Lobbyists are flooding Washington, D.C. to assure that dirty, polluting industries continue to destroy the environment and climate, all in efforts to preserve their profits.
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Much as DIRTY COAL has worked to preserve and protect its status as the dirtiest and most destructive energy source, the Moral Bankruptcy of Global Warming Deniers is being defined.
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The New York Times offered some of the information that has previously been commented on:
.Benjamin D. Santer, a climate scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory whose work for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was challenged by the Global Climate Coalition and allied groups, said the coalition was “engaging in a full-court press at the time, trying to cast doubt on the bottom-line conclusion of the I.P.C.C.” That panel concluded in 1995 that “the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate.”
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“I’m amazed and astonished,” Dr. Santer said, “that the Global Climate Coalition had in their possession scientific information that substantiated our cautious findings and then chose to suppress that information.”
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EDF posed the following:
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...New York Times features a story that may not shock you, but should concern us all:
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As far back as 1995, scientists working for the oil, auto and gas industries were telling their bosses that human-caused global warming could not be refuted.
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But, that hasn't stopped industry lobbyists from waging a cynical campaign to undermine the science and cloud the debate.
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Americans were outraged a decade ago when cigarette makers made similar claims about the evidence linking smoking and lung cancer. And then we discovered reams of damning research hidden away in tobacco company vaults.
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The only real difference between then and now is that global warming stands to threaten more than just people -- millions of species face extinction, entire ecosystems altered beyond recognition, the natural world as we know it today irreparably diminished.
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The Next Two Weeks Are Critical
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These revelations come at a defining moment in the fight to stop global warming.
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Some time in the next two weeks, the House Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment is expected to mark up and vote on landmark global warming legislation. According to our political experts this Subcommittee bill will set the tone for the entire debate that follows in both Houses of Congress.
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In short, whether or not an effective global warming bill lands on President Obama's desk in 2009 may depend on the actions of 34 subcommittee members over the next week or two.
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The opposition may be morally bankrupt, but their political coffers are overflowing. Global warming deniers are spending hundreds of millions on lobbying and advertising aimed at confusing the public and scaring legislators.
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More than 2,000 top corporate lobbyists are on Capitol Hill doing whatever it takes to stop global warming action.
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What do we have? The truth. And you.
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If you want to speak out, use the following link:
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Take Action
6 comments:
It is astonishing the number of intelligent people who refuse to believe the evidence that global climate change is occurring right before our eyes.
Why do these people not recognize that here in New England we basically have two seasons, Winter and Summer.
Antarctica is an enormous sheet of ice, miles thick covering a vast continent. It has been like that for eons. The fact that suddenly the Antarctic ice cap is melting at a rapidly increasing rate should be enough evidence for people to start to realize something unusual is going on with our climate.
The Earth's climate has changed numerous times over millions of years.
Whether humans are effecting the climate or we are just in a natural cycle of climate change, there is no denying we are experiencing some sort of change going on with our global climate.
What should be alarming is that we are creating a planet that will be inhospitable to humans because we have failed to shout louder than lobbyists and Dirty Energy. We have failed to listen to the impartial scientists, many of whom were gagged by the previous Administration.
The last time methane levels approached the level that is being forecast, was 250 million years ago. 90% of marine life and 70% of land creatures were killed.
We are acidifying the oceans at a rate that was not predicted.
We no longer have time to debate the fact of human caused climate change, and we have delayed too long to prevent catastrophic events. The best we can hope to accomplish is to minimize the changes.
We already possess most of the technology to accomplish a significant reduction in carbon production - the simple things like insulation, caulk, turning off lights, installing CFLs or LEDs and so on, could reduce household consumption 30-50%. Those are the inexpensive things.
The report Energy Secretary Chu referenced indicated that buildings could reduce their consumption by 80%.
It wasn't until last summer, when I criticized certain people in Town Hall who lock their offices and leave the lights on that the lights were extinguished in the evening, but the building is consistently overheated. Sure, sure, they don't read the blogs!
Last summer, I had a conversation with Mrs. Duphily about energy consumption who lives in a wonderful house lacking insulation. Her response was that they didn't have the money to install new efficient windows. Isn't that like putting lipstick on a pig?
When local leadership is of that caliber, nothing constructive can be expected, but as individuals, we can do the necessary things and pocket the savings.
we begin to prove you wrong did those things.they worked.cost less then 10 yers ago
Ride through Middleboro in the evening and take note that 9 out of 10 homes have 1, 2 and as many as 4 outside lights on. If they were security lights they are useless because they're usually just on the front door and walkway. If I were a thief I could climb right in one of those dark back windows. Surely they can't all be expecting visitors and I doubt if many of them are cf bulbs. Multiply that across the nation and all we probably have to do is turn out the front door lights to save untold millions. I have yet to see anyone mention that anywhere. Its always 'turn out the lights if you're not in the room'. Someone, anyone with a public forum needs to speak up about this because it is the most uselss waste of energy imaginable.
Dear Anonymous,
You'll find no disagreement from me, but doesn't this all stem from lack of public education?
I posted the contents of a brochure that's available in
Dedham.
I believe that's Step 1 of reducing energy consumption and requires a follow-up, but you'll notice that type of information lacking from the Middleborough Gas & Electric flyer that is included with the monthly bills.
You'll notice in the blog entry that Hansen changed their street lights to LEDs and reduced their consumption 68%.
Personally, I favor motion sensors on all exterior lights. If you adjust them properly, let's say aimed at the end of the front walk, they'll illuminate the path for safety.
A word of caution is needed. The sensitivity needs to be adjusted to prevent wildlife from turning the lights on. One set of motion detectors we installed allowed the bats to fly around the house, turn them all on to attract the bugs and provide an effortless meal.
We haven't tried the exterior CFLs because they're relatively new, but are considering replacing the incandescents with LEDs.
We also have several solar floodlights with motion detectors that work well.
Although you can't force people to think, the educational information can be provided to empower people to continue to progress in the process of reducing the "low hanging fruit."
Last year, we decided to call Midleborough home and moved from an area with municaple power. Youre rates are higher and the impetus to reduce use not so good. We're miserly adn just learning about how things are done.
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