Among the ignorance embracing unwashed masses of the GOP's Christofascist/Tea Party controlled party base, denying climate change is a matter of faith - just like Bible inerrancy even though the human genome project has documented that Adam and Eve never existed as historical people. One thing about the GOP base is that it NEVER lets facts and objective reality get in the way of its crazed ideology. But with belief in the reality of climate change and global warming inching up with the general public, as with gay marriage, the GOP may be charging toward a cliff in Thelma and Louise fashion. A piece in Mother Jones looks at the GOP's approaching self-immolation on climate change. Here are excerpts:
If you care about the place of science in our culture, then this has to be the best news in a very long time. Last Sunday night, Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey—which airs on Fox and then the next day on the National Geographic Channel—actually tied ABC's "The Bachelorette" for the top ratings among young adult viewers, the "key demographic" coveted by advertisers. And it did so by—that's right—airing an episode about the reality of climate change.
Tuesday evening, I had the privilege of sitting down with the show's host, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, to discuss this milestone, and how he feels generally as the 13-part series comes to a close.
And yet, many members of our species still deny that the globe is warming thanks to human activities—a point that Cosmos has not only made a centerpiece but that, the program has frankly argued, threatens civilization as we know it.
[I]n the political sphere, denying the science is just a bad strategy. "The Republican Party, so many of its members are resistant to embracing the facts of climate change that the legislation that they should be eager to influence, they're left outside the door," said Tyson. "Because they think the debate is whether or not it's happening, rather than what policy and legislation can serve their interests going forward."
One day after Cosmos' highly rated climate episode aired, the EPA announced its new regulations for power plant carbon dioxide emissions. The whole reason that the Obama administration went this route—regulating carbon via the Clean Air Act—was that climate legislation (the first option, and the more desirable option) was impossible.
Republicans are extraordinarily upset by the EPA's rules, as the agency moves in to fill a legislative vacuum. But thanks to their denial, they may well have lost their chance to find a more ideologically desirable solution, like a carbon tax.
Over 95% of the scientific community believes that climate change is real and that mankind is influencing it. How much longer can the GOP remain in denial?
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