Ice, ice baby...
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Climate change denial is nothing new. All the way back on June 19, 1992, an obscure radio host named Rush Limbaugh declared:
Even if polar ice caps melted, there would be no rise in ocean levels. After all, if you have a glass of water with ice cubes in it, as the ice melts, it simply turns to liquid and the water level in the glass remains the same.
He sure is convincing, huh? You know, in an appealingly simplistic kind of way. But then again, since the majority of the world's ice is actually not in water but on land (in Antartica), if that ice cap did melt, well, sea level would rise by about 200 feet.
WATCH VIDEO: Following the Climate Money
The point here is not to put the focus on a single person's unwillingness to see past the next fiscal quarter but rather, to recognize that corporate profits would tumble if we accepted that humans just might play a role in global warming. For that matter, profits would take a hit if we waited to do long-term testing on, for example...
Politicians funded by corporations choose profits over prudence and voila...I give you: denial. So, let Limbaugh and his ilk guzzle denial on the rocks. We're better off focusing on the antidote to denial: solidarity and community.
Raise a Toast to Community to Ring in 2010
- Join your local community garden
- Create a bike lane
- Find the rabble-rousers in your neck of the woods
Don't Link and Drive
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