Opposing the World

THE CONTRAST between the searing heat in Australia, where it was one hundred and twenty degress yesterday, and the frigid cold in the American south, where nighttime temperatures descended to nearly zero degrees highlights the true nature of climate change. It seems nearly impossible to convince climate science deniers that global warming is a bit more complicated than the weather becoming hotter. But try explaining ths to your average American climate science denying conservative. Carbon traps more heat, and more heat means more movement within the atmosphere. More movement of air means more volatility, which in turn means more turbulence, more wind, more storms, stronger, more severee storms. Would anyone care to explain basic atmospheric science, basic thermodynamics, basic high school chemistry to any "garden variety" right winger. One wonders whether there are any climae deniers in America,or anywhere else, who have ever taken a chemistry class. The guy who repaired my heating and airconditiong unittoldme that he has taken several chemistry classes, and further stipulated that climate change is a "hoax". AS to whether the gentleman actually studied and passed chemistry istomequestionable. Liek Festus Haggen said on "Gunsmoke", I have my doubtfuls. They may as well assert that the laws of hature are themselves a hoax, that the simple pyhsical reality that carbon absorbs more heat then nitrogen and oxygen is a hoax, that science itself is a hoax. Are they willing to believe that carbon and oxygen combine to form carbon dioxide, that carbon dioxide traps heat, and that the more CO2 weinject into the ecosystem, the more solar radiation is tapped and the more slowly the heat of a hot summer day is dissipated into outer space, so that more remians trapped in the atmosphere? Carl Sagan,in his seminal monograph "The Demon Haunted World", gives lavish praise to the American people for their intelligence, and ability to learn. However, he gives low marks for our willingess to become sufficiently well educated to understand and accept the unavoidable reality of a warming atmosphere and planet. We have no shortage of intelligence. What we have is a severe shortage of adequately educated people in history and science. Climate change denial is a tragic phenonemon, driven purely by perceived political self interet. After all, if there is no climae change, if human activity had no adverse impact on nature, then well, we have no need to reform our economy and our way of life with regard to energy use, no need for progress or progressive politics. Without acknowledge of climate science, the capitalist system, according to which everything is for sale and all things are rife for exploitation for profit. Conservatism is resistance to change, which is necessary for progress, but hateful to status quo oriented conservatism. Like Goethe said: "The world advances only because of those who oppose it." Then too, there are quite well educated people who deny climate science, even though they know better. When one's self esteem is tied to one's long held rigidly held political ideology, or one's deeply held religious beliefs, one's mind is no more capable of opening to new information and realities than it is of rewriting the laws of nature.Climate denial is subsiding, as more people, with societal pressure building, begin to grudgingly accept reailty. When acceptance of reality threatens one's comfortable entrenched beliefs, reality takes a back seat. The tragedy is that our rapidly diminshing opportunity to effectively address our dire situation is being thrown away by those who would rather curse the darkness than light a single candle, their own.