Photo of Gulf Oil slick by Michael DeMocker, The Times-Picayune<\/p>\n
Recent headlines. See if you notice a common thread.<\/p>\n
Central America Storm kills 113+<\/p>\n
Strong Hurricane Season Predicted<\/p>\n
2010:\u00a0 Hottest Year on Record<\/p>\n
NOAA reported on May 17th that 2010 is the hottest year on record globally so far from January through April. <\/p>\n
BP Gives up on Plugging the Leak <\/p>\n
“BP Plc said it won\u2019t be able to stop the flow of oil from a gushing well in Gulf of Mexico until August when a relief well can be finished, and in the meantime it will divert as much of the oil as it can to surface ships.” — Bloomberg<\/p>\n
We have two on-going environmental disasters here but they are related to one thing — our lack of a good renewable energy policy.\u00a0 One disaster people can clearly see — the enormous oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico.\u00a0 The oil hit Alabama beaches today, and was spotted at least 5 miles inland in the marshes.\u00a0 The other disaster is one people cannot see — global warming,\u00a0 which also continues, like the oil leak, except no one is really doing much about it.\u00a0 People are clamoring for the government to DO something fast about the oil leak.\u00a0 They should be clamoring just as loudly for the government to DO something about global warming.<\/p>\n
If you are wondering what our government is doing about the ongoing crisis of global warming and the ensuing world-wide climate change, the answer is: Hardly anything. In fact, until the oil leak, President Obama was embracing the “everything” theory of addressing our energy needs:\u00a0 Drill offshore, mine for more coal, get some mythological CCS technology in place, use lots of natural gas, a few windmills, a couple of solar panels, retrofit some leaky buildings, and pray.\u00a0 This is not the science-driven government I voted for. Unless a miracle happens to change politician’s minds and attitudes, they are in the process of condemning humans to an early extinction, and it seems that not more than a handful of these politicians care. \u00a0 They can barely muster up feelings of anger at the Gulf Oil leak, and not enough to pull out all the stops to clean it up; to say nothing of what will happen to the entire planet’s climate\u00a0 in 20-50 years.<\/p>\n
We are not off the hook with climate change at all, but that’s how Washingtonians act. \u00a0 How about we elect more scientists or at least science-oriented people as our representatives in our\u00a0 government?\u00a0 I don’t know where most of our politicians come from, (insert joke) but it seems like they do not have an appropriate background for what we are facing in the 21st century.\u00a0\u00a0 Being a lawyer does not equip someone, most likely, for making decisions on energy and climate.\u00a0 Meanwhile, emissions continue to rise, and climate change does not disappear just because our politicians stop talking about it. (Wouldn’t it be nice if it did?)<\/p>\n
Global CO2 emissions to rise 43 percent [...]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Photo of Gulf Oil slick by Michael DeMocker, The Times-Picayune Recent headlines. See if you notice a common thread. Central America Storm kills 113+ Strong Hurricane Season Predicted 2010:\u00a0 Hottest Year on Record NOAA reported on May 17th that 2010 … Continue reading