Poor Sen. Inhofe--He Can't Accept Reality

“A fool who persists in his folly will become wise,” noted William Blake, the eighteenth century poet and painter.

 That sounds right. Reality eventually delivers a jolt.

So my question is:

 When will Sen. John Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican and climate hoax proclaimer, wake up? Reality has proved him foolish many times over.

Most recently Mr. Inhofe accused James Hansen, the prominent National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientist, of being an extremist in his own camp. Mr. Hansen released studies showing that last year’s intense heat and droughts and the forest and range fires in Mr. Imhofe’s home state and in Texas were likely related to climate change caused by human activities.

Then on August 8th the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that July 2012 was the “hottest month on record for the contiguous United States.”

 The average temperature for the month climbed 3.3 degrees to 77.6 degrees. That’s big. That figure translates to increasingly devastating crop damage, more frequent and widespread fires, increased economic losses, and genuine and persistent discomfort and suffering for people across most of the nation.

It’s reasonable for many in the most affected areas of the country to believe the climate we knew it is gone. Perhaps that seems less obvious in the Middle Atlantic States.

The climate here in Maryland seems relatively stable. There have been more 100-degree days than normal and many humid, yucky, 90-degree days.  Also thunder storms seem more frequent and severe—but that may be only an impression.  Then too, last winter seemed wet and un-winter like. Yet that’s not so uncommon.

Elsewhere though, our fellow countrymen are experiencing dramatic change. For instance, roughly 70 percent of the country is experiencing a prolonged, crop killing dry spell.  And NASA reports that in recent years extreme heat has affected 13 percent of earth’s surface up from 1 percent in the years before 1980.

Still the senator fights any suggestion that he is wrong. He is dedicated to blocking climate-change legislation. And on the same day NOAA issued its finding, Mr. Imhofe vowed he would block all climate-change research and activities.

Why?

It’s hard to think Mr. Inhofe actually believes what he says about climate change. It’s easier to believe he thinks he must continue to advance the interests of the powerful petroleum industry. After all, he is from an oil-producing state. And, of course, oil barons and other carbon producers hate the thought of further restrictions on harmful emissions.

Even so, there is such a thing as reality. And the reality is that even some of Mr. Inhofe’s staunchest academic allies and climate-change skeptics have recanted in the face of facts.

 D.R.Tucker, the conservative writer and talk show host who promoted Mr. Inhofe’s  rampant climate-change skepticism, admitted, “I was defeated by the facts.”

Dr. Richard Muller, the University of California-Berkeley physicist, admitted last month that for 20 years he had wrongly dismissed scientific evidence of climate change. “Call me a converted skeptic,” he stated.

Dr. Ricky Rood, University of Michigan meteorologist, stated a couple of months ago that a “couple of temperature facts struck me.”  He said that the last month when earth’s average temperature was below the twentieth century average was February 1985. “There have been 321 consecutive months with the temperature above the twentieth century average.”

The scientific dispute over climate change is about over. Now people who care about people want to focus on coping with an altered world where storms are stronger, dry spells longer, and high and low temperature extremes bring more and longer power outages.

And yet, as Eric Klinenberg, a New York University sociology professor, puts it in an opinion article, “Americans’ growing concerns about global warming will mean nothing if our national leaders are unwilling to seize the moment and do something about it.”

Sadly, many of our conservative leaders oppose taking action. They are being foolish.

“The best way to convince a fool that he is wrong is to let him have his own way,” said Josh Billings, the nineteenth century American humorist. But if the politicians blocking action to deal with climate change have their own way, all suffer, and the time for effective action is running out.

                                                        -----Gus Gribbin