BY SHARON MARTIN
My cousin thinks climate change is “bogus theology made up by liberals.” When I disputed his claim that there were “just as many examples on the other side as on the warming side,” he called my response “an example of liberal disenfranchisement.”
Disenfranchisement? Merriam-Webster defines it as “the state of being deprived of a right or privilege, especially the right to vote.”
Our vote is our voice. Is this what he meant?
No. He finally came to the real reason he doesn’t believe in global warming: “I don’t believe there is anything short of all out nuclear war that man can do to upset the system God put in place.”
How do we counter someone’s theology? Why would God not want us to control carbon emissions?
Science is neither liberal nor conservative. It isn’t anti-religion. If someone is trying to make you think it is, be wary of motives.
That’s not saying that there isn’t shoddy science. A huckster can do a lot of damage before he’s found out. The doctor who claimed there was a link between vaccines and autism is a case in point. Although he lost his license to practice medicine, there are still children who get preventable diseases as a direct result of his unsubstantiated claims.
Good science doesn’t rely on anecdotes. It’s reproducible, and it welcomes the effort, but know who funds the research and who stands to gain or lose based on the results.
An important, and frightening, report about climate change was released this month. The strongest hurricane to ever hit the panhandle of Florida added its two cents to the report. Despite the scientists and the storms, our president says he doesn’t believe in global warming or in scientists who all have a political agenda.
Can 97% of the world’s climate scientists be wrong? I suppose it is possible. There was a time when most doctors and barbers relied on leeches to treat patients. But global water and air temp measurements are fact. So are rising oceans. So are lost beaches and islands.
Catastrophic weather events are more frequent and more catastrophic.
So what are we going to do, despite the president’s policies, despite his deep-pocketed backers?
We work together, speak up together, and educate ourselves about the issues. We vote in every election while we still can. And we change our own habits, which may be the hardest thing of all.
– Sharon Martin lives in Oilton, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer. Her latest book, Not A Prodigal, is available through Barnes and Noble. Her recent children’s book, Froggy Bottom Blues, can be purchased in hardcover or paperback from Doodle and Peck Publishingand in paperback from Amazon.
