NATURE'S REALITY CONFRONTS BUSH
10/2/2003
One of our more important environmental questions is this:
How deeply can George W stick his head into the thawing tundra before
having to admit that, yes, global warming just might be a wee bit of a
problem for us?
At issue is the thin layer of ozone that encapsulates our globe.
This ozone is kind of important, since, without it, the sun -- how
shall I put this? -- would burn us to a crisp, wiping out all life on
earth.
Unfortunately, pollution from such thing as our oil-guzzling cars is
eating away this natural and essential sunscreen, causing everything
from more cancer to global warming.
The Bushites, however, goaded by oil and chemical fat cats, are
pretending that this isn't happening, so therefore there's no need to
stop the pollution causing it.
But nature has a way of rudely pricking political delusions with stark
reality.
Specificaly, the frozen Arctic tundra is thawing due to global
warming.
This is a problem for Bush -- not because it pokes an embarrassing
hole in his "It's-Not-Happening" posture (after all, Bush has never
let reality interfere with ideology).
Rather, the thawing tundra is a political problem because it's
interfering with the oil giants that are drilling in Alaska.
Yes -- oh, cruel irony -- the very industry claiming that global
warming doesn't exist, is now stuck in it!
An Alaskan regulation allows heavy drilling equipment on the fragile
tundra only when it is frozen solid a foot deep and covered by at
least six inches of snow.
Thirty years ago, these wintery conditions existed 200 days a year,
but global warming has now shrunk this window of opportunity by half
-- too short of a period for profitable oil drilling.
But the Bushites are remaining consistently delusional -- rather than
facing up to the cause of the thawing, they want to allow the industry
to drill even when the tundra is not frozen, thus producing more oil
to cause more global warming.
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Mornin' coffee with Jim Hightower.
Harry
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