Addressing Climate Change

In response to my post Quantifying Sea-Level Rise, in which I asserted that our pathetic response to global warming is less about stupidity than it is about selfishness and greed, senior energy analyst Glenn Doty writes:

I agree in part… and in part I think it’s just a lack of comprehension on the part of those who are in office who do conceive that this is a problem, but they don’t understand how great of a problem it is, and they certainly don’t understand the nature and the potential limits, of a few of the solutions that they have latched onto.

Oh, I certainly agree that very few of our top lawmakers have access to cutting-edge climate change solutions, e.g., sea cooling, but I don’t think this is a significant reason that we’re making such little progress.

Anyone who is paying any attention to this at all, and actually cares, understands that we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and that decarbonizing our energy and transportation sectors, while improving our land management, if adopted broadly on an international basis, will go a long way to slow global warming.

The problem is that only people who are showing any level of interesting in making meaningful change here are progressive Democrats, and even they are having a tough time getting traction on initiatives like “Build Back Better.”

Most Republicans surround themselves by climate deniers.  I happened to have had a friend, recently deceased, who advised former U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner on climate issues, and was telling him that the Earth’s temperature actually isn’t rising.  If that’s the answer you are looking for, you can always find someone to feed it to you.  Just look at the “scientists” that Fox News interviews on the subject.  The CATO Institute and the other right-wing think-tanks are rife with them.

Congresspeople act according to the wishes of the wealthiest donors.  There’s your problem right there.