General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAs hurricanes and wildfires rage, US climate politics enters the realm of farce
On Tuesday afternoon, as Southern Floridians nervously watched Hurricane Irma become a Category 5 monster, they received an odd message from popular right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh: The hurricane forecasts are not to be trusted.
In official meteorological circles, he said, they believe that Al Gore is correct about climate change. They desire to advance this climate change agenda, he warned, and hurricanes are one of the fastest and best ways to do it. So these meteorologists, he argued, create needless fear and panic.
Whats more,local TV stations are hyping the hurricane to drum up bottled-water sales for local businesses. (Seriously.) For Limbaugh, the hurricane conspiracy goes deep.
If you can put aside how irresponsible it is to send that kind of message to a group of people in real and serious danger (uh, extremely irresponsible), its almost funny. This is what conservative climate denial has come to. Even with one climate-amplified hurricane barely in the rearview mirror, another barreling down, and much of the Western half of the country on fire, the only reaction someone like Limbaugh can imagine is to double down.He would rather deny an oncoming hurricane than accept climate change.
It is difficult to appreciate, from up close and with so much else going on, just how deeply and ceaselessly bizarre US climate politics has become. Limbaugh is a good case study, but hes not the only one. Several bits of recent news for instance, Trumps nomination of a climate denier with no science credentials to lead NASA serve to illustrate the same point. American climate politics have gone from frustrating and weird to ... parody? Farce? Reductio ad absurdum? Its difficult to know the right term. But it aint healthy.
https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/energy-and-environment/2017/9/7/16258848/us-climate-politics-farce
Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)systematic republican lies about climate change over the last 25 years have gravely weakened and endangered America. They need to stop lying now. If they cannot speak the truth about what's going on (aka reality) then then should just STFU and let people get on with making smart and sensible choices.
BeyondGeography
(39,374 posts)If Harvey was $160 bn., probably a safe assumption we'll be multiplying by at least two for Irma. Will taxpayers pay up/double down on coastal overdevelopment and throw good money after bad? We'll see. Either way, the discussion has taken on a whole new dimension.
SunSeeker
(51,571 posts)Ever since the Reich succeeded in installing dump, this country has been turned down a dark path. Their crackpot radical extremist views are now poisoning OUR Federal Government, big time.