Letters to the Editor
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The headline and picture...
made me laugh out loud. First non-Onion article to do that.
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Pandering to the right is bad for the environment
Too many on the right simply don't live in the real world. McCain is smarter than that, but he if he wants to be president he has to pander to special interests. And then pay lip service to his promises to gullible conservatives.
To a lesser extent, this is true of the Democrats as well, but at least they have to pander to people who are against the war and in favor of good economic stewardship. I look forward to brother Joe's analysis of Clinton and Obama.
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Look Ma, no oxygen!
Look ma, dead coral reefs, vanishing species, contamination everywhere! We'll be lucky if we can figure a way out of this environmental disaster we created ourselves. Less so if we keep wasting time on useless distractions.
And America is still fighting over who is black, who is white, and who is man or woman.
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Yet another GW article that doesn't even mention personal responsibility
YOU are causing global warming, what are YOU going to do about it? Drive your car less, consume less? Even liberal Salon will not suggest that we as individuals need to be responsible and change our behavior. All we ever hear is what corporate and government money will do so that we don't have to adjust our lifestyle. Selfishness from the right, selfishness from the left.
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"Even liberal Salon will not suggest that we as individuals need to be responsible and change our behavior."
Ummmm, apparently you have missed the many features and the entire weekly column dedicated to consumer environmental awareness. You also seem to have missed the fact that switching all your bulbs to CFs (which I have done) and riding your bike (which I do) and recycling everything you can (which I do) and reducing your intake of packaging (which I do) will NEVER BE ENOUGH. Industry will need to be on board, and since they won't climb up themselves, the government will have to force them onto the train. Do you have a problem with that?
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I am 100% with ya, jrcal
This is true for many problems right now, from the environment to the economy.
That is why I'm hoping that the next president does more in the way of leadership, than tell everyone to go shopping, but it does start with us, and I give you kudos for the reminder.
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Going on the Offensive
(1) Someone: devise a constitutional amendment that brushes aside the Roberts/Alito/Scalia/Thomas ruling tendencies.
(2) Please: start asserting that responding to the GHG emissions/rapid climate change is a true emegency, requiring a Commander-in-Chief who "gets it". Bush doesn't, and it doesn't appear to me that McCain does, either.
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the sky is falling.
america is a backward nation, mired in greed, ignorance and religion. the chances of the human race in general, or america in particular, wrenching itself into survival-of-the-race activity seems very slim.
but when you consider the alternative to immediate action, then rational behavior is pretending science and socialism will triumph over ignorance and personal selfishness. "leave me alone to get rich by looting the planet while cheating the tax man" can't be tolerated any more. if you go on calling it freedom and capitalism, your grandchildren, if they survive, will change their names and pretend to be born from a lab bottle.
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Laughable at best
The author's bashing of nuclear power plants is ridiculous. He fails to understand that over 80% of the nation's electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels (coal, gas, oil) and the electricity used in homes and commerical space is by far the largest source of consumption (way more than transportation). Building more nuclear reactors (which generate 20% of our electricity) will CERTAINLY put a dent into the gross production of carbon emissions. We have a little over 100 nuclear reactors operating in the country. Doubling that number will obviously decrease the carbon emissions generated by burning fossil fuels. Coupled with a cap-and-trade system, I don't see what's so wrong with McCain's energy policy as stated in this article.
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Nuclear is not the answer
Nuclear is not a long term solution for a variety of reasons. I cannot sign this letter because I am an attorney whose firm represents nuclear operators.
Most important, nuclear reactors are expensive. An in, billions each. To build enough reactors to make a serious dent in climate change would run over $10 trillion just in construction costs.
As it is now, nuclear power can only compete because of massive federal subsidies, including statutory releases from liability in case of an accident.
Beyond that, there are problems with supplying sufficient enriched uranium to run hundreds of new reactors. Uranium is not a renewable resource, and there are currently no commercially-viable reactors that can operate without requiring periodic fresh supplies of enriched radioactive material. At some point, barring technological breakthroughs, the energy needed to mine and enrich low-grade uranium will make nuclear energy just as dirty as fossil fuels.
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Old people love global warming.
John McCain can hardly be expected to care about global warming. Old people have less body fat and diminished blood circulation, and the thought of a warming world suits them just fine.
Any doubts?
Think I'm being flip?
Then ask yourself this; why do old people drive massive gas guzzling cars if not to warm the world.
And why do Republicans oppose efforts to reduce greenhouse gases when they know it could adversely affect the planet if not because their core voters are freezing cold seniors.
It's finally making sense.
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Finally, analysis instead of horse race
Salon publishes a huge number of boiler plate politics-as-horse-race articles, and not so much analysis of how a given politian might actually govern. It's refreshing to see an article that steps away from the usual hot air.
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Where's my soma?
It is obvious that many people are taking reality-distorting drugs, so they are not even able to see that global warming is a problem.
If we get universal healthcare, then these drugs will be available to everyone. The problem of global warming will go away, and we will all be quite happy.
We don't need leaders. We just need someone who polls well. Let's face it -- mankind is not capable of solving hard problems.
And what's wrong with that? We need to get comfortable with extinction. I personally would rather be blown up by al queada. At least then I'd have someone to blame. Besides myself.