Tonight Bill O'Reilly unexpectedly, pragmatically, rhetorically asked if Al Gore was correct about global warming. This aberration was a result of a recent press release by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric citing recent climatic data indicating June 2010 the warmest month on record and that 2010 is on pace to be the warmest year on record, not to mention that the last decade was the warmest on record. All of this warming, which climatologists cannot explain through natural processes, ironically coincides with an unprecedented amount of unnatural unsequestering (if you will) of greenhouse gasses. Maybe we should listen to the climatologists.
Personally, I have no doubt regarding the validity of anthropogenic alterations of our climate. Deniers - many of whom live in relatively quaint suburbs, all of whom seem to perpetuate their ill-informed views due to an ideological ego-complex - either base their views on faith or actually look at some of the evidence, but retain their status quo because a narrow worldview does not allow abstract ideas to influence their bias. They continue to experience placid springs, frigid winters and that coupled with an ideological ego means all is good in the land of God and guns. You don't have to study the recession of the Greenland Ice Sheet through advanced physical techniques in glaciology to gain a concrete understanding of what is going on.
Simply travel to a city such as Beijing, Tehran, Mumbai or even L.A. and hundreds of others and you will get close-up and personal view (and smell) of how we are warming and changing our world's environment (for the worse). It's not difficult to determine the molecular byproducts of internal combustion, add the roughly 3.6 million cars in Beijing plus all the other internal combustion vehicles in the world, include industrial processes and all of the other inconspicuous sources of CO2, CH4,... including the artificially inflated number of cattle and you'll understand that for the first time in history we are dramatically changing atmospheric constituents at an alarming pace. Something is going to happen. Even if you completely disagree that the current warming trend is man made, you no doubt agree that:
1) If you fucking blow the tailpipe of your Escalade while on, you will pass out or die. If you continue to blow the tailpipe while on, you will turn into a cancer-ridden, conservative Christian invalid. Since most people don't blow their tailpipe, the earth - in a way - is blowing your tailpipe. The tailpipe effluent typically stays in the atmosphere for a long time. This is going to do stuff and if nothing else, destroy our air quality.
2) Current lifestyles are not sustainable. Not the relative ignorant, self-anointed environmental liberal idea of sustainable that is living in a 3,000 square foot home, but taking advantage of Chicago's recycling program. (FYI- None of our current recycling programs are sustainable). And not the conservative definition of sustainable, which is inherently evil because it infringes on personal liberty and is nothing more than green-industry propaganda; rather, sustainable as defined by Thomas Friedman, "Sustainability says that I will behave as if I will always be here and always be held accountable for what took place on my watch."
3) Despite your misguided definition of conservatism and ignorant views on nationalism, you are supporting terrorism. Every dollar of gas you put in your car helps support radical Islamic countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia who are very well-known financial supporters of groups like the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Hamas and the like.
With this is mind, I think it's a great idea to continue driving your Hummer and supporting a business-as-usual energy paradigm because that doesn't conflict with your conservative views at all.
