ThirstyFish

Something is not "real" until politicians say so. Wrap your head around this. A few days ago, on January 21, 2015, The United States Senate voted 3 times to "define" whether climate change is real or not. The first, "Climate change is real; and human activity contributes to climate change" didn't get the required votes, failing 59-40. The second, with stronger wording, "Climate change is real (and) human activity significantly contributes to climate change" also failed 50-49. In the last vote, The Senate finally agreed that, "Climate change is real and is not a hoax". Even then, one senator dissented. Effectively, the Senate declared that: "Climate change is real, but not really our fault". And, if it's not "our" fault, they don't really have to do anything about it.

So where is science on this? After a review of over 12,000 peer-reviewed climate science papers, there is a 97% consensus that climate change is man-made. Not only is Man-made climate change real, it's happening faster than we expected! We're losing time.

Until a few years ago, I used to dismiss most politicians, self-declared prophets, and, "journalists" and "pundits" appearing on news outlets such as Fox News, MSNBC and CNN, as charlatans or as idiots. I even found some to be mildly entertaining. Not any more. These people have real power, and they can influence great masses. Considering what is at stake in a globalized world facing genuine anthropogenic existential threats for which there is no historic precedent - environmental disaster, technological "accidents" and nuclear war - we have to find ways to deal with idiots and charlatans, before...