere -- over 90
percent of sunlight simply bounces off ice and back into space. Whereas the
dark water left behind by melted ice does the opposite, pulling in more
warmth and accelerating the process.

The political fight over global warming is over, except for the Bush
administration, which has some weird problem with science in general. I'm
still not sure what's behind that: I recall Rush Limbaugh and the radio
right taking great glee in pooh-poohing the Kyoto treaty and the whole idea
of global warming. Maybe they associated global warming with Canadians or
something equally awful.

You might think some premise like, "The whole world is getting hotter, and
disastrous consequences will ensue," would be more persuasive than, "I don't
like Canadians, they're wusses," but I suspect part of the fun of being Rush
Limbaugh is never having to say the word "responsible."

The shame for journalism is that it has always been so easy to expose those
few "scientific" voices claiming there is nothing to global warming. When
the money for "scientific research" on such a subject comes from oil
companies, skepticism is required.

Instead, many "journalists" let the bullies on the right cow us with the
"liberal media" nonsense and reported there was "a debate" over global
warming. There was no debate. The only question is how fast it's happening.
And the answer that keeps coming up is "faster than we thought. And still
faster."

Time magazine, in its warm and fuzzy way, proposes that capitalism can solve
much of the problem of global warming -- Henry Luce would be so proud. Can't
you see it now? Boy, I'll bet those titans can hardly wait to cut into next
quarter's profits. The insurance industry, for obvious reasons of its own,
has long taken global warming seriously. By simply refusing to insure
housing or enterprises near low shores, insurance can make quite a
difference.

It's true the United States could make a good thing out of specializing in
green energy and green technology -- but we are still living with an
administration that subsidizes the oil industry. The question is where the
political leadership is going to come from before we reach the Panic Point,
before Miami Beach sinks underwater, before Wall Street needs a seawall.

Al Gore is all we've got, and the right wing is still prepared to dismiss
him with contempt and ridicule, not because he's wrong but because they'd
rather talk about the time he was supposedly advised to wear earth tones.

As the Earth drifts toward crisis, our president does not yet seem capable
of grasping even the First Rule of Holes. We're in one, and it is time to
quit digging.

At the very least, it is time to replace those old light bulbs. Get busy,
team. 

Molly Ivins writes about politics, Texas and other bizarre happenings. 

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