Rick Santorum says he has never believed in global warming. To quote him exactly: “We’re put on earth to use it wisely and steward it wisely, but for our benefit, not for earth’s benefit”.
what eye thynk: To begin with the last part of his statement, “our benefit” and “earth’s benefit” are not mutually exclusive. We live here. Anything we do that effects the earth, in turn effects us and vice versa. If we continue to destroy our planet, then we are destroying ourselves; protect the planet and we protect ourselves. You can’t have one without the other.
His use of the word “steward” as it appears in the beginning of his sentence is defined by Merriam-Webster as “one who actively directs affairs”. Either Mr. Santorum doesn’t know what the word “steward” means or he thinks that ignoring the science of global warming is a wise and active response. And what is “wise” about ignoring what scientists all over the world have acknowledged as fact--the earth is warming and the acceleration of that warming can be attributed in large part to the proliferation of man made carbon emissions?
The proof of global warming can be seen in the melting of our polar ice, the rising of our ocean levels, the dying off of our coral reefs, the rising of our average temperatures, the disruption of our weather patterns and the severity of our storms. Did you know that in 1910 Montana’s Glacier National Park boasted 150 glaciers? Today there are 27.
The United States should be leading the fight to correct global warming, instead we have allowed a narrow-minded segment of our populace to disseminate their anti-science ideology and to amplify it with their own brand of political rhetoric--rhetoric financed in part by those most likely to profit by our incognizance and designed to leave us isolated from the rest of the world in our selective ignorance. Turning our back on the problem has earned us the disdain of Europe and is allowing us to fall behind China in green technology.
Peter Raven, one of the world‘s most respected senior scientists was recently quoted as saying “…the world was hoping for US leadership on this question, global climate change, and now it has pretty well given up with us as the only hold-out nation on this science….There is a frustration and anger at America”.
In 1997, 160 countries met in Japan and signed the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement calling for the decrease of greenhouse gas emissions and yet, here we are fifteen years later still separate and apart, waiting patiently for those who have their heads buried in their personal pile of oil company cash to come up for air and realize that the rest of the world has left us behind.
We have allowed ourselves to be held back by the monied, the venal and the narrow minded. We should be ashamed.
let me quote that famous representative from Ron Paul: " Rick Santorum is a fake".
ReplyDeleteAnd it's lunacy like this that tends to support Mr. Paul in his assessment.
It matters little whether Rick Santorum, or anyone for that matter "believes" in global warming. Science, unlike religion, exists whether we believe in it or not.
ReplyDeleteI cannot add much to this or improve on it. It says mostly what i have been thinking and saying for years.
ReplyDeleteScience tends to be just a little less static than religion; they're constantly tweeking it as new things are discovered. At least they have that much of the humility that religion tends to lack. Religion suffers from a wee bit of insecurity and science suffers from a wee bit of arrogance.
The indigenous peoples of the planet, so callously and wantonly dismissed by most of the "civilized" world have known for eons how best to steward the planet and live on it in a sustainable fashion, but we chose to ignore them.
Heaven help us.