BY NATHANIEL BATCHELDER

Corporations and nations the world around are making adjustments to the science predicting dire consequences if CO2 emissions are not reduced. On the other side, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe’s 2012 book The Greatest Hoax claims that the consensus of world scientists on CO2 emissions is just wrong. Republicans in Congress speak and vote in apparent agreement.

In January, when Republican majorities take over both houses of Congress, there will no doubt be bills introduced to curtail or eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency. Republicans clearly look forward to voting for the pipeline across America that will accelerate the mining of Canada’s toxic tar sands.

These policies will leave undisturbed the fossil fuel industries that profit from the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas. At the crossroads where world scientists warn that global warming does threaten life as we know it, corporate influence may prove more influential than environmental wisdom.

– Nathaniel Batchelder, a frequent contributor to The Oklahoma Observer, is director of the Peace House in Oklahoma City, peacehouseok.org.